Hymns (Nasheeds): A Contribution to the Study of the Jihadist Culture

This article deals with militant Islamist hymns (anasheed jihadiya; in the following simply referred to as nasheeds) as an expression of jihadist culture. In this context jihadism is regarded as a militant fraction within the Salafi movement, with which it shares goals but not means. ¹ 1. Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salafism. Islam's New Religious Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), pp. 24–27; Jarret Brachman, Global Jihadism—Theory and Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2009), p. 11 f; Quintan Wiktorowicz, “Anatomy of the Salafi Movement,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 29(3) (2006), pp. 207–239. The jihadist culture as a tool to create a common jihadist identity and to mobilize new recruits is probably as important as its ideology is. In 2004 Marc Sageman made the following remarks in his book Understanding Terror Networks: “… social bonds play a more important role in the emergence of the global Salafi jihad than ideology.” ² 2. Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2004), p. 178. The history of nasheeds will be traced back as well as an analysis of its contents and usage will be given.