Homegrown Radicalization
According to experts, Jordan’s Islamist groups are growing in numbers and are becoming increasingly violent. Analysts estimated in early 2015 that ISIS and other jihadi groups had about 9,000 to 10,000 Jordanian supporters, including 2,000 fighters who have left for Syria. The Jordanian Council on Foreign Relations noted that between 2012 and 2014, the price of a Kalishnikov rifle—a preferred weapon of violent extremists—in Jordan dropped from $2,000 to $500 in a sign of the rifle’s increasing availability. In the latter half of 2014, Jordan arrested 200 to 300 Islamist militants. In November 2014, the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs claimed it had prevented 25 radical preachers from delivering extremist sermons. (Sources: Al-Monitor, Associated Press)
Jordanian analysts blame the rise in extremism on rampant unemployment and the widening income gap between Jordan’s rich and poor. “The failure of governance fed the extremist camp,” according to one Jordanian politician. (Source: Business Insider, Reuters)
Salafist Movement
Jordan’s Salafist movement seeks to implement sharia law in the country. Despite being officially banned, the Salafist movement continues to attract new followers in Jordan to their jihadist cause. The Salafists adhere to an ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam that considers Shiite Muslims—and even non-militant Sunni Muslims—to be infidels. Analysts credit Jordanian Islamist Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi with militarizing Jordan’s Salafist movement in the 1990s. (Source: Hudson Institute)
Despite being officially banned, the Salafist movement continues to attract new followers in Jordan to their jihadist cause.
According to Jordanian Salafist leader Mohammad al-Chalabi, a.k.a. Abu Sayyaf, interest in Salafi jihadism rose after the Arab Spring. In Jordan’s Maan province, analysts found Salafist-jihadist preachers attracted the most worshippers, followed by pro-government preachers, and then the Muslim Brotherhood. Analysts blame economic disparity and the Syrian civil war for fueling the ideology’s spread. (Sources: BBC News, Associated Press, The National, Reuters, Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor, Stars and Stripes, Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor)
Al-Chalabi served a seven-year prison sentence for his role in a failed 2003 plot against U.S. and Western diplomatic missions in Jordan. After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, al-Chalabi said he was “happy to see the horror in America,” adding, “American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood.” The Salafist movement is “the only one that practices jihad against the Americans and the Zionists,” according to al-Chalabi. He also believes that ISIS wants only to consolidate its position in Iraq and Syria and poses no threat to Jordan. (Sources: Associated Press, Associated Press, BBC News, Al-Monitor, Stars and Stripes)
Palestinian Extremism
According to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Jordan is home to more than 2 million registered Palestinian refugees, almost 370,000 of whom live in 10 refugee camps. Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians always have an effect on Jordan’s population, according to government officials. Protesters frequently call for the cancelation of Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel, a demand the government has thus far rejected. (Sources: UNRWA, Al-Monitor)
During the 1960s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its member organizations used Jordan as a base for terrorist attacks against Israel. In September 1970, multiple hijackings by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) led to the bloody Jordanian crackdown on the PLO known as Black September. Jordan subsequently expelled the PLO in 1971.
