Political Leaders

Jihadi Religious/Strategic Leaders
Jihadi Operational Leaders
Jihadi Leader: Osama bin Laden
Jihadi Leader: Khattab
Non-Muslim Political Leaders
Muslim Political Leaders

Martyrs

Martyr, general
Martyr in Frame
Martyr with Country
Martyrs, 9/11
Martyr with Koran and Weapons
Female Martyr

Women

Children

The leaders of the jihadi movement can be divided into two major groups: religious officials and operational commanders.  The former—which include figures such as the British-born preacher Abu Hamza and the martyred spiritual leader of Hamas, Ahmad Yassin (both depicted in the images provided)—are seen as individuals who possess proper religious training and credentials, and are considered the chief religious ideologues of the jihadi movement.  Their firebrand sermons and sensationalist writings, distributed throughout the Muslim world, are key motivational tools used for recruiting and inspiring jihadi activists.  They are generally seen as pious religious leaders rather than tactical, on-the-ground jihadi commanders.  They often keep themselves at arms length from actual jihadi activity, although they often praise, highlight, and defend the exploits of jihadi activists in their writings and sermons.  These religious leaders are common motifs in jihadi imagery that are used as symbols of the religious piety espoused by the jihadi movement.  Their images serve to religiously legitimize jihadi groups and promote activism along purely Islamic lines.  They also evoke the messages, ideology, aims, and specific movements associated with these figures to suggest that they are religiously-based (as opposed to nationalist, secularist, or merely political).

The leaders of the jihadi movement can be divided into two major groups: religious officials and operational commanders.  The latter­­—such as Osama bin Laden and Abu Zarqawi—are jihadi leaders who do not possess official religious credentials, but are seen as key tactical leaders of the jihadi movement.  Although their writings and ideas are commonly accepted as religiously sound, they are generally presented as pious Muslim warriors rather than trained religious officials.  Images of these operational leaders serve as an example of someone who is both a religiously pious individual and a militarily successful jihadi commander doing God’s work.  These images can be used to draw attention to specific events and triumphs, to advertise the jihadi movement in general, or to attract recruits to a winning team.

The motif of “Osama bin Laden” is used by jihadi propagandists to symbolize resistance to unjust authority and dedication to jihad.  Images of OBL are ubiquitous in jihadi propaganda, closely followed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Mullah Omar, and Ibn al-Khattab. 

Images of Osama bin Laden on or associated with a horse are common in jihadi visual propaganda.  Both in actual practice and in visual presentation, riding a horse associates Osama bin Laden with the tradition of horses in Islam, but particularly evokes Salafi conceptions of the first generation of Muslims.  In this manner, Osama is identifying himself and is identified by others as embodying the spirit and purity of the companions of the Prophet and all of their successes in jihad and religion. 

While participating in jihad gives a jihadist important religious credibility, death in battle provides both figurative and literal immortality as the deceased becomes a martyr. This is particularly true for the widely-recognized jihadi leaders.  Jihadi leaders, such as Sayyid Qutb, Sheikh Yassin, and Osama bin Laden, have an important status among jihadi groups and sympathetic Muslim societies.  With martyrdom, their personalities are elevated to the status of mythical heroes.  Through martyrdom, these leaders become religious heroes similar to and associated with the great historical warriors and martyrs of Islamic tradition.  Martyrdom further legitimizes their cause and their actions.  In death, jihadi leaders such as Ibn al-Khattab, the Arab leader of jihadists in Chechnya, become motifs in their movement’s visual propaganda. Their images evoke all of the qualities associated with martyred leaders and help to further legitimate and advertise the cause for which they were killed.

Global political leaders are characterized in jihadi propaganda as oppressors of Islam and the jihadi movement.  They are depicted as the main obstacles to achieving the overall goals of the jihadi enterprise—i.e. creating a state (or states) based solely on Islamic law (shariah).  Leaders ranging from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are presented with other political and religious symbols in order to connect their states’ policies to greater concerns of the Muslim world.  For instance, President Bush is often associated with the Star of David and the Israeli flag in order to connect U.S. foreign policy to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian population.  In these images, the individual political leader is generally treated as a stand-in for the government that he represents, although sometimes the imagery is a personal attack on the individual shown. Such imagery serves to undermine any new policy initiatives put forth by these leaders, and also taints their policies and rhetoric in the eyes of the greater Muslim community.

