A Brief Biography of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: The Islamic State's Second Caliph

As I noted in my West Point CTC Sentinel study on the Islamic State’s more recent caliphs, the group has had little to say in an official capacity about those who have succeeded the first caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in an American raid in October 2019. While some 18 months have passed since the killing of Baghdadi’s successor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the Islamic State has yet to publish an official biography of him. Virtually all the information so far has come from the group’s enemies.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi


Recently, however, it would seem that some supporters have circulated an unofficial brief biography of him. Aaron Zelin drew it to my attention and suggested translating it. Even if the biography is not error-free, it is worth presenting nonetheless. Among other things, the biography notes his nicknames as Hajji Abdullah Qardash, confirming he was among the Iraqi Turkmen members of the Islamic State (though Turkmen by language, not necessarily racial lineage), and also provides considerable detail on his career inside the Islamic State, including the crimes of genocide against the Yezidis, and how he eventually rose to become a deputy of Baghdadi. The biography is presented below, though I have inserted some parenthetical insertions in square brackets for clarification.