Since Jordan’s treaty with Israel, flare-ups between Israel and the Palestinians have resulted in widespread protests inside Jordan. Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy has maintained guardianship over the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem since 1924. After Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War, Jordan retained responsibility for the mosque. The mosque—Islam’s third holiest site and built on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site—is often a flashpoint of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Recently, Jordanians took to the streets again in July 2014 to protest Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Source: Reuters)
The Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood is Jordan’s oldest political movement. It marked its 70th anniversary on May 1, 2015. It has primarily been a non-violent organization, although it has supported Palestinian violence against Israel. In an example of the group’s long political standing, the Brotherhood won 22 of 80 parliamentary seats in 1989 under the banner “Islam is the Solution,” the slogan of the global Muslim Brotherhood. After King Hussein banned political groups with foreign political ties in 1992, the Brotherhood created a new political wing, the Islamic Action Front. The Brotherhood suffered political decline in the 21st century as a result of policies that ignored domestic Jordanian issues in favor of supporting Hamas and the Palestinian fight against Israel. As a result, it won only six seats in 2007’s elections. (Sources: Al-Arabiya, Al-Monitor, Wall Street Journal, The National, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs)
Following the outbreak of the Arab Spring in early 2011, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) participated in protests calling for King Abdullah to dissolve parliament and allow the free election of a prime minister. Abdullah dismissed the parliament and appointed a new prime minister charged with instituting political reform in February 2011. In 2012, Abdullah tried to pass a parliamentary bill that would have restricted religious organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamic Action Front from parliament. At a November 2012 press conference, the Brotherhood demanded the king “listen to the people’s demands and embark on real and serious reforms.” The Brotherhood boycotted the 2013 parliamentary elections. (Sources: Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, CNN)
Since the fall of Egypt’s Brotherhood-led government in 2013, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have banned the group. As a result, the hardliners and reformists within Jordan’s chapter have further divided. The Zamzam Initiative emerged within the Brotherhood following the 2013 election boycott. Zamzam remains committed to the Brotherhood’s Islamist ideals, but opposes the traditionalists’ focus on regional issues over Jordanian affairs. (Sources: The National, Al-Monitor, Times of Israel)
On February 14, 2015, the Brotherhood voted to terminate the memberships of 10 high-ranking members, mostly reformists who wanted to cut ties with the Egyptian Brotherhood. Afterward, 30 Zamzam members filed with Jordan’s Ministry of Social Development to form a new charity called the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS) using the same logo. The ministry approved the application on March 3, effectively recognizing the reformist (i.e., Zamzam-created) Muslim Brotherhood over the original Muslim Brotherhood Group (MBG). International Brotherhood branches are independent, and Jordan’s was the only one tied to the Egyptian parent group, according to Abdul Majid Thuneibat, leader of the new Brotherhood. His group’s goal is to end its relationship with “the terrorist group in Egypt.” The Jordanian branch “must become Jordanian and fall under Jordanian law,” he said. (Sources: Christian Science Monitor, Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor, The National, Jordan Times)
The government’s Department of Land and Survey subsequently seized seven properties belonging to the MBG, transferring them to the MBS. Ruheil Gharaibeh, founder of the Zamzam and a co-founder of the MBS, has called on the Jordanian government to dissolve the MBG because it is no longer formally registered to operate within Jordan. In early 2016, Gharaibeh and other Zamzam leaders expelled from the MBG created a new political party called the National Congress Party, which is separate from the new, reformist MBS. (Sources: Al-Monitor, Jordan Times, Washington Post)
The government banned a May 1, 2015, rally by the MBG to mark the Brotherhood’s 70th anniversary. Later in May, the reformist group announced intentions to legally pursue control of the Jordanian Brotherhood’s assets. MBG leader Hammam Saeed called the new organization a “government conspiracy.” Writing in the UAE’s National in March 2015, analyst and journalist Taylor Luck declared the Jordanian Brotherhood to be in the throes of civil war. In December 2015, 400 members of the IAF resigned. According to resigning members, including top leaders of the group, the resignations are the result of almost two years’ of political infighting between the party’s hawks and doves. (Sources: Al-Monitor, Jordan Times, Christian Science Monitor, Jordan Times)
Jordan’s original Brotherhood group decided in February 2016 to cut ties with the larger, international Brotherhood movement. Jordanian analysts believe the group began to see the larger movement as a liability. According to the Brotherhood leadership, the decision is part of reform efforts before elections in March 2016. (Source: Associated Press)
