The Caliphate State (referred to as ISIS hereafter) and its global networks identify with an Islamic political movement known as jihadi-salafism. 1 Its propaganda draws on the teachings of puritanical Sunni Islam, or salafism, 2 to confer rootage and authenticity to its political agenda, while its intolerant and exclusivist ideology adopts the concept of 'takfir'the excommunication of other Muslim groups and sects who reject its violent interpretation of Islam by declaring them as 'nonbelievers' or enemies against whom jihad should be declared. 3 Focusing on one sense of the concept of jihad to justify violence and militancy, ISIS's narrative argues that the current context calls for violence and rebellion to restore the Islamic caliphate and God's rule in accordance with Shari c ah law. 4 According to Hassan Hassan, 'ISIS stands out for its uncompromising rigidity even in a jihadi landscape marked by rigidity', 5 a characteristic which makes it a suitable vehicle for protest and violence. Hassan and Cole Bunzil provide an elaborate chronology of ISIS's historical trajectory since its initial formation in 2006 until June 2014 when it declared itself a Caliphate and became known as 'the Caliphate State'. 6 During his first public sermon at Mosul Grand Mosque on 4 July 2014, ISIS's self-appointed Caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, set out with a facade of citations from early Muslim scholars and Quranic verses to confer religious legitimacy upon himself and the Caliphate. Then he proceeded to remind Muslims of the importance of militant jihad: If you knew the reward, dignity, honour, and prestige inherent in jihad whether in this world or the hereafter, not one of you would be sitting or falling behind in [taking up] jihad, for it is the trade to which God guided [you], and with which HE saved [people] from shame and granted dignity in both abodes [i.e. this world and the hereafter]. 7 He summed up the essence of Islam, as 'a book which guides, and a sword which brings about victory'. 8 In the context of launching the state, this brief definition of religion, which is a quote from the medieval Muslim scholar ibn Taymiyyah, constitutes a nuanced warning to bystanders and locals that should ISIS's conception of Islam not be accepted, the sword would be the alternative route available to the state to enforce it. 9 ISIS is notorious for its record of sustained and systematic violence against diverse communities and multicultural heritage in the territories it controlled in the Middle East. A report of UNESCO's International Conference in 2014 described ISIS's deliberate and systematic destruction of museums, monuments, and ancient sites in Iraq and Syria as 'cultural cleansing' and part of a broader war on diversity and multiculturalism. 10 Cultural cleansing was defined as 'an intentional strategy that seeks to destroy cultural diversity through the deliberate targeting of individuals identified on the basis of their cultural, ethnic or religious background, combined with deliberate attacks on their places of worship, memo...

This paper argues that the jihādi ideology draws upon the authentic and normative traditionalist salafi epistemology, which provides a moral and theological justification for militant jihād. In the current climate of political unrest and conflicts in the Middle East, maintaining a nexus between jihād and authentic Islam is crucial for traditionalist salafism in pursuit of authority, relevance and political interests. Through the misappropriation of the Meccan-Medinan trajectory and the concepts of nasẖ (abrogation) and ʾijmāʿ (consensus), the input of salafi scholars and preachers revitalizes the discourse around militant jihād as a legitimate vehicle for change and consequently propels jihādi ideology forward.