Previously, I tracked the bayat campaign for Abu Ibrahim after Abu Bakr’s death, then for Abu al-Hasan after Abu Ibrahim’s death, and then for Abu al-Husayn after Abu al-Hasan’s death. This post will do the same with the announcement of Abu al-Husayn’s death and Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quarashi as the new leader of the Islamic State. As I said in the original post:
There are two main reasons for this: 1. pledges are leader-specific rather than group-specific and thus need to be renewed with each succession and 2. it is a way to legitimize al-Qurashi’s rule and create a media event so that the group can promote itself as it transitions to a new phase.
The first reason is also something that IS pointed to when it began to overtly feud with al-Qaeda (AQ) in 2013, by saying that following Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi’s death, his successor Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir gave baya to the newly created Islamic State of Iraq’s leader Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi and even after Abu ‘Umar was killed, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over in 2010 and then Usamah Bin Laden was killed in 2011, Abu Bakr never publicly gave baya to Ayman al-Zawahiri, even if al-Zawahiri claims he gave it to him privately. Therefore, from the perspective of IS this whole process is not trivial, but important for legitimacy of its leadership and to potentially weed out any insubordination before it manifests into something larger as it already did in the past vis-a-vis AQ.
This post will be updated with the latest official pledges.
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August 5, 2023:
Wilāyat al-‘Irāq
Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyah – Krenoa Region
August 6, 2023:
Wilāyat al-Ṣūmāl
Wilāyat al-Yaman
August 7, 2023:
Wilāyat al-Sāḥil – Tri-Border Area
Wilāyat Bākistān
August 8, 2023:
Wilāyat Wasaṭ Ifrīqīyah
Wilāyat al-‘Irāq
Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyah – al-Buhayrah Region
Wilāyat al-Sāḥil – Anderamboukane
August 9, 2023:
Wilāyat Khurāsān
Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyah – Sambisa Region
Wilāyat al-Sāḥil – Azawagh
August 10, 2023:
Wilāyat al-Shām
Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyah – al-Faruq Region and Banki Region
August 11, 2023:
Wilāyat al-‘Irāq
August 12, 2023:
Wilāyat Sharq Asīā
August 14, 2023:
Wilāyat Mūzambīq
Wilāyat Bākistān
Wilāyat Sāḥil – Burkina Faso
August 16, 2023:
Wilāyat al-‘Irāq
Wilāyat al-Shām
