A major theme in pro-Caucasus Emirate (IK) online groups — which still exist in the plural despite the erosion of IK in the North Caucasus and more recent upheavals in Syria — is a condemnation of the Islamic State (IS) group, a trend that has grown in momentum over the past year. I take a quick look at how this evolved, and share a Caucasus Emirate poem slamming IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

As recently as about a year ago, criticism of IS, though present, was frowned on, on the grounds that it promoted “fitna” or sedition, something that was to be avoided. But amid a growing bitterness over the defection to IS of IK militants*, the calls to avoid fitna have gradually eroded and been replaced with very overt criticisms of IS, its ideology, its methods and its leadership by pro-IK online groups. Most recently, for example, a Telegram group whose stated mission is to expose “IS lies” has been launched by IK supporters.

For the avoidance of confusion, before I go any further, I should point out that “pro-IK online groups” are not coterminous with “IK” — the members of these groups are not necessarily militants either in Syria or the North Caucasus, though there is cross-posting and links between the various groups, and it would be a good exercise to map these (though as the groups are constantly banned, this is a rather difficult task). The main groups appear to have links to or cross post to Kavkaz Center’s various online presences, for example, and posts from these groups appear in online groups run by or associated with IK-affiliated individuals who are in Syria.

Before I talk about poetry, let’s look a little bit at how this criticism works.

One of the most interesting things about the anti-IS criticism from the pro-IK groups is the terminology and themes that have emerged. For example, IS supporters are dubbed “Igishata.” To break this down for non-Russian speakers: Igish is the Russian acronym for ISIS (Исламское Государство Ирака и Шама, ИГИШ) and the plural “ata” deliberately chosen because this is a plural form reserved for nouns relating to children or the young of animals (e.g. bear cubs = medvezhata, baby hares = zaychata). So this word suggests that IS supporters and militants are childlike or cub like in their thinking and actions, in other words they do not properly understand Islam. IS itself is often referred to as “даиш” i.e. Daesh, the Arabic abbreviation for IS used as a slur.

Another interesting element — and bear this in mind for when we go on to talk about poetry in a moment — is how these pro-IK groups refer to IS’s leader and self-styled “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In recent months — maybe I should even say recent weeks, since this is a very new phenomenon (bear that in mind as well) — these groups refer to Baghdadi as “ibrashka samarri,” and yes, the lower case letters are deliberate. Ibrashka is a Russified, over-familiar-and-thus-derogatory nickname from Ibrahim, Baghdadi’s real name; “samarri” also comes from Baghdadi’s real name, which incorporates his birthplace of as-Samarra in Iraq: Ibrahim Awwadty Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai.

With this as background, let’s take a look at an example of how poetry has been used as part of the self-expression of pro-IK groups in relation to the IS group.

Akhmad Dagestansky

“Jihadi poetry” is an important part of how North Caucasian jihadis create, express and share their worldview, opinions and ideas about various aspects of jihad. There is no room to go into this in depth here but poems are written by both men and women, by IK and IS supporters and militants, and topics are very wide, encompassing religion, laws of jihad, the Caucasus in general, dealing with the death of a militant husband, what it is like to “go out to jihad,” criticisms of those who do not “go out to jihad,” and so on. (I’m collecting it, so if you see any in Russian, do pass it on.)

One of the most prolific poets is Akhmаd Dagestansky (Akhmad the Dagestani), an IK militant who published (via the internet) a series of poems called “Verses from Captivity,” implying that they were written while he was in jail. His poetry covers a wide range of issues, all relating to jihad of course, and some of them — especially his poem not-very-obliquely praising Dmitry Sokolov, the terrorist who organized the deadly bomb attack on a passenger bus in Volgograd) — are particularly disturbing.

In June last year, Dagestansky wrote a poem criticizing IS leader Baghdadi, “The Thief of Baghdad,” which he sent to various pro-IK and pro-jihadi websites. But none of them would publish the poem, because they were afraid to provoke fitna. Dagestansky explained this on the comments section of one of the websites, where he tried to share his poem:

“Assalam Aleikum to all the websites and blogs of the Caucasus Emirate, but not only them. I am a slave and warrior of Allah, Akhmad Dagestansky. Having been in zindan [he uses a word meaning prison, but it’s a nice, flowery word so I’m preserving it to give you a flavor of his style] and not having the possibility to fight on the Path of Allah with a sword, for many years I have fought with the pen. Being a modest poet of jihad and striving to satisfy Allah, I declare war o the false and vicious leadership of the Dawla Jamaat [IS] and all its blind and ignorant followers.”

The site’s admins replied:

We know your wonderful poems, brother, several IK sites have published them…We know that several of our imprisoned brothers, who do not have the possibility to obtain objective information, unfortunately have failed for the propaganda campaign spread by the Dawla organization [IS], which has deployed the infidel media around it.

Dagestansky then wrote:

So it turned out that several websites run by IK mujahideen, who have printed my verses for so many years, would not publish this very verse [about Baghdadi]. I will say one thing, I wrote and write about the problems of our Umma in IK and the whole world. And I think that staying silent about the nature of Dawlah [IS] is a voluntary or involuntary silencing of the Truth. In the Dawlah Jamaat right now there are several of those whom I knew and know personally, among them are my brothers and sisters, but this is not a reason that I should stay silent, like some people. Allah is not shy of the Truth and I will not do that.

The website’s response:

As far as we know, brothers have sought advice from more knowledgeable people, and they advised them not to publish the most dramatic texts on “Dawla”, among whom were some of your poems. The situation is already very tense, including emotionally, our scholars, who have been attacked and insulted by “Dawla” are calling for maximum restraint.

So here we have a few points: Dagestansky explains why he writes poetry, which for him is “fighting with the pen,” and the exchange explains that his poem was considered too inflammatory to publish before now, though this site allowed him to publish it in the comments section. I’ve seen it on a couple of other sites too. This shows the sea change in attitudes towards criticizing IS and Baghdadi since last year.

Here’s the poem, with my (super-fast, word for word) translation:

«Багдадский вор»

Откуда взялся этот человек,

С повадками босоты уголовной,

С безумством глаз и с частотою нег.

И с бесконечно ложной родословной?

Откуда взялся этот человек,

В тот самый час, когда Джихад воспрянул,

В тот самый миг, когда тиран поблек,

Откуда этот самозванец грянул?

Откуда взялся этот человек,

Крадущий нынче крохи Газавата,

Из залитых страданьями сусек,

Для лживого, как сам он «Халифата»?

Откуда взялся этот человек,

Стратег и вождь коммерческой войны,

Мгновенно став в сей переломный век,

Последнею надеждой сатаны???

Ахмад Дагестанский

“The Thief of Baghdad”

Where did he come from, this man

With the habits of a barefoot criminal,

With madness of eye and frequently enjoying himself**

And with an infinitely false bloodline?

Where did this man come from,

In the very hour when Jihad rallied,

At the very moment when the tyrant faded,

From whence did this impostor burst?

Where did he come from, this man,

Stealing now the crumbs of gazavat [holy war]

From grain bins overflowing with suffering,

For the “Caliphate” that’s as false as he is?

Where did he come from, this man,

A strategist and chieftain of commercial warfare,

Instantly becoming in this watershed age

The last hope of Satan???

Akhmad Dagestansky

**Частота (“frequency”) is kind of an odd word to use, he seems to be implying that Baghdadi is often carousing.