Category: Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah

The Islamic State’s Second Bayat Campaign

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, I tracked the new bayat coming in for the new leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. This post will do the same with the announcement of Abu Ibrahim’s death and Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the new leader of the Islamic State. As I said in the original post:

There are two main reasons for this: 1. pledges are leader-specific rather than group-specific and thus need to be renewed with each succession and 2. it is a way to legitimize al-Qurashi’s rule and create a media event so that the group can promote itself as it transitions to a new phase.

The first reason is also something that IS pointed to when it began to overtly feud with al-Qaeda (AQ) in 2013, by saying that following Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s death, his successor Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir gave baya to the newly created Islamic State of Iraq’s leader Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi and even after Abu ‘Umar was killed, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over in 2010 and then Usamah Bin Laden was killed in 2011, Abu Bakr never publicly gave baya to Ayman al-Zawahiri, even if al-Zawahiri claims he gave it to him privately. Therefore, from the perspective of IS this whole process is not trivial, but important for legitimacy of its leadership and to potentially weed out any insubordination before it manifests into something larger as it already did in the past vis-a-vis AQ.

This post will be updated with the latest official pledges.

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March 11, 2022:

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Karkūk

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Lake Chad Basin

Wilāyat al-Shām

Wilāyat al-Ṣūmāl

Wilāyat Sharq Asīā

March 12, 2022: 

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – al-Ānbār

Wilāyat al-Yaman

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn

Wilāyat Khurāsān

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – al-Faruq Region

Wilāyat Lībīyā

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Sambissa

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Sahel Region

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Kerenoa Region

Wilāyat Bākistān

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Shamāl Baghdād

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – al-Janūb

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Diyālā‎

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Nīnawā

Wilāyat al-Hind

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Dijlah

 Wilāyat Saynā’

Wilāyat Wasaṭ Ifrīqīyah

New video message from The Islamic State: “And Kill Them Wherever You Overtake Them #2 – Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah”

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Click here for the first part in this video series.

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Source: Telegram

To inquire about a translation for this video message for a fee email: [email protected]

New video message from The Islamic State: “Then It Will Be For Them A [Source Of] Regret – Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah”

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

The title of this release is in reference to Qur’anic verse 8:36. Here it is in full: “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of God. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a [source of] regret; then they will be overcome. And those who have disbelieved – unto Hell they will be gathered.”

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To inquire about a translation for this video message for a fee email: [email protected]

The Islamic State’s Bayat Campaign

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

In the aftermath of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death, I noted that the Islamic State (IS) was likely to start a bayat campaign for its new Caliph Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Beginning November 2, IS’s official Telegram channels began posting such bayat.

There are two main reasons for this: 1. pledges are leader-specific rather than group-specific and thus need to be renewed with each succession and 2. it is a way to legitimize al-Qurashi’s rule and create a media event so that the group can promote itself as it transitions to a new phase.

The first reason is also something that IS pointed to when it began to overtly feud with al-Qaeda (AQ) in 2013, by saying that following Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s death, his successor Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir gave baya to the newly created Islamic State of Iraq’s leader Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi and even after Abu ‘Umar was killed, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over in 2010 and then Usamah Bin Laden was killed in 2011, Abu Bakr never publicly gave baya to Ayman al-Zawahiri, even if al-Zawahiri claims he gave it to him privately. Therefore, from the perspective of IS this whole process is not trivial, but important for legitimacy of its leadership and to potentially weed out any insubordination before it manifests into something larger as it already did in the past vis-a-vis AQ.

This post will be updated with the latest official pledges.

November 2, 2019:

Wilāyat Saynā’

al-Binghāl

November 3, 2019:

Wilāyat al-Ṣūmāl

November 4, 2019:

Wilāyat Bākistān

Wilāyat al-Yaman – al-Bayḍā’

November 5, 2019:

Wilāyat al-Shām – Ḥawrān

Wilāyat Khurāsān

November 6, 2019:

Tūnis

November 7, 2019:

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Nījīrīā

Wilāyat al-Shām – Ḥimṣ

Wilāyat al-Shām – al-Khayr

Wilāyat al-Shām – al-Raqqah

Wilāyat Sharq Asīā

Wilāyat Wasaṭ Ifrīqīyyah

November 8:

Wilāyat al-Shām – Ḥimṣ

November 9:

Wilāyat Sharq Asīā

Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah – Mālī and Būrkīnāfāsū

Wilāyat al-Shām – al-Barakah

November 12, 2019:

Wilāyat al-Shām – Ḥalab

November 14, 2019:

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Shamāl Baghdād

November 15, 2019:

Wilāyat Lībīyā

November 16, 2019:

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Dijlah

November 17, 2019: 

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Diyālā‎

November 18, 2019: 

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn

November 19, 2019: 

Wilāyat al-‘Irāq – Karkūk

November 22, 2019: 

Wilāyat Sharq Asīā – Indūnīsīyā

November 29, 2019:

Adhirbayjān