Fly ISIS Airlines: Germany's Muslim Airport Employees Give One-finger ISIS Salute
The Muslim airport workers in this photo are clearly making the sign of allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group: the upraised index finger. Muslims in general have used it as a sign of allegiance to tawhid, Islam’s absolute monotheism. However, in recent years it has become mainly associated with allegiance to violent jihad groups, particularly the Islamic State.
Naijaonpoint (h/t Marvin W) This signal has been known to be a sign of allegiance to the Islamic State for almost as long as there has been an Islamic State. It has been described as the group’s “ubiquitous hand signal.” The Islamic State militants, known as ISIS, are now using a single, raised index finger as the symbol of their cause. It’s a well-known sign of power and victory around the world, but for ISIS, it has a more sinister meaning.
As Robert Spencer explains Muslims, in general, have used it as a sign of allegiance to tawhid, Islam’s absolute monotheism. However, in recent years it has become very much associated with allegiance to jihad groups, particularly the Islamic State. This signal has been known to be a sign of allegiance to the Islamic State for almost as long as there has been an Islamic State. It has been described as the group’s “ubiquitous hand signal.”
The German federal police reacted immediately. A spokeswoman told the paper: “Based on the footage of the people, all three were identified as employees of a company commissioned by the airport operator and airline.”
According to the German newspaper Bild, there are three German citizens named Mohamed AR, Hamit A., and Serhat I. The men are between 19 and 20 years old. All three were also born in Germany. Nevertheless, they felt they belonged to the Muslim terrorists of the “Islamic State.”
Nathaniel Zelinsky writes in Foreign Affairs that the gesture refers to the tawhid, “the belief in the oneness of God and a key component of the Muslim religion.” More specifically, though, it refers to their fundamentalist interpretation of the tawhid, which rejects any other view, including other Islamic interpretations, as idolatry.
Zelinsky writes that when ISIS uses the gesture, it is affirming an ideology that demands the destruction of the West, as well as any form of pluralism. For potential recruits around the globe, it also shows their belief that they will dominate the world.
ISIS also chose its black-and-white flag carefully to symbolize its link to the Prophet Muhammad, as PRI’s The World explains.
IB Times.UK In the last photo taken before he blew himself up in a dusty battlefield in northern Iraq, 17-year-old Briton Talha Asmal sat in the front seat of a car with a single finger on his right hand pointing skywards.
The single raised index finger gesture has often been seen with a severed head in their other hand, but refers to the first half of the shahada, the affirmation of Muslim faith that his recited before every prayer.
The salute was used early on in the days of IS and even by leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during his first speech at Friday prayers after the takeover of Mosul.
It also has a solid jihadi pedigree, said Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group.
“The gesture has been used by jihadis for years, including high profile ones like Osama bin Laden. Within the jihadi context, the raised index finger takes on political meaning as well, widely rejecting any form of government not under Shariah law,” she said.
Since then, it is not only used by fighters and supporters of IS but by those celebrating weddings in IS-held areas.
Like the Nazi salute or the raised fist, the gesture has become an integral part of IS propaganda, particularly among the young. Videos from IS-held areas frequently show small children saluting with a single finger in unison while shouting IS propaganda. “It so much reminds of the sieg heil [Nazi salute] when you see the little kids do it simultaneously,” said Khan.
A unity of gestures and symbols has become increasingly important to IS, with its black and white flag used by IS-affiliates across the Middle East, a factor that helps the terrorist group distinguish itself from the dozens of competing jihadi factions across the region.
It also helps bolster the central idea of the caliphate, that it is a unified Islamic state that stretches not just across swathes of Iraq and Syria but the wider world.
Reader Interactions
Those three young muslims were born in Germany but if you were ask them what they are they would reply I am musilm, I am Turkish I was born in Germany… in that order…
I wonder where the one guy went on vacation.
What could possibly go wrong with one finger saluting Muslims (or any Muslims for that matter) in the secure area of an airport?