A Brief Biography of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

A new unofficial pro-Islamic State account

At this point, the broad details of the biography of the Islamic State’s first caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are well-known. It is established, for example, that he was born in the area of Samarra’ and that he was imprisoned by the Americans in 2004, being released by the end of that year. On the other hand, many other details regarding his jihadist career are more obscure. Recently, the same series of pro-Islamic State biographies of prominent but obscure Iraqi figures in the group, which also publicised unofficial biographies of Abu Bakr’s successors Abu Ibrahim and Abu al-Hasan, has released a biography of Abu Bakr, marking the last in the series. It is translated below with annotations. The biography provides some interesting details particularly with regards to his career in the Islamic State of Iraq prior to his becoming head of the group in 2010, and also paints an image of him as a caliph who, far from being distant and absent from his followers, actively participated in battles and was wounded.

The hidden important figures of Iraq: 75 and the last
The reviver Imam Caliph Abu Dua’ al-Badri [1].

The establisher of the Dawla [2] and the Caliphate, the Commander of the Believers, Hajji ‘Awwad al-Shaykh Ibrahim bin ‘Awwad al-Husayni al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. He was born and raised in the city of Samarra’. He graduated from the Shari‘a College in Baghdad University and obtained a master’s and doctorate from the same university. He acquired ‘Ilm at the hands of the hadith scholars of Iraq like his cousins Subhi, Shakir and Isma‘il al-Badri as well as knowledge of Islamic principles at the hands of the two shaykhs Hajji Anbar and Fa’iz al-Athari and other mashayakh [3] of al-Sawwaf and al-Alus [4]. He established some detachments [5] in Baghdad just before the occupation. Then he moved to Fallujah and participated in the first battle there [6]. He was taken prisoner for a time, and then he got out and established Jaysh Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama‘a [7], only to come under the command of the Imam Hajji ‘Awwad al-Zuba‘i in Zuba‘ [8]. He responded to the request of the leaders in the al-Qa ‘ida in the Land of the Two Rivers organisation and came under the banner of the Majlis Shura al-Mujahidin [9] in Iraq. He was also appointed a member and one of the leaders of the Shari‘i Commission.