The waning power and shrinking of land under control of the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and Libya (otherwise known as ISIS), has caused the organization to look for new methods of da’wa, or invitation, in order to recruit more extremist elements. One method currently being utilized is athletics, which the group prohibited in the past as it distracted from the rigorous religious fervor demanded by the group. The prohibition was so extreme that in some cases, athletes were physically punished for being involved in sports. Nonetheless, the organization has recently made changes in the policy they adopt towards sports, allowing for their practice under new rules set by some of their key staff.
The allowance of soccer matches seems to be an example of the above. Since the teams do not run using the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) name the matches themselves are allowed, however since the rules are set by FIFA, ISIS has banned referees. According to some reports, ISIS does not view FIFA’s rules as conforming to Islamic principles, hence their prohibition. This raises many questions about the organization’s flexibility in regards to its juristic orientations in order to deal with the pressures of military strikes from several international, and regional, parties against their elements in the three separate countries.
Old Mechanism
ISIS is not the first extremist organization to use sports as a method of invitation to recruit more human elements to make up for losses suffered. This mechanism has been used previously by many religious movements to expand their social base. ISIS has organized a weekly sports meeting called “Islamic Day,” in which competitions are held for different sports, in order to attract the largest number of young men.
Recruitment Age
It should be noted here that the target age group for the upcoming Islamic Day is between 14 and 19 years old, generally known as the “recruitment age” by many radical movements. This phase is appealing because it is characterized by impulsiveness and inexperience. This theory has pushed ISIS to begin attempting to appeal to the group in order to replace the multitudes of combatants lost during military strikes over the past few months.
As per many reports, some personnel and organization members set up the athletes to engage in their military lines. Participants are invited to play different sports games in order for key officials follow up with them, in a way that helps the organization to set up people in such a way that they can be relied on. Once this reliance is established, athletes are invited to engage on military lines and to take part in the operations ISIS executes in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and other states. Soccer is the most popular game in these areas. ISIS sought to exploit its popularity in this context, albeit with new rules, like approving the right for the injured player to ask for compensation or revenge from the adversary.
Multiple Factors
The most important reasons explaining why ISIS has begun to utilize sports games as a recruitment mechanism can be defined as follows.
1. Making up for the shortage in the number of fighters: Many trends state that the number of ISIS fighters are constantly declining, particularly in zones of influence within Iraq and Syria, due to the various fronts they face, the successive military attacks that strike the organization, and the consequent security attacks against its branches which are spread throughout many areas of the world. The organization is, therefore, eager to use any methods available to compensate for this shortage. The lack of fighters could impose serious repercussions for ISIS in the long run, regardless of the extent of compliance or disagreement with their ideologies and orientations.
2. Ensuring the attractiveness of the method: It can be said that ISIS’s use of sports, particularly soccer due to its sweeping popularity, is illustrative of the organization’s desire to adopt new methods that attract youth who may not otherwise be swayed by traditional methods of invitation such as preaching and fatwas. New recruits can join through a method they approve of, sports, which is known in the values of da'wa of the extremist organizations as “character key.” Character key refers to the search for a mechanism through movements can attract a large number of people who will participate terrorist operations.
In other words, ISIS widely supports sports in the areas under their control as a way to introduce new methods of da’wa and go beyond the traditional methods of invitation which no longer attract a wide segment of citizens.
3. The end justifies the means (necessity): In light of the pressures and the consequent military strikes against ISIS, the group is going through a significant decline in activities. In response, the organization has adopted an approach of “the end justifies the means,” not unlike other terrorist organizations. Contradictory fatwas did not represent a huge problem for ISIS, who forbade playing sports and punished those who played. However, they changed this policy and started to care more for organizing sports competitions while utilizing their orientations and ideologies to encourage members, elements, and sympathizers to take part in them. ISIS had previously forbidden sports and enforced their prohibition to such an extent that, in 2016 ISIS murdered 13 boys in Mosul, Iraqi because they were watching a soccer match on TV. In another instance, ISIS killed four young Syrian soccer players in Al Raqqah when they were accused of espionage in favor of the People's Protection Units.
4. Alleviating the constraints against citizens: It seems that ISIS seeks, through this mechanism, to diminish the social tension in the areas they have control over in Syria and Iraq. These areas have become unpopular due to the severe implementation of excessive restrictions on citizens which prevents many social activities, previously held popular in those areas, from occurring.
The points put forth in this paper illustrate how ISIS, like other terrorist organizations, will continue to seek out any mechanisms available to achieve its goals, while diminishing pressures imposed by military strikes. It seems that this defensive orientation will continue for the next period, in light of the decline of new members that join the organization. This decline is due to the restrictions that many states have imposed on their citizens, causing citizens to move to areas where ISIS has less control, the escalating social discontent in these areas, and because of the military strikes they suffer.
