ISIS has just released
the latest issue (Number 13) of its glossy online
magazine, Dabiq and, in this posting, I want to take a look at a few
interesting items.
Issue 13 opens with an
acknowledgement of the martyrdom of Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen
Malik, in San Bernardino, California. Here's what it says:
"As the
American-led crusaders continue waging war against the Khilāfah (the
Caliphate), more and more Muslims continue demonstrating their willingness to
sacrifice everything precious to them for the sake of fullling their duty to
Allah. While many continue to do so by undertaking hijrah to the Islamic State,
others do so by defiantly terrorizing the crusaders in their very strongholds.
Such was the case on the 20th of Safar when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife
Tashfeen Malik carried out an attack on the kuffār
(a derogatory term for non-Muslims) in San Bernardino,
California and succeeded in killing 14 of them and wounding 22 more. As the
operation took place, Tashfeen Malik made a post online reaffirming
their bay’s (an oath of allegiance) to Amīrul- Mu’minīn, Shaykh
Abū Bakr al-Bagh- dādī (ha dhahullāh). She and her husband then engaged in
a shootout with security forces and were killed, thereby attaining shahādah (a
declaration of belief in God) in the path of Allah. We consider them so, and
Allah is their judge. Thus, the Khilāfah’s call for the Muslims to strike the
crusaders in their own lands was answered once more, but on this particular occasion the attack was unique. The mujāhid involved did not suffiice with
embarking upon the noble path of jihād alone. Rather, he conducted the
operation together with his wife, with the two thereby aiding one another in
righteousness and taqwā (piety)."
The author also notes
that, despite having an obligation to their daughter, they fulfilled their
obligation to the holy war against the "crusaders" and that Allah will care for their daughter.
Throughout this edition,
there are several pages listing ten selected ISIS videos on each page as shown
here:
Here's one of the videos
entitled "We Shall Meet at Dabiq" or "Meeting at Dabiq". This video was released by ISIS in December 2015 and depicts ISIS fighters battling "non-believers" in Rome in an Armageddon, last days-style battle. As I have noted before, Dabiq is located in Syria and is allegedly the location of a final battle according to Islam. It is also interesting to note that some of ISIS video's like this one entitled "The Resolve of the Brave 2" which is also highlighted in this edition of Dabiq shows that ISIS has adopted the use of video drones at the 11 minute and 20 second mark to survey battlefields, showing that they are becoming increasingly sophisticated. As well, note the massive
explosion at the 8 minute 20 second mark.
One very interesting
footnote in an article entitled "Do They Not Then Reflect On The
Qur'an", an article that looks at how Allah is on the side of the
believers who are fighting a holy war, states the following:
"An example of this
today is the crusaders’ refusal to put boots on the ground in their war against
the Khilāfah. Thus, Allah has restrained their might in that regard and
allowed the Islamic State to continue to expand while the crusaders are busy
vetting, bribing, and training apostates to do the fighting for them, with
their efforts largely proving fruitless."
This footnote is
located just above this picture:
Towards the end of
this issue, Dabiq provides its readers with this article entitled
"In the Words of the Enemy":
In the article, it quotes
a November 2015 Time magazine article entitled "What
Comes Next and How Do We Handle It", written by Michael Morrell, a
former deputy director of the CIA. In this article, Mr. Morrell states
the following:
"As a terrorist group, ISIS poses a threat to the
Homeland. That threat today is largely indirect — ISIS’s ability to radicalize
young Americans to conduct attacks here. The FBI has over 900 open
investigations into homegrown extremists, the vast majority radicalized by ISIS
and a large number of which relate to individuals who may be plotting attacks
here. Such attacks have already occurred in the US. Others have been arrested
before they could act.
While the
sophistication of such homegrown attacks is likely to be fairly low, the
potential exists for the quantity of these kinds attacks to be large. The
number of ISIS followers in the US is in the thousands. It dwarfs the number of
followers that al-Qaeda ever had.
Over time,
if not significantly degraded, the ISIS threat to the Homeland will become a
direct one—that is, an ISIS ability to plan and direct attacks on the Homeland
from the group’s safe haven in Iraq and Syria— just like the group did in Paris
last week.
Such
attacks are deeply concerning because they carry the potential to be much more
sophisticated and complex—and therefore more dangerous—than than homegrown
attacks, again just like in Paris last week, or London in 2005, or even 9/11
itself. And, in something that should get everyone’s attention, ISIS has shown
an interest in weapons of mass destruction...
Mr. President,
the downing of the Russian airliner, only the third such attack in 25 years,
and the attacks in Paris, the largest in Europe since the Madrid bombings in
2004, make it crystal clear that our ISIS strategy is not working."
Dabiq responds by stating:
"Yes, the crusader
strategy is not working because the Islamic State is here to stay. It is a
state that inflicts just terror against its infidel, pagan, and apostate
enemies. And it will continue to expand until its banner flutters over
Constantinople (i.e. Turkey) and Rome. Until then, let the crusaders get used
to the sound of explosion and the image of carnage in their very own
homelands."
Which, apparently, is happening.
Here is the closing
"poster" for this issue, listing the names of the
Paris attackers:
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