The Scholar Behind the Islamic State’s Ideology: A Profile of Bahraini Cleric Turki al-Bin’ali
The Scholar Behind the Islamic State’s Ideology: A Profile of Bahraini Cleric Turki al-Bin’ali
Ludovico Carlino
The June 2014 proclamation of a Caliphate covering a large area spanning from eastern Syria to western Iraq has provided the Islamic State with a powerful tool to claim religious legitimacy among supporters and detractors alike. The Islamic State’s claim that it is building a Caliphate following the path of prophethood (Khilafa ala minhaj al-nubuwwa) is a major element in the group’s narrative, as it enables it to claim that its actions are actually tracing the ones of the Prophet of Islam. Such religious reasoning in order to sound legitimate, however, necessitates that scholars be able to both articulate it and to defend it from the many refuters, most of them jihadist clerics who have been calling into doubt the Islamic State’s religious legitimacy. This is the role played by Bahraini cleric Turki al-Bin’ali, who is by far the most preeminent jihadist cleric serving in the Islamic State and who is gradually systemizing its manjah (methodology). What follows is a sketch of his life as a religious student, then as a globetrotting jihadist cleric, and finally as the main mufti of the Islamic State.
From Bahrain to Syria
Turki ibn Mubarak al-Bin’ali (also known as Aby Sufyan al-Silmi, Abu Huthayfa Mohammed Bin Abedulrahman Al-Bahraini, Hatem al-Moqbel) was born in 1984 in al-Muharraq, Bahrain, according to a comprehensive biography reportedly written by one of his scholars, an Australian Islamic State member named Mohammed Mahmmoud. The biography was published online sometime in 2014 [1]. As suggested by his name, he belongs to one of the main Sunni sub-tribal confederation of Gulf countries, the al-Bin Ali. His grandfather, Moqbel, belonged to one of the most prominent branches of the al-Bin Ali clan. Turki al-Bin’ali began his religious studies at an early age, attending the Qur’anic classes of the Sheikhs of Sultan Bin Salama Mosque and Al-Janoubi Mosque in Al-Bousaiteen, in Bahrain [1].
After his secondary studies, he left Bahrain for Dubai to continue his religious studies [3]. In 2005, however, he was arrested by UAE authorities and accused of sympathizing with jihadists; after just a year and half, he was deported to Bahrain (Asharq al-Awsat, February 5, 2015). The biography also states that al-Bin’ali, once back in his home country, spent some months travelling, studying in Beirut with a number of sheikhs, including prominent jihadist ideologues such as Abu Muhammed al-Maqdisi and Amer Sabri al-Tamini (Asharq al-Awsat, February 5, 2015).
After having completed his religious studies, al-Bin’ali started to work as a teacher in al-Hala. At some point, al-Bin’ali was fired from his job, likely once again as a consequence of his jihadist tendencies [4]. According to another report, he left Bahrain again and traveled to Yemen, specifically Abyan, where he allegedly met local jihadist militants (al-Hayat, September 17, 2014). In 2007, al-Bin’ali found himself in Bahrain yet again, as another report suggested that he was arrested by local authorities on charges of having joined a militant cell that was planning attacks in the country (Alkhaleejonline, February 21, 2015). He was sentenced to a six-month prison term and released after serving it (al-Wasat, February 2, 2015).
Bin’ali was also banned from entering the UAE, Kuwait, Egypt and Qatar, as claimed in the biography [5]. Despite the ban, and although his name was ultimately linked to jihadist circles, al-Bin’ali managed to leave Bahrain sometime in 2013, traveling first to Libya to give a series of lectures in the Rabat Mosque in Sirte. He then moved into Syria through Iraq (Burathnanews, March 1, 2014). According to one report, he traveled to Syria to support humanitarian efforts and help the Muslim population there, but he quickly joined the Islamic State group and pledged allegiance to its Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in early 2014 (al-Hayat, September 17, 2014; Almada, February 28, 2014). Another report claims that al-Bin’ali held a demonstration in 2013 outside the U.S. Embassy in Manama, with Islamist supporters waving al-Qaeda flags and images of Osama Bin Laden (Middle East Eye, October 14, 2014).
Bin’ali as Islamic State’s Ideologue
Since the beginning of his “career” as a jihadist writer, Bin’ali displayed a clear tendency to support the nascent project of the Islamic State despite the fact that he had prominent al-Qaeda ideologues (such as al-Maqdisi) as his previous teachers. For instance, in July 2013, al-Bin’ali, under the pseudonym Abu Humam Bakr bin Abd al-Aziz al-Athari, wrote the biography of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that quickly became popular among jihadist forums (See Militant Leadership Monitor, October 2013), In the biography, al-Bin’ali defended the religious credentials of the self-proclaimed Caliph, asserting that he was indeed a descendant of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad (one of the key qualifications in Islamic history for becoming the Caliph).
Bin’ali’s affiliation with the Islamic State and the prominence of his religious role within the group became much clearer in April 2014, when al-Baghdadi announced the merger of his group with the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra and the expansion of the Islamic State’s fight from Iraq into Syria. The move was openly rebuffed by Jabhat al-Nusra, by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and by a string of jihadist ideologues. In response, Bin’ali published a pamphlet to defend the legitimacy of al-Baghdadi’s move, entitled, ”Stretch Forth Your Hands To Give The Bay’ah To Al-Baghdadi,” in which he urged all Muslims to pledge loyalty to the Islamic State’s emir and in which he heralded the establishment of the Caliphate (Ansarukhilafah, December 21, 2014).
