ISIS Recruitment, Explained

Lily Hupfel

How do three British teenagers get lured from their comfortable lives in Hackney, England to join ISIS in Syria? How do a catholic math whiz and her computer scientist husband move from the Philippines to Syria to become famed ISIS recruiters? How does violent ideology transform educated individuals into “agents of death” for the Islamic state? The answer lies in ISIS’s extensive recruitment process. ISIS uses well-tested, foolproof methods of recruitment to manipulate people’s views of Islam and turn them into international terrorists, all in an attempt to create an Islamic State under Sharia Law.

What is ISIS and what do they believe?

ISIS is a powerful militant terrorist group that operates out of the Middle East. Currently, the group was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999, and is currently led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has been in power since May 2010. It has proclaimed itself an Islamic caliphate and is focused on creating a stringent Islamic state and implementing Sharia law. ISIS stands for “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” as it was started in Iraq and then later expanded to Syria. ISIS is notorious for its especially brutal and public attacks on civilians. It claims responsibility for hundreds of terrorist attacks around the world, in an effort to gain notoriety, but has not necessarily directed all of them. Not only does ISIS attack people, but they also attack valuable monuments, works of arts, temples and other buildings. There are many names that refer to ISIS, like ISIL or IS, but they are all referring to the same organization. ISIS takes advantage of social media to promote “reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism.” They want to make themselves known throughout the world as a force to be reckoned with.

ISIS is a strictly Islamic group that is focused on jihadism and creating a state that implements Sharia law. Jihadism is “a 21st-century neologism found in Western languages to describe Islamist militant movements perceived as... ‘rooted in Islam’ and ‘existentially threatening’ to the West” (Olav and Rothstein). Sharia law is a very strict religious code based on traditional Islamic beliefs, values, rules, and practices. Sharia law includes praying, fasting, and donating to the poor. However, there are serious punishments for even the smallest offences. For example, if one steals something they can be punished by having their hand amputated. Essentially, Sharia law operates on an eye for an eye basis. By implementing Sharia law, ISIS can carry out its goal of creating a state in the Middle East that abides by their rules. ISIS advances a particular form of Islam, and insists that if one does not follow their same path, they are apostates. They do everything they do in the name of Islam and find ways to justify their actions in the Quran. Essentially, they are Muslim extremists that operate in the grey area of religion in an attempt to gain followers and create an Islamic state under strict Sharia law.

Political Islam and the Rise of Religious Extremism

Although it might seem like a modern phenomenon, religious extremism is not new and has roots in the mid-20th century. Islamic extremism, specifically, started gaining public attention in the United States and around the world after 9/11. It all started, however, in the colonial era.

Many believe that the roots of contemporary jihadism and religious extremism come from ancient religion, but it really has more to do with foreign intervention. After WWI, foreign powers divided up the Middle East, creating states that served their interests. As a result, national identities were weakened and many in the Middle East gravitated toward religious nationalist groups. John Moore of PBS posits that “[t]he growth of these nationalist and revolutionary movements, along with their view that terrorism could be effective in reaching political goals, generated the first phase of modern international terrorism.” After having their homeland carved up by foreign powers, religious national and political groups were the last hope for many disheartened people in the region.

While ISIS may be the most recognized face of religious extremism today, it has deep historical origins in Middle Eastern politics. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the oldest and most influential groups that enabled the shift from political Islam to religious extremism. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 to promote personal piety, charity, and a Muslim revival to counter the rise and influence of Western culture. It did not start out as a nationalist group, but its hostility towards Western influence quickly turned into nationalism. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed to be the only political group that represented the true voice of Egypt. It was one of the first political groups to use Islam as its main point of reference and therefore connected with a whole new layer of society that was unmoved by the more mainstream nationalist movements (Gelvin 206-207).

In the midst of political instability in the region, the US became increasingly involved in the Middle East. As Paul Thomas Chamberlin states, “For half a century, U.S. leaders and their allies consistently worked to undermine secular progressive forces around the world… In the process, [they] unwittingly empowered the very forces of religious conservatism that Washington is battling today.” Fundamentally, extremism came from the need to express and practice one's religion while outside forces actively suppressed it.

After years of disruptive US involvement and the rise of Israel as a state, some former supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood turned to more radical groups like al Qaeda or ISIS. They were unsatisfied with the Muslim Brotherhood as it had been in power for so long but had yet been able to act or create the change they were hoping for. As a result, they resorted to more militant and extreme solutions (Gelvin). Although the Muslim Brotherhood is not solely responsible for the rise of terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and ISIS, it certainly aided the switch from political Islam to Islamic extremism.

The Roots of ISIS

For many of these groups, especially al Qaeda and then ISIS, the Cold War was a jumping off point for their Islamic extremism. During the Cold War, America discouraged secular movements in an effort to stop the spread of communism. This effort backfired as it lead to the rise of more conservative and extremist religious movements like ISIS. As Chamberlin explains, “Without secular alternatives, aspiring revolutionaries channeled their energy toward religious forms of rebellion, most notably globalized jihad.” ISIS began growing quickly and is now a huge organization that holds immeasurable power in the Middle East and around the world.

