From University Professor to the Islamic State’s Chief of Public Education: A Profile of Dr. Iman Mustafa Al-Bugha
From University Professor to the Islamic State’s Chief of Public Education: A Profile of Dr. Iman Mustafa Al-Bugha
After her 15-year old daughter ran away from home to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Dr. Iman Mustafa al-Bugha, the Syrian scholar and renowned university professor, seized on the opportunity to carve out a role for herself within the ranks of the jihadist insurgency as the first female faqiha (Islamic jurist) and the Islamic State’s public education chief (alarabiya.net, July 19). By offering her three young children to the jihadist cause, al-Bugha not only has gained respect in the group, but also has succeeded in pushing her way up the hierarchy of the militant leadership.
Background
Dr. Iman Mustafa al-Bugha is believed to be the daughter of the Syrian Islamic Imam Sheikh Mustafa al-Bugha (mbc.net, October 23, 2014). Dr. Mustafa al-Bugha is renowned for his public support of Bashar al-Assad (Youtube, April 17, 2011). Al-Bugha rebelled against her father’s stance toward the uprisings, declaring allegiance to IS in October 2014. After she left Saudi Arabia to join the group in Raqqa, al-Bugha went on to publish a six-page pamphlet titled “I am an ISIS believer, a ‘Daeshi’ before ISIS was created.” Subsequently, she moved to and settled in Mosul (Orient News [Dubai], October 27, 2014). It is reported that her family disowned al-Bugha in a tweet posted by her sister Dr. Hanan, stating that “Dr. Iman’s behavior does not represent the family as a whole, or the opinion of her father, Dr Mustafa al-Bugha, whom she neither consulted nor informed about her decision” (alhayat.com, October 22, 2014).
Born in Syria, al-Bugha is believed to be in her mid-forties. Her brother, Muhammed al-Hassan al–Bugha, has served as the Dean of Damascus University’s Faculty of Islamic Sharia‘a since 2008, and her sister, Dr. Hanan al-Bugha, also studied Islamic Sharia‘a at Damascus University before moving with her family to Saudi Arabia.
Al-bugha studied in Damascus, earning a Ph.D. in Islamic jurisprudence from the University of Damascus. She also has a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Damascus. Al-Bugha was the chief of the cultural section at the International Commission on Scientific Signs in the Qur’an and the Sunnah in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. She also taught at the College of Applied Studies and Community Service in Dammam, and she published several books, one of them on the state of women in Islam (islamist-movements.com, November 29, 2015).
The Path to Jihad
Al-Bugha disappeared from Dammam in October 2014. It was reported that she resigned from her university post to join IS as a social-media recruiter in Mosul. Upon her arrival to Iraq, she posted on her Facebook page that she left her well-paying, prestigious university post to support the caliphate and fight tyranny. She also stated that terrorism is not a bad thing; it is, rather, a Muslim’s duty bluntly ordered in the Quran, in surah (chapter) al anfal, verse 60: “And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy” (alarab.co.uk, November 11, 2015).
Dr. Iman is a mother of three children. The eldest is IS propagandist poetess Ahlam al-Nasr, who joined the group in 2014. Her younger daughter is also married to an IS militant; she gave birth to his child at the age of 15 (alarabiya.net, July 19). Al-Bugh’s youngest child, a 13-year-old son known as Abu al Hassan al- Dimashqi, was killed in August 2016 during fighting in which IS was engaged. Following his death, Dr. Iman wrote a poetic tribute to her dead son and published it on her Facebook account (Facebook, August 17).
