Abu Hamza al-Qurashi

Abu Hamza al-Qurashi was the spokesman for ISIS. He began serving as spokesman in October 2019, making major announcements for the terror group.Rukmini Callimachi and Eric Schmitt, “Isis Names New Leader as It Confirms Al-Bagdadi’s death,” New York Times, October 31, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/world/middleeast/isis-al-baghdadi-dead.html; “Islamic State names its new leader as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi,” BBC News, October 31, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50254785. On March 10, 2022, ISIS released an audio recording confirming the death of Qurashi.“IS Names New Leader, Confirms Death Of Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurashi,” Agence France Presse, March 10, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/news/is-names-new-leader-confirms-death-of-abu-ibrahim-al-qurashi-01646930407?tesla=y.

Qurashi replaced former ISIS spokesman Abu Hasan al-Muhajir, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in late October 2019 in Syria shortly after the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, “Baghdadi’s successor likely to be Iraqi religious scholar,” CNN, October 29, 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/politics/isis-leadership-contender-al-mawla/index.html; Isabel Coles, Nazih Osseiran, and Jessica Donati, “Islamic State Spokesman Killed in U.S. Airstrike,” Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/islamic-state-spokesman-targeted-in-u-s-airstrike-say-kurds-11572268364; “Islamic State group names its new leader as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi,” BBC News, October 31, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50254785. On October 31, 2019, Qurashi announced Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi—a.k.a. Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla—as the new leader of ISIS. He declared that ISIS’s shura council had met quickly after Baghdadi’s death to select his replacement and called on Muslims to pledge allegiance to the new leader.Rukmini Callimachi and Eric Schmitt, “Isis Names New Leader as It Confirms Al-Bagdadi’s death,” New York Times, October 31, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/world/middleeast/isis-al-baghdadi-dead.html; “Islamic State names its new leader as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi,” BBC News, October 31, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50254785.

On January 27, 2020, Qurashi delivered an audio speech, distributed by ISIS’s al-Furqan Media, calling for ISIS’s followers around the world to travel to the nearest ISIS province and join a training camp. Qurashi called for the slaughter of “the Jews inside Palestine and outside of Palestine” and wherever they can be found. Qurashi further called on followers to increase strikes against ISIS’s enemies using snipers, IEDs, silencers, and boobytraps.“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: 'Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

On May 28, 2020, Qurashi released a message extending greetings from Mawla and calling for ISIS’s followers to continue their war of attrition.Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2020, 11:38 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266031106253565958. Qurashi referred to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 as a divine punishment for the “crusaders” who are now facing the same misery ISIS has faced through lockdowns and bodies in the streets. Qurashi said the virus has distanced ISIS’s enemies and kept them occupied and promised “big changes in the region that’ll offer greater opportunities than” ISIS “previously had in the past decade.”Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2019, 10:54 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266019995659702273; Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2019, 11:01 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266021717169917959; Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2019, 11: 34 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266030188934115333.

Qurashi released an audio recording on October 18, 2020, through ISIS’s official Telegram channel calling for the overthrow of “tyrannical” Arab rulers. The statement was released in the midst of normalization agreements between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain with Israel. The move by the UAE and Bahrain promises complete normalization of diplomatic, commercial, security, and other relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem suspending annexation of occupied West Bank territory. Qurashi further called on ISIS operatives and supporters in Saudi Arabia and Africa to attack Western citizens and interests.“Spotlight on Global Jihad (October 15-21, 2020),” The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, October 22, 2020, https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/spotlight-on-global-jihad-october-15-21-2020/; “In response to normalization … ISIS calls for attacks in the...,” Al Khaleej Today, October 19, 2020, https://alkhaleejtoday.co/saudi-arabia/5139962/In-response-to-normalization-%E2%80%A6-ISIS-calls-for-attacks-in-the.html; Jonathan Hoffman, “Why Gulf nations are normalizing ties with Israel,” Washington Post, September 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/24/why-gulf-nations-are-normalizing-ties-with-israel/; Peter Baker, Isabel Kershner, David D. Kirkpatrick and Ronen Bergman, “Israel and United Arab Emirates Strike Major Diplomatic Agreement,” August 13, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/us/politics/trump-israel-united-arab-emirates-uae.html.

