According to the investigations of German authorities, Arid Uka, a German man with Kosovan roots, accused of killing two US soldiers at Frankfurt Airport in 2011, was described as “a lone wolf”.[1] Just before shooting the American soldiers, Arid was listening to a “hymn” produced in the German language in Waziristan (Pakistan). The hymn words: “Mother! Be patient, I went out for Jihad”.[2]

This attitude contradicts the widely spread belief that a jihadist, immediately before conducting a terrorist attack, would listen to some Koranic verses, or grandiose jihadist sermons, expecting that such things would motivate jihadists to complete such unnatural actions.

In a broader perspective, it is recognized that music plays a significant role in the life of fighters. In an interview with American soldiers that fought in the Iraq War, some noted the pivotal role of music in their daily lives during battle. The soldiers would listen to Rap and Metal music before going into combat. They preferred to listen to these genres in groups to boost their morale, and to boost their esteem and determination to fight.2

In the 1980s, the music genre, Gangsta Rap spread widely in the West. It described the life of thugs and gangs, glorifying weapons and criminal activities, and included humiliation against women.[3]  This genre became vastly popular among the youth. It had a huge impact in terms of motivating young people to practice violence, even among various gangs. These particular songs were also among those that US soldiers listened to, during the war.[4]

The examples mentioned above show that music is considered as an essential component in the conflict arena, regardless of the background of the conflicting parties. Vehemently spirited songs, such as those spread in uprisings and revolutions, patriotic songs, those praising battlefields, amongst others, play a role that cannot be performed by political speeches or other types of sermons. The effects of these songs are deeply sentimental in nature. They ignite the passions of listeners and fill them with energy and resolve.

Despite the significant role played by music or hymns during warfare or revolutions experienced by societies to mobilize on public opinion sentiment, or to alleviate the pressure of moral pains inflicted on societies during such harsh periods, music virtually is just an instrument whose effect can be defined by the individuals who utilize it. Music can be either a noble instrument in the hands of armies and revolutionary groups who defend their legitimate rights, or it can bear devastating effects if used by extremist or terrorist organizations.

The current changes and evolutions of extremist groups, whether regarding joining those groups by foreign jihadist fighters, or by various cultural, social and economic factions; and other changes which have never existed before, indicate the idea that joining extremist groups is no more dependent on ideological dimensions or financial gains alone. However, there is a moral psychological aspect that should not be neglected. Thomas Bauer observed that both passion and enthusiasm, not just the idea alone, play a significant role in manufacturing the terrorist act. Moreover, this passion produces not only terrorist acts; rather it produces poetry, prose, and writings that maintain the level of enthusiasm required to preserve the continuity of terrorist acts.[5]

The life of terrorist groups and their activities are not limited to the military aspect; rather there is another equally important aspect, represented in the so-called “Jihadist Culture”. This culture is sociologically considered a lifestyle. The survival of the terrorist group and the continuity of members within it, do not depend only on financial factors, but on moral aspects as well.[6] In this regard, hymns and chants are considered among the most important tools which perform this function. Therefore, the terrorist groups wasted no time in producing these hymns and devoting the needed human and financial resources for their production.

Currently, the most popular hymns among terrorist groups are considered a reproduction of the hymn heritage. Written in the 1970s and 1980s,  political Islamist and terrorist groups started producing chants and hymns and utilized them in their struggle against existing governments in both Egypt and Syria. That struggle was not a military one, but a conflict to seize control over the public culture (besides ousting those governments of course).

That period witnessed a prevalence of Islamist hymns. The political Islamist groups tried, through hymns, among a range of other tools, to impact public culture through Islamizing the overall landscape. They tried to invent an “Islamic alternative” for every aspect of daily life. However, those attempts and hymns reflected some messages and doctrinal beliefs which Islamist groups tried to infuse in the collective conscience. Moreover, those hymns were transformed from a soft-power-tool to an instrument to incite violence. Accompanied by this change was the shifting remarks of some extremist groups towards practicing violence. As a result, the “Jihadist” hymns were introduced to promote violence and to glorify Jihad (holy war) and war against the enemies of Islam. Furthermore, some extremist groups utilized that heritage which is full of fervent, passionate chants that accompanied the Palestinian uprising, to motivate people to confront the Israeli occupation; while they traded and marketed that cause as an ultimate goal to devote to the “jihad”.

The first usage of Jihadist hymns by an international terrorist group such as al-Qaeda appeared with the beginning of “International Jihad” in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. One of those hymns titled “Martyrs’ Convoy”, was known across all Arab countries. The hymn had a huge impact on Arab mujahideen, and it is still used up to this day by a number of other terrorist groups.[7]

Generally speaking, most terrorist groups, from both Sunni and Shiite creeds, use jihadist hymns nowadays. However, the only difference between the two rivals is about using musical instruments. Shiite groups, such as Hezbollah, do not have any reservations regarding using musical instruments; unlike Sunni jihadist groups, which prohibit the use of any musical instrument except for the tambourine (duff).[8] Nevertheless, the role of hymns had never been so effective on jihadist culture as it is perceived currently.[9] The increased of using hymns, essentially by ISIS, became quite remarkable, a point to be addressed further in the article.

