By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 20 March 2026
Mostafa Chamran and Khomeini’s Second Islamic Revolution Network in Lebanon
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Tag Archives: Shi’is
The Islamic State’s Attack Reports and Ideological Focus in Al-Naba From June to October 2025
Eulogy of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from his Wife
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 26 November 2021
After the founder of the Islamic State movement, Ahmad al-Khalayleh, the infamous Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed on 7 June 2006, an open letter eulogising him was posted by his wife, known only as Umm Muhammad (“the Mother of Muhammad”). The letter dates, it seems, to 6 July 2006, about a month after Zarqawi’s demise.[1] The content is mostly boilerplate: celebrating “the Shaykh of the Slaughterers” for terrorising the Americans and others who wanted constitutional government in Iraq,[2] venomous sectarian incitement against Shi’is, declaring that jihadist victory is near and cannot be derailed by the “martyrdom” of one leader. What is perhaps most notable when reading the letter at this distance is, firstly, that it was published by an Al-Qaeda media outlet, and, secondly, how much space is devoted to praising Usama bin Laden, and declaring the undying fealty of Zarqawi and his men to Bin Laden. Because, of course, the IS movement was at this time nominally a subordinate component of Bin Laden’s network named Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQM). The Zarqawists’ overt breach with Al-Qaeda still eight years in the future.
Continue readingThe Islamic State Benefits From the Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 1 September 2021
In his speech last night announcing the end of the American presence in Afghanistan and what happens next, Secretary of State Blinken said: “The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support”, and “the Taliban can do that by meeting commitments and obligations”, which include “counter-terrorism”.
To most people it will seem strange that the Taliban could be regarded as a counter-terrorism partner, and it is. Despite the U.S. never formally listing the Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the Taliban is fully integrated in a jihadist network under the control of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that includes Al-Qaeda. Continue reading
The Islamic State’s Minister of War Criticises Regional Religious Leaders For Not Supporting The Jihad in Iraq
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 24 November 2017
Abdul Munim al-Badawi (Abu Hamza al-Muhajir), the “war minister” of the Islamic State of Iraq, the predecessor to ISIS, made a brief five-minute speech on 30 April 2007, entitled “Nada ila Ulema al-Umma” (نِدَاءٌ إِلَى عُلَمَاءِ الأُمَّةِ). “Ulema” refers to Islamic scholars, sometimes translated as “clerics”, a slightly misleading comparison with Christianity, and “umma” refers to the worldwide community of Muslims, so the title of the speech translates as, “An Appeal to the Community’s Scholars”. Al-Badawi’s basic point—made at a time when the Islamic State movement was beginning to suffer under the pressure of the Surge and Sahwa—was to condemn the regional ulema for not supporting, and not having supported, the jihadists in Iraq against the Americans and the Shi’is. Implicitly, Al-Badawi is criticising the ulema for holding back Muslims in regional States who might otherwise have joined the Iraqi jihad as foreign fighters and suicide bombers, potentially making a difference to the Islamic State’s military fortunes. A rough translation of the speech is reproduced below.
The Flag of the Islamic State
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on January 27, 2017
The Islamic State’s June 2014 declaration that the areas it controlled were the restored “Caliphate” was seen by many as a novel development. In fact, “the State” was declared in October 2006. The next month, the predecessor of the Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQM), dissolved itself, and a month after that the claim to statehood was expanded upon—while being wilfully ambiguous about the caliphal pretensions—in the first speech by the then-emir, Hamid al-Zawi (Abu Umar al-Baghdadi). Similarly, though confusion remains on the point, it was in this same period that the symbol of the Islamic State, its black flag, was established.
Al-Qaeda Issues Strategic Guidelines for Jihadist Warfare
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on January 7, 2015
Al-Qaeda’s emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a document on 14 September 2013, entitled, Tawjihat ‘Amma lil-Amal al-Jihadi (توجيهات عامة للعمل الجهادي), variously translated as: “General Guidelines for the Work of Jihad” or “General Guidelines for Jihadist Action”. Al-Zawahiri’s document is reproduced below. Continue reading
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