On June 22, 2021, ISIS released an audio message attributed to Qurashi. In the message, ISIS renewed its threats against Sunni tribal fighters aligned with the Iraqi government saying Sunni fighters should “not deceive yourselves that you are safe and that our swords can’t reach you, but we are delaying raiding your houses in the hope you repent.”Sinan Mahmoud, “ISIS issues warning to Iraqi Sunnis but struggles to regroup,” The National, June 23, 2021, https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/isis-issues-warning-to-iraqi-sunnis-but-struggles-to-regroup-1.1247357. Qurashi also hailed militants in central and northern Iraq and called for the release of “prisoners of atheists and apostates.”Sinan Mahmoud, “ISIS issues warning to Iraqi Sunnis but struggles to regroup,” The National, June 23, 2021, https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/isis-issues-warning-to-iraqi-sunnis-but-struggles-to-regroup-1.1247357.

Arabic-speaking observers suspected Qurashi was Iraqi based on his dialect.Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2020, 2:03 p.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266067678642536449.

On March 10, 2022, ISIS released an audio recording confirming the death of Qurashi as well as leader Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla. According to the statement, the two were “killed in recent days.”“IS Names New Leader, Confirms Death Of Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurashi,” Agence France Presse, March 10, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/news/is-names-new-leader-confirms-death-of-abu-ibrahim-al-qurashi-01646930407?tesla=y.

Also Known As

Extremist entity
ISIS
Read Threat Report
Type(s) of Organization:
Insurgent, territory-controlling, religious, terrorist, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Salafist, takfiri
Position(s):
Spokesman - deceased

ISIS is a violent jihadist group based in Iraq and Syria. The group has declared wilayas (provinces) in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the North Caucasus. ISIS has also waged attacks in Turkey, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tunisia, and Kuwait.

  • Rhetoric

June 22, 2021

In an audio message threatening Sunni tribal fighters aligned with the Iraqi government:

“[Sunni fighters do] not deceive yourselves that you are safe and that our swords can’t reach you, but we are delaying raiding your houses in the hope you repent.”Sinan Mahmoud, “ISIS issues warning to Iraqi Sunnis but struggles to regroup,” The National, June 23, 2021, https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/isis-issues-warning-to-iraqi-sunnis-but-struggles-to-regroup-1.1247357.

Oct. 18, 2020

Audio message:

“Targets are plenty ... Start by hitting and destroying oil pipelines, factories and facilities which are the source (of income) of the tyrant government.”“Islamic State tells supporters to target westerners, oil pipelines in Saudi Arabia,” Reuters, October 18, 2020, https://news.trust.org/item/20201018171725-n4ppu/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1630145_.

Oct. 31, 2019

Audio message declaring Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, a.k.a Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, as ISIS’s new leader:

“He is a flag of the flags of jihad, and a scholar of its scholars, and an emir of the emirs of war.”Jeff Seldin, “Supporters Begin Flocking to New Islamic State Leader,” Voice of America, October 31, 2019, https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/supporters-begin-flocking-new-islamic-state-leader.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“The infidels wish to put out the light of Allah by their continuous military and media campaign against the monotheists, a total war on all fronts. For this they have mobilized their media channels and the turbans of evil, the scholars of the tyrants and the champions of depravity, in order to hurl the most vile faults and accusations against the Islamic State. They distort its true nature and its creed, and its jihad in defense of the religion and the community....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“The infidels wish to put out the light of Allah by their continuous military and media campaign against the monotheists, a total war on all fronts. For this they have mobilized their media channels and the turbans of evil, the scholars of the tyrants and the champions of depravity, in order to hurl the most vile faults and accusations against the Islamic State. They distort its true nature and its creed, and its jihad in defense of the religion and the community....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“We say to America and to its Arab and non-Arab servants: You have been trying to fight the Islamic State since it was limited to Iraq... you repeatedly declared that you finished it off and you are surprised each time to see, after all of your declarations, the continuance of its activity and the attacks of its soldiers....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“Today we have begun a new stage in our war against you. The eyes of the soldiers of the caliphate everywhere are still turned toward Bayt Al-Maqdis. In the coming days, with Allah's permission, there will be events that will cause you to forget the horrors you have seen during the time of the previous leaders, Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, and Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Our jihad shall continue, with Allah’s permission. The honorable, heroic sheikh, the commander of the faithful and the caliph of the Muslims, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi has arrived. We pray to Allah that He will torment you, take vengeance upon you and punish you severely.