Al-Bugha resigned her post at the University of Dammam to join the group, following her daughter Ahlam al-Nasr and her youngest son. With al-Bugha’s entire family having joined IS, it is not clear who influenced whom, or who radicalized whom. However, it is reported that Ahlam and Abu al Hassan al- Dimashqi went first to join the group in Syria, and then al-Bugha followed them with her husband and younger daughter (al-marsd.com, October 23, 2014)
Al-Bugha despises the Syrian protests and its calls for democracy. She asked: “What was this revolution for, for which they want me to participate in a public outcry on Facebook? They led the uprising to call for freedom and equal rights; well, I do not need freedom or equal rights; freedom was never my request, something I will never demand/call for” (all4syria.info, November 29, 2015). She is known to have preached about jihad to female Islamic gatherings in Dammam, Khobar and Dhahran. [1] She tried to influence her female students with her jihadist views, in particular on two main issues: al-walaa (loyalty) and al-bara (disownment). [2] According to her posts on social media, al-Bugha focused her scholarly research during the last years she spent in Dammam on understanding and analyzing the fight of jihad.
Al-Bugha’s trajectory demonstrates a rejection of the Shafi’i Islamic heritage of her family; and her adopted extremist views eventually led to the penning of her six-page pamphlet, “I am an ISIS believer, a ‘Daeshi’ before ISIS was created.”
An Islamic State Believer Before the Group Was Created
In her six-page pamphlet, which was published in 2014 by one of IS’ media outlets, alghuraba media (“alghuraba” means strangers), al-Bugha explained her views on jihad. She states that after reading the sirrah of Prophet Muhammad, the life of his companions, and the modern history with all its revolutionary uprisings, she realized that she was a member of IS even before group was created. She added that she has come to the conclusion that there is no solution to end Muslim people’s tragedies other than jihad. For al-Bugha, the seed of jihad started in Afghanistan. She believes the Afghani jihad revived the Muslim ummah (da3msyria2.files.wordpress.com).
Al-Bugha defends the actions of the IS, stating that she did not find anything in their actions that conflicts with Islam. She also differentiates between two kinds of jihad, “modern” jihad and “real” jihad. As she defines it, “modern” jihad is what the West wants Muslims to adopt and believe in. For her, this kind of jihad is not the jihad that real Muslims should seek, because God will not grant the Muslims victory unless they are real Muslims who perform “real” jihad. She also backs up her argument about “real” jihad by quoting from the Quran, the Surah of al baqarah (the cow), verse 191, which states “kill them wherever you find them,” interpreting it as God ordering Muslims to kill those who are aggressors against Muslims. According to al-Bugha, that is the definition of “real” jihad that Muslims should seek (da3msyria2.files.wordpress.com).
Providing her explanation as to why Muslim scholars criticize the Islamic State, al-Bugha says that for the last sixty years Muslim scholars could not talk about the duty of jihad in Palestine out of fear of Western demonization. Al-Bugha juxtaposes this with IS, who she says possess the courage to condemn the political, educational, and social corruption prevailing in Muslim countries, and strive to preserve what they can of Islamic sharia and basic Islamic teaching. Speaking about public fears, al-Bugha admits that she once feared public judgment. She says in her pamphlet that she he has been a supporter of the Islamic State since it announced its caliphate but fears of those who denounce the Islamic State and jihad stopped her from immediately embracing the group (da3msyria2.files.wordpress.com).
Jihadist Juristic Rhetoric
Al-Bugha’ masters Islamic juristic rhetoric in her writings, alternating between the standard Arabic and the Syrian dialectic. It is clear that Salafi scholars like Sheikh Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al–Wahhab strongly influence her, and she believes al-Wahhab is the one who revived the fight for jihad for the sake of Tawhid (isla mist-movements.com, November 29, 2015). [3][4] She adopts a preachy tone in her writing, which points to her teaching background, implicitly assuming a permissible role of power by addressing her readers and followers both in her pamphlet and on her social media as “my brothers and sisters.”
Al-Bugha has a strict control of her emotions, never expressing sentiments, yearning or sadness, not even in her tribute to her dead son. Using Syrian [Damascene] dialect, al-Bugha makes it easy for people to relate to her writing, especially if they are Syrians. Her shrewd speech uniquely weaves poetic rhymes, sarcastic rhetorical questions and a twist of Syrian sense of humor, with Quranic-backed oratory that makes her writings about the Islamic State a credible testimony to the group. These elements of her writing help to invoke compassion toward IS from her Muslim online readers, even inspiring some to join IS.
