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Management of Savagery

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Management of Savagery: The Most Critical Stage Through Which the Ummah Will Pass (Arabic: إدارة التوحش [citation needed], Idarat al-Tawahhush[citation needed], also translated Administration of Savagery[1] is a book by Islamist strategist Abu Bakr Naji published on the Internet in 2004. It aimed to provide a strategy that al-Qaeda and other jihadists could follow to create a new Islamic caliphate.[2]

The real identity of Abu Bakr Naji is Muhammad Khalil al-Hakaymah [3], and his known works are this piece and some contributions to the al-Qaeda online magazine Sawt al-Jihad. National Public Radio described Naji as a "top al-Qaida insider" and characterized the work as "al-Qaida's playbook".[4]

Themes

Management of Savagery discusses the need to create and manage nationalist and religious resentment and violence in order to create long-term propaganda opportunities for jihadist groups. Notably, Naji discusses the value of provoking military responses by superpowers in order to recruit and train guerilla fighters and to create martyrs. Naji suggests that a long-lasting strategy of attrition will reveal fundamental weaknesses in the abilities of superpowers to defeat committed jihadists.[5]

Management of Savagery argues that carrying out a campaign of constant violent attacks in Muslim states will eventually exhaust the states’ ability and will to enforce their authority, and that as the writ of the state withers away, chaos—or savagery—will ensue. Jihadists can take advantage of this savagery to win popular support, or at least acquiescence, by imposing security, providing social services, and implementing Sharia. As these territories increase, they can become the nucleus of a new caliphate.[2][5] Naji nominated Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, North Africa, Nigeria and Pakistan as potential targets, due to their geography, weak military presence in remote areas, existing jihadist presence, and the easy accessibility of weapons.[6]

Naji professes inspiration from Ibn Taymiyya, the influential 14th century Islamic scholar and theologian, and his book also displays a thoughtful understanding of western institutions and value systems, and the role and history of Islamist movements in Egypt, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, particularly the activities of Islamic Jihad in Egypt during the 1990s.[5]

In Practice

A number of media outlets have compared the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's attempts to establish territorial control in Iraq and Syria with the strategy outlined in Management of Savagery.[7][5][8] Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been described by the Jamestown Foundation as following Naji's guidelines in Yemen,[1] while the book has been mentioned positively in interviews with members of Somalia's Al-Shabaab.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ryan, Michael W. S. (28 January 2010). "Al-Qaeda's Purpose in Yemen Described in Works of Jihad Strategists". Terrorism Monitor. 8 (4.): The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b Wright, Lawrence (16 June 2014). "ISIS's Savage Strategy in Iraq". The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  3. ^ http://studies.alarabiya.net/hot-issues/%D8%A5%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A5%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B4
  4. ^ Sullivan, Laura (26 June 2006). "Al-Qaida's Playbook". NPR.
  5. ^ a b c d Wright, Lawrence (11 September 2006). "The Master Plan". The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  6. ^ al-Ibrahim, Fouad (22 August 2014). "Why ISIS is a threat to Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism's deferred promise". Al Akhbar (Lebanon). Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  7. ^ McCoy, Terrence McCoy (12 August 2014). "The calculated madness of the Islamic State's horrifying brutality". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  8. ^ Alastair, Crooke (30 June 2014). "The ISIS' 'Management of Savagery' in Iraq". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  9. ^ McCants, William (30 April 2012). "Al Qaeda Is Doing Nation-Building. Should We Worry?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 1 September 2014.(subscription required)

External links

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