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The magazine, having published at least three issues between June 2008 and
March 2009, also carries articles profiling numerous global jihadist figures,
including: Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Umar; Supreme Leader of the
Islamic Caucasus State, proclaimed in Chechnya on 31 October 2007, Dokka
Umarov; Supreme Leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, announced in October
2006, Abu Umar al-Baghdadi; the Palestinian-born jihadist ideologue during the
Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Shaykh 'Abd Allah 'Azzam; and the American
al-Qa’ida member, Adam Gadahn. The magazine also hailed the creation of the
Al-Qa’ida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb following the merger of a local
jihad group known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and al-
Qa’ida elements. Furthermore, the magazine profiles “enemy literature,”
including the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point’s publication, The
Militant Ideology Atlas. 29 What makes these references worthy of discussion is that
they are archetypal of the global jihadist movement, both in the kinds of authors
that they respect as well as those that they fear. Thus, these references further
support the argument that the banner publication for the Ar-Rahmah media
house is a global jihadist publication meant for local consumption, not a regional
or local publication.
Other Indonesian Jihadist Websites
Beyond Ar-Rahmah, there is a vast array of other Indonesian jihadist websites.
None of these others can compete with the formalization or commercialization of
Ar-Rahmah in terms of structure and format. They do, however, follow a
consistent model in terms of content. The content across these lower-tier websites
can be grouped into five basic categories: local and regional jihadist concerns,
profiling enemies of global jihadism, celebrations of jihadist attacks, the state of
the global jihadist movement, and the religious ideology of global jihadism.
It is difficult to assess the total number of Indonesian jihadist websites currently
in operation. An anecdotal survey suggests that there are no more than forty
websites, but it is likely that significantly less than forty are being regularly
updated. 30 Some of the other leading Indonesian jihadist websites operating at
the time of this writing include:
29
The reference to the Combating Terrorism Center’s Militant Ideology Atlas was made in the
second JihadMagz issue, released 1 June 2008 on the Ar-Rahmah website as well as in print. The
Atlas can be found at http://www.ctc.usma.edu/atlas/.
30
A more comprehensive list of historic and current Indonesian jihadist websites would also
include the following: http://www.geocities.com/abuya_2005/almuhajirun;
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