By Dr. Robyn Torok
Abstract
Islamic State is increasingly calling for attacks across the globe that are pledged in allegiance to the State. From their magazine Rumiyah, a number of key narratives are evident. Most concerning is the call for knife attacks on home soil. Furthermore, such attacks have been clearly justified by legal arguments. Central to helping to transform a recruit to a responder of terrorist activity is a need to transform their source of moral authority from man to Allah in a mutually exclusive fashion. Coupled with this is a need to dissociate an individual from current beliefs by tapping into past grievances or forms of alienation and then move them into the future with a strong commitment to undertake jihad and martyrdom. Part of this process is to become embedded within a phenomenon that has been termed the ‘forgiveness matrix’.
Keywords
Islamic State, homegrown terrorism, knife attacks, discourse, jihad, martyrdom, recruitment, terrorism, Rumiyah Recruitment to Response, forgiveness matrix
INTRODUCTION
The increasing number of crude terror attacks against the West as well as attempted attacks point to an increasing reach of the global tentacles of Islamic State (IS). Recent attacks include the Brussels bombings, the Orlando nightclub shootings and the attacks in Nice, France; all with significant fatalities (Yourish et al. 2016). In addition, in Australia a number of important arrests have been made in preventing imminent attacks such as the two teens with knives arrested on October 12, 2016 (Thomas & Kidd, 2016). In fact, Palin (2016) reports a total of 11 terrorist attacks have been prevented in Australia within the past two years. Despite these successes for Australian law enforcement, two notable cases have slipped through with the murder of Curtis Cheng Oct 2, 2015 and the Lindt Café Siege (Dec. 14, 2014) in which two people were killed (Begley 2016; Man charged in relation to Parramatta shooting, 2016). Events such as these indicate a greater shift towards more global operations rather than just being limited to Iraq and Syria. One of the key reasons for the more global focus is the increasing pressure put on IS from airstrikes from a number of countries as well reductions in territory held (Reuters, 2016).
A cyber strategy has been critical to this increasing global influence of IS. Social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube as well as keys apps such as, but not limited to, Telegram and Whatsapp have been central tools for both delivering the message as well as connections and influence over potential recruits. Essentially, the cyber strategy has a twofold purpose. First, is the delivery of the message and key propaganda and secondly are the mechanisms aimed at influencing individuals to commit acts of terror.
While YouTube has and continues to be important in delivering the message of jihad and martyrdom, IS has also used other tools including key apps as well as the introduction of a new pdf magazine Rumiyah [Rome]. This follows on from IS’s Dabiq magazine which was similar to al-Qaeda’s original but effective Inspire magazine for English speakers. Rumiyah (Rome) is the ultimate target of IS with the aim of depowering the ‘Christian’ West at its historical seat of power particularly in reference to the historical crusades.
Meta Narratives
Three major meta narratives have been previously reported (Torok 2013). These meta narratives are both stable over time and broad enough to encompass more specific narratives that may change over time. The first of these meta narratives is that of grievance which highlights global oppression against Islam especially by the ‘Christian/Jewish’ West. Second is the obligation of Muslims to undertake jihad to rectify this oppression and this includes the use of violent force. Third is the obligation to seek and undertake martyrdom operations as part of jihad (Torok, 2013). Any more specific narratives related to IS will be contextualised within these three broad meta narratives.
Islamic State and Recruitment
Recent research by Basra, Neumann, and Brunner (2016) in Europe has found that criminals are often targeted for jihad recruitment for a number of reasons. These include transfer of skills and access to weapons as well as a chance for redemption as part of the redemption narrative (Basra, Neumann & Brunner, 2016). This redemptive narrative solidly aligns with the author’s PhD research findings about the ‘forgiveness matrix’ which is used in the rapid recruitment response to acts of murder.
Some research has also been conducted into tools used by IS such as nasheeds [putting words to music](Gråtrud, 2016; Said 2012a, 2012b). Nasheeds were found to be effective because they could be focused on key themes and have broad appeal amongst muslims (Gråtrud, 2016).