“He [Abu Ibrahim] has taken upon himself and upon the mujahideen in the rest of the [ISIS] provinces, and upon the Muslims in all countries, a new stage, which is to wage war against the Jews and regain what they stole from the Muslims – which will be returned only by a book that guides [the Quran] and a victorious sword – and the conquest of Bayt Al-Maqdis and the passing on of the banner to Muhammad bin Abdallah, the Mahdi, with Allah’s permission.”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“We call upon you to join the soldiers of the caliphate, who are exerting themselves to remove the borders and the obstacles standing between them and fighting the Jews, who are determined, with Allah’s permission, to topple the armies and bring down the thrones, formed by the Crusaders to be a protecting force for the Israelites, and incite their brothers everywhere to attack the Jews and slaughter them, inside Palestine and outside Palestine, and kill them wherever they can find them....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“Oh tyrants of America and worshippers of the Cross: Search for something else in which to rejoice other than your claims of finishing off the Islamic State. We say the dog of the Rum [the Byzantines, the Christian West], Trump: The two dogs who ruled America before you, Bush and Obama, also claimed and declared that they had finished off the Islamic State, on numerous occasions. Are you not ashamed to declare, for the past 15 years, that you have finished off the monotheists? Your war was once limited to Iraq; now, with Allah’s grace, it has spread across the world, to Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Sinai, to Libya and Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, to the Caucasus, to West and Central Africa, to Tunisia and Algeria....

“If you include in your calculations that you managed to win a battle, and that the mujahideen withdrew from it, know that the entire matter is in the hands of Allah... Allah is merely testing his worshippers, to differentiate those who are sincere in their jihad from the insincere ones....

“Oh fool of the Rum, oh you who showed off your dog in the media and honored him while refraining from mentioned your soldiers and their participation [in the operation to kill Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi]... die in your rage! Your dreams and hopes of finishing off ISIS are nothing but an illusion....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

Jan. 27, 2020

Audio message released via ISIS’s al-Furqan Media:

“We order you to double the activity and increase the strikes. Write down the targets, draw up plans and boobytrap the roads, lay down IEDs, and spread out snipers and kill with silencers. Turn the infidels’ joy into funerals, and lie in wait for them everywhere....”“ISIS Spokesman Dismisses Trump’s Declarations Of Annihilating ISIS, Declares War On Israel: ‘Oh Soldiers Of The Caliphate Everywhere... Go For The Israeli Settlements And Marketplaces; Turn Them Into Lands For Testing Your Weapons... Attack The Jews And Slaughter Them,’” MEMRI, January 27, 2020, https://www.memri.org/reports/isis-spokesman-dismisses-trumps-declarations-annihilating-isis-declares-war-israel-oh.

May 28, 2020

Audio message:

“We have made a pledge that no day passes by without bloodshed [against enemies].”Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2019, 11:14 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266025128225386496.

May 28, 2020

Audio message:

“What you are witnessing these days are only signs of big changes in the region that’ll offer greater opportunities than we had previously in the past decade.”Hassan Hassan, Twitter post, May 28, 2019, 11: 34 a.m., https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1266030188934115333.

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Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

In Their Own Words:

We reiterate once again that the brigades will directly target US bases across the region in case the US enemy commits a folly and decides to strike our resistance fighters and their camps [in Iraq].

Abu Ali al-Askari, Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) Security Official Mar. 2023
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