In April 2014, Bin’ali published another essay on the necessary conditions for declaring a Caliphate, which was announced a few months later in June 2014. The essay, titled, “The Permissibility of Declaring the Caliphate Before the Achievement of Full Political Capability,” offered the religious legitimation of the Islamic State’s Caliphate by using legal and scriptural evidences to support it (Savoir ou se faire, July 30, 2014). In his reasoning, al-Bin’ali shirks the conditions presented as necessary by previous scholars and al-Qaeda – namely full control over territory and the support of the population – and emphasizes that “the caliphate requires some measure of power, might, and political capability, which is present in the Islamic State.”
The two essays by Bin’ali prove that the Islamic State’s leadership has trusted his religious knowledge so much so that they tasked him with writing crucial pieces of work aimed at defending the Caliphate from its detractors. At the same time, Bin’ali’s writing skills appear to have given him the status of “quasi-official biographer” of the Islamic State; in November 2014, he penned another biography, this time of the Islamic State’s official spokesmen, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani (Ansarukhilafah, December 21, 2014).
Al-Bin’ali as Islamic State Delegate and Member of its Religious Department
Traveling across the Middle East and North Africa to hold sermons in local mosques has been a key feature of Bin’ali’s life, even before joining the Islamic State. It is safe to assume that he has made a number of acquaintances among the local Salafi-jihadist circles of the places he visited. Indeed, in February 2015, al-Bin’ali traveled once more to Sirte, Libya, this time to give a sermon on behalf of the Islamic State. Multiple reports and video posted on YouTube have confirmed the presence of al-Bin’ali in the Rabat Mosque of Sirte, the same locale he had visited two years prior (Youtube, October 28, 2013). In his sermon, he urged people not only in Sirte but across all of Libya and the Maghreb to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State’s Caliph (Assabah News, August 15, 2015; Asharq al-Awsat, May 11, 2015). As the Islamic State consolidated its position in Sirte in the following months, it is likely that al-Bin’ali traveled to Libya as an Islamic State delegate, tasked with using his connections there to pave the way for the group’s expansion in the North African country (Libyaakhbar.com, June 25, 2015). He likely did so by giving a series of sermons based on the pieces of work he continued to produce for the Islamic State.
Bin’ali’s efforts at systematizing the Islamic State’s ideology have continued, as demonstrated by the numerous statements and texts he has authored in conjunction with the rise of the Islamic State. The bulk of his production has remained focused on defending the Islamic State and the legitimacy of its Caliphate, even going so far as to criticize al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Bin’ali’s former mentor, al-Maqdisi [6]. Furthermore, Bin’ali has written crucial Islamic State texts, such as the textbook “Muqarrar fi al-Tawhid” (Course in Tawheed/Monotheism), the book that all the recruits in the Islamic State’s training camps must study (Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, July 26, 2015). The text, issued by the Diwan al-Eftaa’ wa al-Buhuth (the department of the caliphate tasked that issues fatwas) is arguably one of the most comprehensive books on the ideology of the group available and written by someone within the ranks of the group itself. Bin’ali’s authorship of such a text seems to corroborate the hypothesis that the Bahraini cleric has been appointed by the group as a top figure in the Caliphate’s religious department, additionally tasked with issuing official fatwas on the group’s behalf [7].
Conclusion
Few jihadist ideologues have supported the Islamic State’s move to declare the establishment of the Caliphate. Bin’ali’s rise through the Islamic State’s ranks displays the group’s need to employ clerics able to defend the Caliphate from a religious point of view and provide a sound, legitimate narrative for its actions. However, the trajectory of Bin’ali, who is just 31, also exemplifies the “new generation” of jihadists who are joining and fighting for the Islamic State and attempting to replace the “old guard” of the jihadist movement that is said to be represented by al-Qaeda. Bin’ali has been a prolific writer who, thanks to his background, has climbed his way to the upper echelons of the Islamic State religious establishment. Moreover, as his role in Libya highlights, he has become a trusted public speaker on the group’s behalf. This suggests that Bin’ali is destined to become, sooner or later, one of the key figures in the Islamic State’s leadership.
Ludovico Carlino is a Middle East and North Africa senior analyst at IHS Country Risk specializing in jihadist movements across the region. His articles have been published in The Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, Jane’s Intelligence Review and Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Monitor.
Notes:
[1] https://archive.org/details/almokhtasar.algali.high [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] “Sheikh Turki Al-Bin’ali On The Latest Message By Sheikh Ayman Al-Dhawaahiri,” Archive.org, June 19, 2014, https://archive.org/details/SheikhTurkiAlBinaliOnTheLatestMessageBySheikhAymanAlDhawaahiri [7] “Alleged Leaks from Islamic State Reveal International Network of Bribery,” Quilliam Foundation, November 14, 2014, https://www.quilliamfoundation.org/blog/quilliam-exclusive-alleged-leaks-from-islamic-state-reveal-international-network-of-bribery/.