In January 2016, the reformist group, also known as the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS), elected Thuneibat to a four-year term as its overall leader. He had previously been elected as the interim overall leader. (Source: Jordan Times)
Despite the government’s recognition of the reformist MBS over the original MBG, the MBG has continued to have political success. In Jordan’s September 2016 parliamentary elections, the IAF won 10 seats while the MBS won zero. The Zamzam’s National Congress Party won three seats. In August 2017 local elections, the IAF-affiliated Alliance for Reform coalition won 41 out of 88 municipal council seats across the country, as well as three mayoral races. Jordanian analysts predicted that the wins could help the IAF build momentum in future elections. (Sources: Al-Monitor, Middle East Eye, Jordan Times, The National)
Syrian Refugees
Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Jordan has become host to 657,000 registered Syrian refugees who largely live in Jordan’s urban areas. The largest population of refugees, 177,070, resides in Amman. This has strained Jordan’s already scarce water supplies, the job market, health services, and housing. Jordanian authorities are also concerned that Syrian extremists will take advantage of the porous border and the refugee flow to cross into Jordan. For example, security forces blamed “Assad sleeper cells” for riots in the Zaatari—Jordan’s largest Syrian refugee camp—in April 2014. Also that April, the Jordanian military fired on a convoy of pick-up trucks crossing into Jordan from Syria. The military believed the trucks were smuggling weapons for the Syrian opposition. (Sources: Jordan Times, Washington Times, UNHCR, Economist, United Press International, Al-Monitor)
Syrian refugees largely live outside of the refugee camps in urban areas, impacting Jordanian cities’ economies. Landlords crowd refugees into small apartments at higher rents. Registered Syrian refugees cannot legally work in Jordan so many take more dangerous, low-paying jobs. According to the International Labor Organization, Jordanian unemployment rose from 14.5 percent to 22.1 percent between 2011 and 2014 in areas with high concentrations of refugees. The Hussein neighborhood of Amman, for example, is home to about 4,000 Syrian refugees. Rent and food prices have skyrocketed in the already poor neighborhood. Head of Hussein’s neighborhood council Emad Issayed told the Associated Press in February 2015 that the refugees “impose a real burden” on Jordanians. (Sources: Associated Press UNHCR, Daily Beast, Irish Times, Associated Press)
Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury told the Associated Press that month Jordan may have to restrict the entry of refugees if their presence becomes a threat to Jordan’s stability or security. (Sources: Associated Press, Associated Press)
Honor Killings
An honor crime is “committed against somebody—mainly women—because this somebody brought dishonor against the family,” according to Director of the University of Jordan’s Center for Women’s Studies Abeer Dababneh. For example, Batool Haddad, a Christian woman in her early 20s, sought to convert from Christianity to Islam in April 2014. Her father and brother murdered her rather than suffer what they considered an insult. An official average of 20 women a year are killed in so-called honor killings in Jordan. Experts believe the actual number to be higher. (Source: Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor, Daily Mail, Al-Monitor, Ammon News)
Murder is punishable by death in Jordan, but Jordan’s legal framework excuses honor crimes, according to Human Rights Watch. Article 340 of the Jordanian legal code states any man who kills or attacks his wife or any female relative while she is committing adultery receives a reduced sentence. The government extended the protection to female attackers against their husbands in 2001. Article 98 of the legal code allows for the reduction of penalties for offenders who commit crimes in a “state of great fury” due to unlawful or dangerous behavior by the victim. For instance, a Jordanian court in February 2014 reduced the sentence of a man convicted of killing his daughter for leaving the house without her husband’s knowledge from life in prison to 10 years. (Sources: Human Rights Watch, Al-Monitor, Agence France-Presse, Agence France-Presse)
Abu Qatada
Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, a.k.a. the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, is a Jordanian of Palestinian descent whom the United States and United Nations have designated for his support of al-Qaeda. Qatada sought asylum in Great Britain in 1994 after a Jordanian court sentenced him to death. He has been in and out of prison since because of his support of al-Qaeda, the Armed Islamic Group and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Algeria, and Chechen militants. A Spanish judge once described him as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe.” Qatada is accused of spreading radicalism and influencing jihadists such as the September 11 hijackers. The British Home Office has accused Qatada of granting religious legitimacy to people who want to “further the aims of extreme Islamism and to engage in terrorist attacks.” A Jordanian court convicted Qatada in absentia on terrorism charges in April 1999 and sentenced him to life in prison. Qatada has also been charged with encouraging a series of failed bombings in Jordan against Western targets in 1999. (Sources: New York Times, New York Times, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.N. Security Council, BBC News, Reuters)
