Category: IS

Understanding Salafi-Jihadi Communication: Insights from Mujahid Mind AI

The Nature of Salafi-Jihadi Communication: Salafi-Jihadi groups communicate based on deeply rooted theological principles. Their messaging has remained consistent over time, as evidenced by materials produced before and after major global events, such as the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq that enabled the rise of AQ.

To counter their strategic communication effectively, it is essential to understand the core concepts and doctrinal frameworks they use to engage their primary tartget audience worldwide.

Empirical Insights from Mujahid Mind AI

Mujahid Mind AI analyzed over 6,600 images published between mid-2020 and early 2025. The findings reveal that, despite claims of their decline and defeat, the Islamic State (IS) continues to document its activities and engage with supporters through photo reports. This contradicts narratives suggesting IS has been incapacitated. Their communication remains active regardless of Western attention.

The full article giving an overview of the findings was published by ITSTIME:

Understanding Salafi-Jihadi Communication: Insights from Mujahid Mind AI – by Ali Fisher

IS communication on the 2020 Vienna terror attack

Published by EICTP, August 2021.

FINAL_IS_KommunikationDownload

This article examines the communication within IS-networks as well as other IS-affiliated media at the time of the Vienna terror attack and shortly after November 2, 2020. It provides an overview of the communication channels used by IS as well as an analysis of the Arabic content on the Vienna terror attack. By combining this analysis with an examination of how theological arguments are being used in jihadist literature and equally with a relevant network analysis, a comprehensive overview will be given on jihadists’ strategic communication and on how they use social media.

The IS has a professional propaganda apparatus with wide-reaching social media and classical media activities, such as the Amaq News Agency. This propaganda machinery involves the production of its own multimedia content that quickly reacts to terrorist attacks around the globe. Similarly, the video of the perpetrator of the attack in Vienna was quickly adapted to portray him as a glorified martyr and to call out Austria as a legitimate enemy due to its participation in the international anti-IS coalition.

Broadly, the different communication stages can be divided into four different phases:

1) Open Source Intelligence on Telegram,

2) Adding an IS nasheed to the video showing the murder of a woman during the attack

3) Adaption of existing IS-multimedia content with theological references, and

4) The IS-media machinery kicks off with self-produced multimedia content and theological references.

In order to better understand the communication of jihadist networks, it is essential to examine the ideology of violent jihad as well as the appropriation of Islamic-theological arguments for that purpose. Modern jihadist communication networks transport some highly intellectual theological writings together with a multitude of pictures and videos. Using clear visual codes for their multimedia propaganda, they combine them with theological references to promote their belief system and their theology of violence. With an abundancy of Salafi jihadi literature accessible online, they can easily be appropriated by terrorist actors to theologically justify violence.