Other researchers have explored the message of IS and the use of rhetoric and imagery to sell its message (Perry & Long, 2016). Furthermore, Perry and Long (2016) argue that a mythic account of martyrdom is created in order to lure recruits. In a similar vein, Franz (2015) also notes the importance of media and ‘pop jihadism’ in recruitment but also warns not to ignore the importance of face to face contact as well as underlying personal and social issues. While this paper acknowledges the importance of face to face contact as well as a multitude of other causal factors, its focus is on exploring the key message and mechanisms used online (and reinforced offline) in order to move a person from recruitment to response.
METHOD
This study utilised an extensive online ethnographic approach combined with textual and narrative analysis. The online ethnographic element focused on how individuals were encouraged to commit acts of terrorism through discourse and structures. Textual and narrative analysis focused on posts on Facebook pages as well as Islamic State’s online magazine Rumiyah of which there are [at the time of writing]two issues.
Data presentation of narratives focused on thick, rich description to help highlight the key messages. These were coded into themes based on analysis of posts and magazine text. Field note observations were also made of any key mechanisms or patterns observed online over a period of nine months. The combination of online ethnography, analysis of online posts and the narrative and textual analysis of the Rumiyah magazine formed a natural triangulation of data, increasing the level of trustworthiness.
Results were divided into two parts. Firstly was the key narratives presented by Islamic State and secondly were the key mechanisms moving a person from recruitment to response.
RESULTS
As indicated in the methodology, results will be divided into two parts. First is an outline of the key messages and secondly is an outline of the key mechanisms of recruitment is presented.
Key Narratives
There are a number of specific key messages worthy of discussion that relate directly to the threat of terrorist acts on home soil. These key narratives relate directly to Islamic State’s most recent messages promoted through social media and its online magazine.
1) Making a Stand: Being part of something bigger than oneself
At the heart of the message of IS is the need to take a stand and take action. To not only be recruited but to respond to the message given. Apathy is a key issue that is addressed especially in the need to arise from this condition to make a difference, to look beyond oneself and participate in something eternal rather than temporal. IS have emphasised this idea of stand and die:
Stand and die – Those fools do not realize that Allah preserves His religion however He wills, and this religion will remain established and will not be damaged by the death of any person (Rumiyah 1, p. 2, emphasis added).
Although the narrative of grievance has been well documented as previously outlined, what is particularly pertinent is the fact that terrorist action is discursively constructed as a part of healing this global grievance:
Men shall continue to be employed by Allah to frustrate the kuffar, thereby healing the hearts of a believing people, just as Allah employed those who established its foundations and raised its bases, until it reached, by Allah’s grace, what it has reached today of dignity and empowerment.(Rumiyah 1, p. 3, emphasis added).
Muslims are not to remain in their grievances, rather there is an obligation to stand and participate in jihad and martyrdom in order to heal and rectify these global grievances.
2) Truth of Radical Islam
If an individual is to risk everything to commit a terrorist act then they must be fully convinced of the truth of radical Islam. A section of each Rumiyah is dedicated to constructing this truth with ‘The purpose of this series is to clarify the reality of Islam’ (Rumiyah 1, p. 4). Equally important is viewing moderate Islam as a compromise and deviance from the truth as suggested in Rumiyah 1 (p.5, explanations and emphasis added):
The modern-day Jahmiyyah [form of apostasy/deviance]opposed them in this, going against the statement of the Messenger , “Whoever dies knowing ‘la ilaha illallah’ [there is no God but Allah and by implication no worship of Idols or compromise]will enter Jannah”
This section of text is designed to demonstrate the contrast between moderate and radical Islam with the clear implication that moderate Islam is a form of apostasy that compromises not only the message but by implication denotes a following of idols and those who are ‘puppets’ of Western oppressive governments.
The Hadith also has a strong emphasis on martyrdom which forms an important part of the justification. The meta narrative of martyrdom forms an important foundation for the specific narratives of IS as outlined in Figure 1…Click HERE to read more.