Global political leaders appear in jihadi propaganda as both foreign and local oppressors of Islam and the jihadi movement.  Muslim political leaders are depicted as the main obstacles to achieving the overall goals of the jihadi enterprise—i.e. creating a state (or states) based solely on Islamic law (shariah).  Leaders ranging from Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to Ayatollah Ali Sistani (both depicted in the images provided) are presented as wayward and heretical Muslims who are often puppets of the Western states.  It is important to note that in Salafi jihadi ideology, no Muslim ruler is legitimate unless the territory under his control is governed solely by Islamic law.  Effectively, this means that no current leader of a majority Muslim state is deemed legitimate by fundamentalist Islamic ideology.  Further, since Shiites are considered heretical by fundamentalist Sunnis, all Shiite leaders (religious or political) are also considered enemies of true Islam and the jihadi movement. Thus, in order to remind their audience of these facts, and in order to undermine the authority of these leaders, jihadi groups depict these leaders as enemies and oppressors of true Islam and obstacles to jihadi success. Generally, they do this by either labeling them as such with text, or by associating them with symbols (such as the Star of David or the U.S. flag) in order to paint them as western puppets or secular tyrants.

In Islam, there is no greater sacrifice than martyrdom.  To die for one’s faith is the most spiritual act in the Islamic tradition, and is seen as a reward in and of itself.  It is also believed that Muslim martyrs will be highly rewarded in the afterlife for their sacrifice and will hold a special station in heavenly paradise.  It is not unusual, then, for martyrdom to be one of the central themes in jihadi visual propaganda, and it is used by nearly every group.  Furthermore, there is a sub-genre of jihadi imagery concerned solely with martyrdom.  In this latter group of images, martyrdom is advertised and praised; encouraged and celebrated.  Martyrs depicted in these images generally fall into two categories: innocents those killed by enemies, and jihadi activists, who are either killed in battle or on suicide missions. 

There are many ways to depict martyrs in jihadi visual propaganda.  One common technique is on  oval or round “frame.”  By framing the photograph or a specific martyr, jihadi propaganda is able to evoke notions of familial sentimentality.  They use this method for both innocent martyrs and those killed in action.  These “portraits” are meant to remind the audience of their own family portraits, conveying the sense that these are typical men who engaged in an activity that is a reasonable option for any member of the community.   While framed martyr photos are found in the propaganda of several jihadi groups, they are most commonly used by Palestinian organizations.

A common technique for depicting martyrs in jihadi visual propaganda is to combine a photograph of a martyr with a representation of the country in which he was killed or from which he originated.  The purpose is to draw attention to the jihadi activities taking place within that country while emphasizing the oppression of the ruling powers within that country.  Thus, this method both nationalizes the martyrdom and internationalizes what began as a local conflict. 

Martyrs are a source of inspiration in Islamic culture, and their images are used in visual propaganda to inspire support for jihad.  Anyone killed while executing a jihadi attack is always depicted as a martyr in order to legitimize the violent act to the wider Muslim community.  If a suicide bomber whose actions cause the death of innocent civilians is recognized as a martyr by the wider Muslim community, then his actions, regardless of how deplorable they may seem, become justified.  In this manner, the individual activists killed in jihadi attacks become important motifs in jihadi propaganda.  Perhaps the most widely used group of martyrs is those who were involved with the September 11, 2001 attacks.  Depictions of this group advertise the success of jihadi activism in general, and emphasize the religious nature of the attack for all potential audiences.

The “before shot” or “last will and testament” image is common in jihadi propaganda.  These photographs, generally taken before a suicide mission to mark that event, almost always include weapons, the Koran, and other religious symbols.  They combine these disparate items into a single overall message: the religious importance of martyrdom and its violent nature.  These images also serve to inflate the actual power of jihadi groups and their activists.  This type of imagery is most commonly used by Palestinian organizations.

Images of female martyrs are common in jihadi visual propaganda and always evoke very intense notions of masculine pride, duty, justice, and shame.  When a Muslim woman is killed by enemies or is driven to sacrifice herself through militant activism, Muslim men feel an intense sense of shame and oppression.  Images of Muslim women, then, are used to both stir sympathy for the innocent victims of violent oppression, and to provoke men into responding against the perceived injustice. 

Women hold powerful symbolic value in Islamic culture. Women symbolize masculine honor and purity, and are central to nearly every Muslim man’s sense of pride.  To this effect, women are a common motif in jihadi visual propaganda, and are usually depicted as either symbols of purity and honor, or as innocent victims of anti-Muslim oppression.  With regards to the former, women, especially mothers (as exemplified by the image of the woman in a white shroud), are used to evoke notions of masculine pride and honor in the Muslim audience, and are used to inspire participation in jihadi activism.  Women are also portrayed as innocent victims of anti-Muslim oppression and violence.  In this regard, women are invoked visually to play to the powerful sentiments of masculine pride and honor in Muslim society.  They serve to inspire anger against the enemy, and present a symbolic choice to Muslim men who may be vulnerable to such appeals: whether sit back and do nothing, or to join the fight and regain their honor.

Children are employed in jihadi imagery to evoke notions of pride, honor, and injustice.  Images of living children usually include boys, and are symbols of innocence and purity.  In this manner, they evoke notions of paternal pride and honor, and are symbolic of the need to protect Islam from outside harm.  Images of young boys also suggest that there is a new generation of jihadi fighters on the rise, and imply that the cause will live on through these children.