So few photos of al-Baghdadi exist that he is known as "the invisible sheikh."
Who is al-Baghdadi?
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu Dua, is an Iraqi-born jihadist. With only two authenticated photos of him and no known video-taped pronouncements, he has earned the nickname “the Invisible Sheikh.” Al-Baghdadi is credited with transforming a few Iraqi terror cells into the Islamic State (IS), a militant jihadist group which aims to establish an Islamic state, or a unified global community following Sharia law. Formerly known as ISIS, IS’s name change reflects a widening of their ambition to create an Islamic State across not only Syria and the Levant, but the vast region between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. In October 2011, the US State Department officially designated al-Baghdadi as a “terrorist,” offering a $10m reward for information leading to his capture or death.
Where did he emerge from?
Al-Baghdadi is a “mysterious figure” says Seyed Ali Alavi, a Middle East expert at SOAS. We know little about Baghdadi's past. Born to a religious family in the largely Sunni city of Samarra in Iraq in the early 1970s, al-Baghdadi is said by his followers to have gained a PhD in Islamic Studies in Baghdad before becoming a cleric. Enraged by the US invasion in 2003, he created an armed group, but was subsequently arrested by US forces and held in the military prison of Camp Bucca from 2005 to 2009. During this time he became increasingly radicalised, deepening his links with al Qaeda fighters held at the same camp. Following his release and the death of Iraqi al Qaeda leader Abu Omar al-Qurashi al-Baghdadi in 2010, Bakr al-Baghdadi emerged as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
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What does he mean by calling himself a "Caliph?"
Following its aggressive territorial expansion in western and northern Iraq this year, IS announced the establishment of a "caliphate," or a unified global Islamic community that follows Sharia law and is ruled by Islamic courts. This is the first time since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 that a caliphate has been declared. The caliphate is led by a “Caliph,” meaning successor to Mohammed. Selected by his followers to be the new Caliph, al-Baghdadi has gained a new title, Caliph Ibrahim (Ibrahim is his birth name). By declaring a caliphate, Alavi argues that al-Baghdadi is effectively creating a division between those jihadists that are ready to follow him and those (like al Nusra) that stand against him.
What is the future for IS and for al-Baghdadi?
Despite IS’s success in capturing parts of Iraq, it faces opposition on three levels. First, the Sunnis who it claims to represent are divided in their support. Second, it faces domestic resistance from Northern Kurds, the Iraqi government, and the country’s Shia majority. Third, it faces external opposition from al Nusra in Syria, from increasingly unsettled governments in neighbouring Turkey and Iran, and from the US, which is likely to conduct airstrikes if Baghdad is threatened. It is possible that if IS loses its grip, al-Baghdadi will be forced underground, like Taliban leaders in the early 2000s in Afghanistan, conducting small-scale terrorist activities but falling short of his dream of ruling over a unified Islamic state.
