As we mentioned in part 1 of this article series about Nasheed history, the Islamic State has been releasing the names of its singers on a couple of its live streaming audio platforms. The names also appear in few other websites that support the Islamic State.
< The screen shot above does not contain all the names>
This is a new policy, because since its inception, under different names, the Islamic State had always shrouded their media operation with a high level of secrecy.
There was an exception with the case of Maher Mish’al ماهر مشعل , who, when he joined the Islamic State in al-Iraq wa-al-Sham ISIS then, did have tons of followers and a large presence on social media. After his death, the Islamic State stopped, till recently letting people know that much about its media men.
Here are more findings from this change of policy:
1- The trio: Khilad al-Qahtani خلاد القحطاني , Abu Yaser أبو ياسر and Abu Hamza أبو حمزة are responsible for around twenty major hits each.
Khilad al-Qahtani was killed in al-Baghuz Syria, while Abu Hamza is the current spokesperson of the Islamic State.
Abu Hamza voices the audio releases of the Islamic State currently.
As for Abu Yaser، not that much is known about him, but when he joined the Islamic State it was reported heavily on Twitter.
Once he is mentioned as Muhammad al-Rashed. The link leads to his Nasheeds.
2- Maher Mish’al has only three major songs that are used heavily in videos. One of them, Ya Dawlata al-Islam Nawarti al-Dunna يادولة الإسلام نورت الدنا was kind of the Islamic State’s anthem when it morphed from the Islamic State of al-Iraq wa-al-Sham ISIS into The Islamic State IS. That happened exactly when they broke the Sykes-Picot borders between modern day Syria and modern day Iraq.
His other two very used songs are Sawfa namdi lil ma’ali سوف نمضي للمعالي and Ji’na Jundan Lil-lah جئنا جنداً لله
3- Abu Hajar al-Hadrami أبو هاجر الحضرمي is absent from the list. Many have claimed that he is one of the singers/ Munsheds of the Islamic State. So far, the Islamic State did not post his name with songs that are known to be his like Lanibali oil-A’adi. لانبالي بالأعادي
So far, none of the audio platforms run by the Islamic State or its supporters, have put up his name yet.
Sometimes his song La nibali bil-a’adi is played on al-Fajr, but no name is attached to it. Many media outlets claimed that he was the singer of Salil al-Sawarem صليل الصوارم. In fact, it is Abu Yaser أبو ياسر who is the singer of Salil al-Sawarem. Abu Hajar al-Hadrami appeared in few video with Maher Misha’l ماهر مشعل and probably Abu ‘Usama al-Tunisi أبو أسامة التونسي another Ajnad singer.
4- Abu ‘Usama al-Tunis أبو أسامة التونسي is responsible for three major hits. His songs appear in many video releases by the Islamic State and they are played a lot on their radio.
Bellow are the names of the three songs. Mawkeb al-Nur موكب النور was used in many releases. when ISIS became IS in 2014. The other two Nasheeds are used with war footage mostly.
Note: Link to an article in al-Masriyin al-Yawm claiming mistakenly that Abu Hajar al-Hadrami is the singer of Salil al-Sawarem
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