This response and summary was written up following a Language and Popular Culture Lab presentation in February 2016.

It began as a delirious daydream in the mind of a Jordanian man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Years later, ISIS has been universally recognized as one of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations.  The acronym, which stands for ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’ has mutated into an everyday utterance which surpasses its literal denotation. But it should be asked; how has the world’s biggest terrorist group managed to rise so exponentially? And more importantly, how have they utilized the internet to amass a flock of growing supporters in their wake? 

Twitter, Kik, and Facebook are only a few of the means of communication used by ISIS fighters in fulfilling their agenda. And whatever they’re doing, it’s working. An estimate of more than 20,000 foreigners have been successfully recruited by the group since its withdrawal from Al Qaeda in 2011, with 90,000 pro ISIS messages exchanged daily. In a series of remarkable exchanges between an ISIS runaway and an undercover daily mail journalist posing as a vulnerable teen, the magnitude of the role that language plays in perpetuating ISIS’ ideology becomes frighteningly apparent.   

 Amira Abase, an east London school girl who fled to Syria to become a ‘jihadi bride’, plays the role of a ‘mentor’ to an undercover journalist, even giving advice on how to ‘make hijrah’. The interaction, similarly to many others exchanged between the radical and the moderate, is characterized by heavy linguistic convergence; ‘make dua’, have tawakul’, surrounded by an array of colloquialisms which are reminiscent of the language used by teens on a day to day basis on social media. In one exchange, Abase replies to the journalist’s  doubts of ISIS’ proclaimed agenda with ‘looooool the kuffar [infidels] are filthy, they are friends with the Shaytan [satan] and they allie [ally] (sic) with him instead of Allah.’  The juxtaposition of terminology from both religious Arabic and dialectal English seems to mirror the way the radicalized try to make sense of the relationship between the East and the West. More importantly, however, it demonstrates a contrived persuasion technique which was most likely used by ISIS recruiters before Abase. Interestingly, ISIS’ attempts at bridging the gap between the familiar west and the unfamiliar East in order to successfully persuade teens can be whittled down to the subtle manipulations of linguistic techniques. Any shock at the nature of their crimes is only amplified further by the knowledge that an increasing amount of ISIS supporters voluntarily travel to the Middle East in favor of their agenda.

 We mustn’t be surprised; language is inextricably linked to culture. Yet, it seems that it is almost as shocking as the atrocities committed by the terrorist group. However, by dissecting what seems to be ISIS’ most easily transmitted weapon, we can, and are, beginning to combat the growth of their infectious ideology. ISIS is not only being fought on the ground, but also online. And language is the modus operandi.

Farrah Fray