A recent IS decree, translated by Jawad al-Tamimi [“Aspects of IS Administration in Ninawa Province: Part III,” below] forced businesses in Mosul to close during prayer times. |
Middle East Forum Shillman/Ginsburg Fellow Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi is one of world’s leading researchers on the Islamic State (IS) group terrorizing Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS. The overwhelming majority of his writings and translations are too detailed or esoteric for distribution to a general audience, so instead MEF compiles periodic updates providing links and summaries for those who wish to follow the groundbreaking work of this prolific researcher.
For more general interest writings by Jawad al-Tamimi, click here.
Articles
Jabhat al-Nusra and the Druze of Idlib Province (Jan. 24)
Examines the small, isolated Druze communities of Idlib province (most Druze live in regime controlled areas of the south), where Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra reigns supreme. Includes discussion of report that a number of Druze village leaders have proclaimed their conversion to Sunni Islam and willingness to implement shari’a (Islamic law).
Translations
Archive of Islamic State Administrative Documents (Jan. 27)
An exhaustive archive of dozens of IS administrative documents translated by Jawad al-Tamimi prior to the below-mentioned series of document translations from Ninawa province.
“Qālū ‘innha wa’ad"- Jihadi Nasheed (Jan. 23)
A musical chant (nasheed) used by both IS and more mainstream Syrian rebels, notable for the line, “we are the soldiers who burn disgrace with fire.”
Aspects of IS Administration in Ninawa Province: Part III (Jan. 23)
A selection of translated official IS documents from Ninawa province, which remains completely out of Iraqi government control, in the field of religious life and public morality, with brief analysis of each. Includes a decree from Diwan al-Hisba, which controls religious police, ordering shops to close during prayer times, and two decrees from Diwan al-Awqaf wa al-Masajid, which controls religious endowments, opening separate shari’a institutes for men and women in the Mosul area.
Aspects of IS Administration in Ninawa Province: Part II (Jan. 20)
A selection of translated official IS documents from Ninawa province, in the field of public service, with brief analysis of each. Includes a decree from Diwan al-Khidamat (Services Administration) on sanitation laws (e.g. “No throwing away of papers and empty containers for drinks, water from cars during driving or from travel”), another urging municipal employees to maintain official office hours, a list of strict price controls for pharmaceutical goods (e.g. “Profit from price 250-1000 dinars is to be 35%"), an ultimatum giving doctors and other professionals who have “migrated to the land of disbelief” a deadline of “10 days to return and take up their jobs,” an announcement of real estate for public auction, and an appeal for zakat (obligatory alms) collection.
Aspects of IS Administration in Ninawa Province: Part I (Jan. 17)
A selection of translated official IS documents from Ninawa province, in the field of education. Includes a wide-ranging decree closing the “College of Human Rights, Political Sciences and Fine Arts” and other non-essential departments at Mosul University, an examination timetable, and a set of middle school exam questions (e.g. “Why did God reveal the Noble Qur’an to His Prophet Muhammad?”).
“The Land of Sinai"- IS Nasheed (Jan. 16)
A new nasheed from IS’s Ajnad Media Foundation. It is sung in the first person by “we [who] have dwelled in the land of Sinai,” where the radical Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014, and pledges to defeat kufr (disbelief/disbelievers).
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