The more direct roots of ISIS can be traced back to around 2004 when another terrorist organization, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), was formed. In 2006, the then current leader of AQI, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US airstrike. Abu Ayyub al-Masri took his place as the leader of AQI and announced the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), establishing Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as its leader. In 2010, both Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint US-Iraqi operation. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi’s son took his place as leader and declared ISI’s absorption of an AQI backed militant group located in Syria, renaming ISI to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). From 2006 to 2010 ISIS was still publicly tied to AQI but in 2014 AQI denounced its ties to ISIS after months of infighting. ISIS has since continued to operate separately from AQI in all aspects of its existence.

Who joins ISIS?

There are particular characteristics and patterns of behavior that ISIS looks for when recruiting. Lizzie Dearden from the Independent puts it very clearly, “Male, 26, single, quite well-educated but not an expert on the Quran – this is the profile of an average fighter joining ISIS.” Recruits are not chosen randomly; they are the objects of a specific, calculated, and well-tested prototype. ISIS is not just recruiting from the Middle East; it was recently revealed that they have citizens of 77 countries in their ranks. The map below shows the countries from which ISIS recruits and the amount of recruits coming from each of those countries.

The typical ISIS fighter is much more common than one would imagine. As Rukmini Callimachi states, “we assume that the people that they succeed in recruiting into this group must be very different from us. But in fact, it’s…more spooky. Because it’s something that you recognize.” These recruits are not innately violent or criminal but are later manipulated into being such by ISIS.

Most ISIS recruits are very well educated in all areas but one: Islamic or Sharia law. This allows ISIS to “[twist] the Quran to serve its purposes, introducing brutal and “un-Islamic” punishments in its territories.” Most recruits are from middle-class backgrounds and have grown up neither rich nor poor. Their families are often not outwardly religious, and most have not endured outright discrimination based on their religion. Nonetheless, most recruits have felt like outsiders in their normal lives and therefore are avid video game players, preferring to hide behind an avatar. Recruiters understand this vulnerability and use tactics that capitalize on personal grievances and offer a community for them to belong to. Many recruits describe not even belonging in their own families and feeling like failures. Many are unemployed and feel like deadbeats and regret not having done much with their lives. People who know recruits often describe them as having a “fearlessness that could ripen into fanaticism.” A former ISIS fighter embodies this when he explains his rationale,

"I started imagining myself, daydreaming, day in and out, how it would be to just, you know, fight on the front, protecting your people. There was always that lingering fact — that what if I die? Well, what if I die? But then I gave myself comfort by saying, I’ll die as a martyr. I’ll die going out being someone, protecting something. I’d die for fighting for what I believe in. I’d die as a hero, then. I’d die as doing something."

Joining ISIS essentially gives them a purpose in life and allows them to do something they can be proud of despite what their families or friends may think. When recruiting, ISIS is looking for a specific demographic of people of which there is no shortage in this world.

Who are the recruiters and what is the process of recruitment?

Much like recruits, recruiters for ISIS have a particular set of characteristics that allows them to convince people to join their group and believe in their ideology. They are “ideologues who can entice masses to their cause…smart, cunning, well connected.” Many recruiters are especially smart and were leaders in their past. For example, Ellen Barriga, a famed recruiter, lead student government in high school and organized dance concerts. Recruiters have one of the most critical and challenging jobs; they are responsible for making a terrorist group seem enticing. Recruiters draw people in through ideology and then weaponize those ideas to create violent jihads. They have become increasingly more sophisticated and use tactics similar to those of intelligence officers.

Recruitment for ISIS usually begins in online chat rooms with innocent conversations. As mentioned before, for recruits searching for a community these chat rooms are a great option. A former recruit explains, “Oh, it felt like, you know, wow. These guys — it’s easier to talk to them. Like, they’re more accepting of you.” Unbeknownst to the recruits, during these casual conversations, the recruiters are evaluating the vulnerabilities of their targets and working to build a trusting relationship with them. These conversations slowly turn from exchanging pleasantries to talking about jihad. Often recruits have questions about the morality of ISIS’s actions to which they are always given religious justifications, whether correct or not. Once the recruiter is sure of their target’s interest there are a few specific narratives that they use. Each narrative is different and can be applied to target specific vulnerabilities; they all offer “the triplet of an ideal, a group, and strong emotions.”