British law prevented his deportation because of the risk of torture if he returned to Jordan. Britain and Jordan signed a treaty in April 2013 that guaranteed Qatada a fair trial upon his return, which led to Qatada’s deportation that July. A Jordanian court acquitted Qatada on June 26, 2014. A second Jordanian court released Qatada from prison that September after ruling there was insufficient evidence linking him to terrorism. (Sources: New York Times, BBC News, New York Times, New York Times)
Foreign Fighters
More than 2,000 Jordanians have officially traveled to Syria and Iraq as of the end of 2015. Unofficially, the number is closer to 2,500. Jordanians have primarily joined the Nusra Front. Approximately 350 have reportedly been killed on the battlefield as of May 2015. Authorities have arrested about 400 Jordanians trying to cross into Syria to join jihadist groups. Analysts estimate Jordan hosts some 6,000 to 7,000 jihadi sympathizers, largely among the country’s eastern tribes. These groups have traditionally supported the Hashemite monarchy in exchange for jobs, but higher unemployment rates have fostered jihadist sympathies among younger populations. The government tightened control over its 230-mile border with Syria in 2013 to stem the flow of fighters into Syria and weapons into Jordan. (Sources: The Soufan Group, Reuters, Reuters, Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor, CTC Sentinel)
Jordan’s Salafist leaders have encouraged followers to join the fighting in Syria. Al-Chalabi accuses Syria’s Bashar al-Assad of intentionally killing Sunnis under Iranian orders. In 2012, Jordanian Salafist scholar Abu Mohammad al-Tahawi issued a fatwa calling for jihad in Syria. Al-Chalabi said in June 2013 that more than 500 Jordanian Salafists were fighting in Syria alongside the Nusra Front. He likened the relationship between Jordanian Salafists and the Nusra Front to that between al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia: the groups are linked by ideology but have no formal relationship. (Sources: Associated Press, Al-Monitor, Stars and Stripes, Reuters, Al-Monitor, Al-Monitor)
ISIS
Eighty-five percent of Jordanian fighters had reportedly switched their allegiances from the Nusra Front to ISIS by April 2015. Before the February 2015 revelation of ISIS’s murder of the Jordanian pilot, ISIS reportedly had wide support in Jordan. (Sources: Al-Monitor, Associated Press)
Between August and September 2014, Jordan arrested 80 alleged ISIS supporters in the country. Security officials arrested six alleged supporters in a September 9, 2014, raid in Amman. For instance, in November 2014, Jordanian Hisham Moussa went on trial for using the mobile app WhatsApp to recruit for ISIS. Another Jordanian citizen known only as M.H. went on trial that month for threatening the Australian embassy on Facebook for the country’s role in the fight against ISIS. Jordan’s State Security Court sentenced a man to three years in prison in February 2015 for publishing pro-ISIS statements online. (Sources: Jordan Times, Jordan Times, Jordan Times)
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
The Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the precursor to ISIS. Before his death, he was the most wanted man in Jordan. In 1989, he traveled to Afghanistan where he trained under al-Qaeda military chief Mohammed Atef. Al-Zarqawi returned to Jordan in 1993 to create a militant Islamist group to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy. He was imprisoned from 1994 to 1999 for several bombing attempts. After his release, he created the paramilitary force Jund al-Sham in Afghanistan. In 2001, Jordan sentenced him to death in absentia for plotting the 1999 Radisson Hotel bombing. Al-Zarqawi became notorious for his videotaped beheadings. He was responsible for the October 2002 assassination of American diplomat Laurence Foley. He is linked to numerous bombings in Iraq and then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named al-Zarqawi the primary link between al-Qaeda and Iraq in 2003. Al-Zarqawi orchestrated a November 2005 triple hotel bombing in Jordan that killed 57 people. Al-Zarqawi died in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. (Source: Counter Extremism Project)
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi is a Jordanian heralded as one of the most prominent Salafist figures in the world. He was a mentor to al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch, but distanced himself over disagreements with the group’s methods including Muslim bloodshed. He was the spiritual guide to al-Zarqawi, whom he later disowned for indiscriminately attacking civilians during the 2005 Amman hotel bombings. Al-Maqdisi has chastised ISIS for declaring a caliphate, calling the group divisive and a “deviant organization.” Regardless, his influence on jihadist fighters has continued. Al-Maqdisi reportedly maintains support for the Nusra Front. Mohammad al-Chalabi also celebrates al-Maqdisi as the “mentor and father of our curriculum.”Al-Maqdisi has been in and out of prison for nearly two decades and has continually denied involvement or complicity in violent terror attacks. In 2008, he was released on lack of evidence and health concerns. In June 2014, authorities allegedly released him to encourage him to speak against ISIS. (Source: Counter Extremism Project)
Sami al-Oraidi
The Jordanian-born Sami al-Oraidi is the Nusra Front’s main sharia authority and reportedly the group’s second-in-command. After the Nusra Front captured 44 Fijian peacekeepers in the Syrian Golan Heights in August 2014, al-Oraidi reportedly ordered their unconditional release. Al-Oraidi has used social media to release sermons and declarations on behalf of the Nusra Front. Al-Oraidi has also used social media to attack ISIS, particularly after the group declared its caliphate in June 2014. He has referred to ISIS’s leaders as “Muslim killers” and declared war on ISIS in a December 2014 sermon posted to YouTube. (Source: Counter Extremism Project)