Through her writing, al-Bugha works to salvage the damaged public reputation of the Islamic State. Since moving to the Islamic State, al-Bugha has both provided juristic justification for atrocities committed by IS and praised IS support of civil infrastructure. She glorifies the group’s militants, describing them as courageous men, who fear no one except Allah and only seek Jannah (paradise) (da3msyria2.files.wordpress.com). She speaks highly of the civil infrastructure of the Islamic State, praising the clean streets of Mosul, describing them as far cleanlier than the streets in Dammam. She attributes that to the terrorist group’s firm implementation of the sharia laws applied in the city, which she says is missing in Muslim and Arab countries.
Al-Bugha also justifies the IS’ barbaric pillage of artifacts – from blowing up Mosul’s public library to obliterating the world famous god statues in the captured Syrian city of Palmyra. She structures her defense under the religious pretext of destroying heresy that promotes idolatry. Al-Bugha also describes caring for ruins and artifacts as a “joke,” and she considers archeologists liars. She believes caring for artifacts and archeological sites is an interest fed by the political dictators for years to satisfy the disbelievers, as they fill the minds of all generations with an illusion that these “broken stones” and “ugly statues are signs of civilization” (amwaj.ca, October 20).
Al-Bugha’s in the IS Organizational Structure
Al-Bugha’s role within the terrorist organization is not limited to her online recruitment. Reports indicate that she is the IS chief of public education (alarabiya.net, July 19). On her social media accounts, al-Bugha outlines the duration of public education in the Islamic State, which is only nine years: five years are devoted to primary education, and the other four years to post-primary education. “Artificial and taboo subjects” are not taught (zamanalwsl.net, June 3, 2015). The students in the Islamic State are to attend university at the age of fifteen and graduate by the age of eighteen. This allows them to start their working life at the peak of their youth so that they can start “what is good for [their] life and religion” (zamanalwsl.net, June 3, 2015).
Al-Bugha criticizes public education in Syria and other Arab countries where students start their baccalaureate study at the age of eighteen and graduate from the university at the age of twenty-two or twenty-four with no prospects of finding a decent job. In addition, she stated that IS will turn the table on Western plans for the young Muslim generation, as education will be essential to build a dignified civilization of the Islamic State (zamanalwsl.net, June 3, 2015). However, it is not clear whether or not al-Bugha’s role includes contributing to curriculum development.
Conclusion
Unlike other female militants in the IS leadership hierarchy who have been given aliases, al-Bugha is known by her real name. Moreover, public statements released by the group describe al-Bugha “a scholarly torch [that] supports the Islamic Caliphate state [as one of Ansar al-Caliphate]” (all4syria.info, November 29, 2015). These are both indicators that she is the most respected female militant in IS, and one of the most influential voices on the juristic Manhaj [methodology] of the Islamic State’s ideology. Al-Bugha’s status, operational authority, and extremely ideological influence over IS’ public education means her voice will remain influential will influence the generation of militants to come.
NOTES
[1] Dammam, Khobar and Dhahran are cities located in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia
[2] In the Islamic context “al-walaa” means loyalty to God, and whatever He is pleased with, as well as friendship and closeness to the believers, while “al-baraa” is to free oneself from that which is displeasing to Allah and disowning the disbelievers (https://ahmadjibril.com)
[3] Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al–Wahhab is a Saudi scholar from Nejd, Saudi Arabia and the founder of Wahhabism, which is an extreme branch of Islam that is known in its contemporary usage as Salafism
[4] Tawhid means in Islam attributing oneness to God, by describing Him as being one and unique, with no partner or peer in His essence and attributes (islamqa.info).
