Jihadist innovation and learning by adapting to the “new” and “social media” Zeitgeist

World Wide Warriors

“…the cross-overuse of resources by several armed groups will be given, we shall only occasionally mention the specific Jihadi organizationo rg roup disseminating the resources. 25 There have been earlier attempts to build an online structure supporting jihadi operations. As tudy on online courses in al-Qa'idar elated jihadi fora concludes 26 in 2013:…”

“…In the research on the electronic ribat, there is an ongoing disconnect between Arabic sources and European language research, which is reflected in the obsession with English languagem agazines such as Dabiq, 23 Rumiyah 24 or com- paring AQ and ISIS throughtheir magazines such as Inspire and Dabiq. 25 Despite the hundreds of thousands of pages of contentproduced in Arabic, researchers such as Haroro J. Ingram focus their analysis on English magazines,to"explore the strategic logic of Islamic State (IS)" and specifically how"IS uses Dabiq to 'sell ' [their] vision to English-speaking audiences, especiallyinthe We st". 26 This echoes what Caron E. Gentryh as shown froma nalysing which female participants in martyrdom operations, gain media attention.…”

“…While JN has pledged allegiance (bay'a)t o Ay man al-Zawahiri, ISIS under the rule of AbuBakral-Baghdadi has morphed into amajor manifestions of al-Qa'ida iconographyand doctrine by adhering to the theologywithout being subjected to AQ's formal leadership. 25 The renaissance of al-Qaeda doctrineislargely based on its most powerful tool that allows the network to morph and spread in manyd irections:t he professional and coherentd ecentralised use of the Internet and the continuous and tireless deploymento fm edia-workers and media-dedicated brigades embedded with fighting jihadi units in the real-life battle arenas.…”

“…According to this doctrine, the duty of jihad maybeperformed not only throughc ombate ngagement and acts of violence but also by actively participating in the perceived "media war". 25 This media jihad is considered partofthe jiha ¯dbi-l-lisa ¯n (jihad with the tongue), 26 which is deemed to be acentral aspectof what jihadists perceivetobetheir religious duty of engaging in jihad. 27 According to this conviction, jiha ¯d bi-l-lisa ¯n includes activities such as inspiring (tah ˙rı ¯d ˙) the respective audience, providing counter-arguments to the traditional media outlets, disseminating the movement's ideas, reaching new adherents, calling them to submit to its theology,join its fight,aswell as to threaten and intimidate their enemies.…”

“…From the visual representation it is evidentthat anumber of differentusers Fisher,Ali 8,10f.,43f.,54f.,[57][58][59]62,65,86,113,143,162,193 Flitner Lenin, Vladimir I. 10 Lohlker,20,22,31,37f.,66,72,160,194 Looney,Sean 25 16 Prucha,Nico 8,10,25,43,45,54f.,[57][58][59]62,65,80,[86][87][88]91,[93][94][95]97,105,113,117,143,162,185f…”