"The Rearers of the Franks' Pigs"

Islamic State Editorial on Syrian Government Collaboration with the Americans and al-Suwayda'

In a notable example of use of historical narratives about medieval Iberia in Islamic State propaganda (a topic I partly explored in my doctoral thesis), the title of this week’s Islamic State (IS) editorial is a reference to a saying attributed to a ruler of the ta’ifa (Muslim petty state) of Seville during the eleventh century CE. Faced with the prospect of having his state overrun by the Berber Almoravids (who would go on to dismantle all the Muslim petty states in Iberia and unify them under their rule by the early twelfth century), he reputedly rejected the prospect of seeking Christian help to ward off the Almoravids, saying that he would rather have his children rear the Almoravids’ camels than the pigs of the ‘Franks’ (‘Franks’ in this case being a generic term for Christians). The article’s basic point then is to depict the new Syrian government as pig-rearers for the modern-day ‘Franks’: i.e. the ‘Crusaders.’

The editorial focuses on two recent news topics: (i) the reports of a joint operation between the Syrian government and the U.S.-led coalition targeting a senior IS leader in the town of al-Bab in north Aleppo province and (ii) the recent events in al-Suwayda’. The main points of the editorial are as follows: