The Brother of the Deceased Islamic State Leader and Iraqi Turkmen Activism: Historical Documents

The recently deceased leader of the Islamic State- ‘Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi’- hardly attracted the same notoriety and renown as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Unlike his predecessor, he never appeared in a photo, video or audio message issued by the organisation itself. However, both American and Iraqi intelligence concluded reliably that he was ‘Hajji Abdullah/Hajji Abdullah Qardash’- a deputy of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi whose real name was Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abd al-Rahman (Salbi al-Mawla), originally from al-Mahlabiyya in Ninawa province. As the ‘Qardash’ nickname indicates, he was an Iraqi Turkmen, though as I have previously noted, this did not make it impossible for him to claim a Qurashi lineage that is considered a requirement to be a caliph, because he could claim to be an Arab by lineage and a Turkmen at the same time by virtue of speaking the Iraqi Turkmen language.