"On the Path of the First Rightly-Guided Ones"- Islamic State Editorial on the New Caliph and Allegiance Pledge

This week’s editorial in the Islamic State’s al-Naba’ newsletter focuses on the announcement of the death of the previous caliph Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi and the appointment of his successor Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. The editorial’s main points are as follows:

(i) The killing of the previous caliphs does not show the illegitimacy of the caliphate. On the contrary, three of the first four Rashidun (rightly-guided) caliphs were assassinated, while Abu Bakr died only after two years of being Prophet Muhammad’s successor, and it has been said he was poisoned. The current caliphate is on the direction of the Rashidun caliphs.

(ii) Contrary to what some speculated, the Islamic State did not delay in finding and appointing a successor. In fact, the successor was already in place by the end of the Friday after Abu Ibrahim was killed (i.e. he was killed on 3 February 2022- a Thursday- and so by the end of 4 February 2022 the successor had been appointed with allegiance given to him by the leadership, following which the diwans of the soldiers and media gave allegiance, and then the units in the rest of the wilayas). The only thing that was delayed was the public announcement, which took into account the field situation.