The most common of the narratives is based on the Salafi jihadi or worldview. The Salafi jihadi is a religious and political ideology based on the belief in physical jihadism and returning to true Sunni Islam. In this narrative, three primary principles are utilized: monotheism, rejection of false idols, and allegiance to Muslims only. The first principle is simple and asks the recruit to choose Allah as their only god and recognize him as the sole rulemaker. Jesse Morton, a former recruiter for ISIS, explains, “the belief in Allah requires belief that Allah is the lawgiver, the legislator, the one who developed the Shariah.” The next principle is the rejection of false gods or idols. The idol refers to anything that takes away from the idea that Allah is all powerful. This is more extreme than one might think, as Callimachi explains: “So the democratically elected president of your country? That is an idol. The ballot box? That is an idol. The act of voting? That is an idol.” The third and final principle is the allegiance to Muslims only. Essentially, the recruit must love and hate everything that Allah loves and hates, even if that means there own family and friends. Morton explains, “you must sacrifice in the way of Islam for the sake of the global Muslim population.” Once the recruit has gone through these three stages, the recruiter understands the susceptibility of the target and can begin to exploit it. The image below is an example of the propaganda ISIS uses to entice recruits in a religious way.

There are many other narratives that are more specific to the individual ISIS aims at recruiting. For example, there is the “Search for A Better World” narrative that is targeted at individuals who are disillusioned with society, there is the “Lancelot” narrative that targets young men who dream of being knights or similar historic characters, and there is even the “Fortress” narrative that is aimed at men who are propelled by sexual obsessions. The specificity and variety of these narratives show how fine-tuned and calculated the recruitment process really is.

How does ISIS use social media and technology to its advantage?

In recent years, as social media has become more popular than ever, ISIS has monopolized on its benefits to transform the terrorist recruiting process. Nowadays, almost all of their recruitment happens online and over social media. As Jimmy Leach from the Huffington post states, “The war of terror being fought by ISIS has a parallel battle of information - a battle for hearts, minds and recruits… Digitally-led; driven by imagery; massively branded and targeted, it is, brutal, efficient and effective.” Our modern-day view of terrorists is not one that lends itself to educated people with branded content and real attempts at user engagement, but when you look beyond the surface level of violence and horror, that is precisely what they are. ISIS utilizes networks such as Twitter and Facebook as well as one-on-one messaging apps like Telegram and Surespot; this variety of resources offers an unparalleled means of connection to anyone in the world. A study done last year estimates that ISIS releases around 38 new items on social media a day, these range from video to prose to photo essays and much more. As Leach explains,

"The use of social media by ISIS is actually pretty standard: There is a progression for all brands from ISIS to Red Bull… which goes from brand awareness (the shock and awe) to first contact (the call to arms, often fuelled by religious fervor) to repeat contacts (grooming, and again based on a call to religious duty) to recruitment (which is when the conversation moves to the messenger apps)...And it’s done through outreach and targeting and through “good’’ content amplified through social media, which also provides the platform for engagement and contact."

ISIS’s approach is not revolutionary, but it is highly effective. It has become easier than ever for recruiters to get in contact with their targets and manipulate them into believing ISIS’s ideals. Recruitment using social media has mobilized an estimated 40,000 individuals from 110 different countries to join ISIS.

By using social media, ISIS “describes the Islamic State as a land that is full of happiness.” This kind of utopia could only be created online as things can be easily fabricated and manipulated to portray a certain message. This utopia is based on fantastical propaganda that is widely spread using social media. According to Charlie Winter, a research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, “ISIS develops its fantasy of an Islamic State from seven themes, namely religion, economic activity, governance, justice, social life, expansion, and nature and landscapes.” Essentially, ISIS builds narratives that express how effective a government the Islamic State would be; how there would be amazing facilities and a flourishing economy. To do this, ISIS uses videos that show people practicing religion, praying, dining, and enjoying life together. By creating a visible utopia, ISIS has been able to enhance and expedite their recruiting process.

ISIS not only creates a utopia but it also creates an aspirational prototype of an ISIS fighter. Leach writes, “they build an idea of the life of those recruits - the Jihadi cool approach, which is all black t-shirts, sunglasses and guns. It is, in short, aspirational.” For those considering joining ISIS, this is an enticing offer: a utopian lifestyle and powerful new persona. The image below is an example of propaganda showing the aspirational prototype ISIS creates.

Essentially, ISIS has created a brand on social media for its recruits. This brand, however, is different from the one shown by the media and is specially designed to portray an image that lures recruits to their side. Understandably, ISIS’s use of social media is threatening, and many social media companies swear to delete all terrorists and sympathetic accounts from their platforms. This effort is ultimately useless, though, as the companies are heavily reliant on the users that follow those accounts. ISIS has created a foolproof system of recruitment that cannot be tamed by anything or anyone.

Rukmini Callimachi from the New York Times insightfully asks, “In the war on terror, who is it that we’re really fighting?” In order to understand ISIS, and answer this crucial question, one must first understand the people in it. And to understand the people in it, one must understand their journey to joining the group. One must understand how and why they joined and who or what convinced them to do so. Essentially, one must understand the process of recruitment. ISIS targets a specific kind of person and acts with intent and purpose. They have learned to uses non-revolutionary tactics in revolutionary ways and have created an unparalleled system of recruitment. Their system sheds light on who they are as a group and how they plan to operate.

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