Jihadist hymns are not of one type; rather they could be distinguished in four basic styles:

As mentioned earlier, the popularity of hymns among terrorist and extremist groups was not associated with the emergence of ISIS. Nevertheless, today ISIS ranks at the top of these groups regarding producing hymns, exactly as it was superior to other groups in terms of using social media platforms. ISIS became the strongest jihadist organization that produces and uses hymns, while most other groups depend on reproducing old “jihadist” hymns. ISIS has a specialized wing, the Ajnād Foundation for Media Production, which is committed to this function and does nothing but produces hymns.[13] This foundation was established by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in 2013, to create a distinctive identity for his organization, unlike other jihadist groups.[14]

Through those hymns, ISIS aims to motivate its members to change the world, to enhance their loyalty to the organization, to dream of establishing the so-called “imagined state” and to draw its features. The use of these hymns is common among ISIS members throughout their daily lives. Some of the cars moving in the areas controlled by ISIS, play the jihadist hymns, in quite a similar way to American gangs in areas under their influence, by playing rap music to boost their control over these areas.[15]

The significant impact of ISIS jihadist hymns can be noticed through the decision taken by other jihadist rival groups, which prohibited listening to or using any hymns produced by ISIS, within the areas under the control of those rivals.[16] The supremacy of ISIS is due to several reasons, as some of which are related to the attributes and quality of the hymns produced by ISIS. Other reasons are related to the usage those chants.

Having said this; ISIS hymns have their special attributes and are different from the hymns produced by other terrorist groups. The various characteristics found in ISIS hymns are as follows:

Professional production techniques: Usually, the hymn follows a certain defined form, as it depends on the voices of singers and no musical instruments were used in old hymns. ISIS producers depend on certain advanced technology and software to make the hymn attractive and of high quality. Moreover, the harmony among the singers who perform the hymn is achieved in a professional way, according to experts’ opinion. The whole job is completed in a way very similar to that of the quality found in commercial songs.[19]

Among the factors that helped ISIS in producing those hymns in that level of quality is the joining of some terrorist members who are experts in this field. Among the joining members, there were famous European Rap singers, including a well-known German Rap singer named Deso Dogg. Those members played a remarkable role in providing the modern features to ISIS songs, which made them more effective on the youth.[20] Undoubtedly, the diversity of topics and expertise helped in producing these hymns in various languages such as English and German, among others, and widened the listener base.

Behind producing these Jihadist hymns, ISIS seeks to achieve a set of goals. Some of these goals are related to the desire to enhance the identity of the group, waging a psychological war against its opponents or to achieve a broad dissemination via the internet. These goals are as follows:

ISIS took the advantage of the inability of anyone to curb the broadcast of those hymns via the Internet. Despite blocking some ISIS websites and preventing them from accessing the sites of sharing videos which are widely popular on the internet, these prohibition measures are taken because some violent photos and sights of brutal killings are accompanying the video. However, blocking jihadi hymns from the sites of sharing audio materials is still very difficult. Moreover, the policies of some websites, particularly YouTube, are based on deleting the materials which incite violence, depending on the complaints sent by viewers.[22]Accordingly, in case no one complained about the bad content, the material may continue to broadcast on the website without any deletion.

Finally, the above report confirms the precision of Philip Smith’s opinion, a researcher in Middle Eastern affairs, and an analyst of Jihadist songs. Smith states, “iff you are really trying to recruit and indoctrinate people, music is a fantastic way to do it .”[23] This is due to the fast impacts of hymns on human feelings and emotions. Feeling are not subject to a logical process, and they do not need any effort to mobilize towards something. Therefore, it can be stated, if the religious sayings and jurisprudential arguments and pretexts, which are promoted by extremist groups, that make members extremists on the mental level, then hymns make them extremists on the sentimental and spiritual level.

[1] BBC Arabic report, Augustus 31th, 2011, Starting the trial of the “Islamist” man accused of shooting at Frankfurt Airport; accessible at the following link: http://goo.gl/wwQoAx 

[2] BBC Arabic report (video), December 2014, Jihadist hymns are counted as an essential part of the jihadists’ identity; accessible at: http://goo.gl/prhV3K

[3] Jonathan Pieslak, Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, (USA: Indiana University Press, 2009) p. 147.

[4] Michael newton, Criminal investigation, gangs and gang crime, (New York: infobase publishing, 2008), p. 69.

[5]  Jonathan Pieslak, Op.cit., p .153.

[6] Behnam Said, Hymns (Nasheeds): A Contribution to the Study of the Jihadist Culture, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol. 35, Issue 12, March 2012, p. 863.

[7]  Thomas Hegghammer, Why Terrorists Weep: The Socio-Cultural Practices of Jihadi Militants, 16 April 2015, (pp. 4 – 6), accessible at: http://goo.gl/R3EpfG

[8] Behnam Said, op.cit., p. 867.

[9]  Alex Marshall, How Isis got its anthem, The guardian, November 9, 2014, accessible at: http://goo.gl/02RIvg

[10]  Thomas Seymat, How nasheeds became the soundtrack of jihad, Euro news, October 10th, 2014, accessible at: http://goo.gl/hnRmAQ

[11] Behnam Said, op.cit., p. 867.

[12] Ibid., p. 867.  

[13] Aaron Y. Zelin, A Brief Look at the History and Power of Anasheed in Jihadist Culture, Jihadology website, May 31, 2012, accessible at: http://goo.gl/edCnWD

[14] Alex Marshall, op.cit.

[15]  Bryan Schatz, Inside the world of ISIS propaganda music, Mother Jones website, Feb 9, 2015, accessible at: http://goo.gl/y9sRkQ

[16] Alex Marshall, op.cit.

[17] Alex Marshall, op.cit.

[18] Bryan Schatz, op.cit. 

[19]  Alex Marshall, op.cit.

[20]  Thomas Seymat, op.cit.

[21] Alex Marshall, op.cit.

[22]  A’amer Dakeh, “Daesh” produced the most effective song this year, found on Al-Masdar website, on January 1st, 2015, accessible at:  http://goo.gl/t8FCcs

[23]  Bryan Schatz, op.cit.