From MEMRI and the Daily Express
On August 7, 2025, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 507 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba’. The issue featured an editorial titled “Light of Jihad,” praising ISIS’s “jihad” targeting and killing Christians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Mozambique, and inciting ISIS adherents to imitate their brethren in Africa and “exact” the divine verdict on Christians across Europe
The editorial started by crediting the ongoing “Inferno of Camps” launched by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) against militaries and security personnel in Nigeria and neighboring areas, for firing up the “flames of jihad” in the DRC and Mozambique against “combatant” Christians, which, the editorial asserted, were immersed into a new cycle of displacement, anguish, humiliation, and ruin.
The reason behind the “increasing” jihadi activity in Africa, per the piece, is that ISIS mujahideen benefited greatly from other jihadi actions in the past, adding: “They talked less but acted momentously. They obeyed the divine commands, avoided prohibitions, and left aside every fallacy.”
The editorial continued: “Allah enlightened their insights, blessed their jihad, and guided the zealous sons of Islam to them, so they came to them from the farthest reaches of the earth, both light and heavy,” it added, suggesting an ongoing flow of foreign fighters to the various arenas of jihad in the continent.
The editorial went on to praise ISIS’s Mozambique Province, which was once part of ISCAP, for launching a “new wave of attacks” after what it described as a period of “severe trials” endured by the group’s operatives. Upon their return, “they burned villages of the cross-worshippers in Mozambique’s Chiure, Maidumbe and Ancuabe districts, beheading them and displacing thousands of them, until their government was choked with grief.”
Accentuating an ideological jihadi approach towards religious minorities, namely Christians and Jews, the editorial maintained that for Christians of Africa to be safe and escape the cycle of killing, they need to be informed that “the true Islam” grants them the freedom to choose between converting to Islam or giving jizyah tax.
“If they refuse Islam and the jizyah tax, the third option is murder and displacement, which is what they have witnessed and suffered for years,” it stressed in a threatening tone.
Addressing the displaced Christians, the editorial claimed that some villagers have already agreed to pay the jizyah tax to ISIS operatives in various regions of Africa, and as a result, “they were given safety to live in their villages and farms.” Meanwhile, some converted to Islam at the hands of the mujahideen, it noted. The editorial then warned that the majority of the displaced still insist on opting for death, which will soon be the only option left.
The editorial then dismissed reactions by western Christian countries and the United Nations institutions, and the condemnation of the acts of killing against their own, as “cross-worshippers,” arguing that these very parties continue to turn the blind eye to the “mass massacres” against Palestinians: “These institutions weep for Crusader and Jewish blood while belching Muslim blood! This is the reality of their ‘humanity’ and its institutions.”
“Today, Muslims are suffering from the evils and conspiracies of the nonbelievers, and whenever these are confronted with severity and an iron fist, the conspiracies of the nonbelievers are nullified, and their evils are repelled. Such is the path to overcoming oppression and regaining sovereignty. Our conquering ancestors ruled with swords, advancing legions and leading the way, until they terrorized the nations of their time, who came to them willingly or unwillingly, surrendering and submissive. This is the truth, and anything beyond it is false.”
“This is what the mujahideen of Africa adhere to, paying no heed to anything else.”
The editorial went on to sing the praises of the jihadi activity led by ISIS affiliates in the DRC and Mozambique, saying that the “light of jihad” has shone after decades of darkness, ignorance, and Crusader massacres committed by Christians during their invasion of Africa.
According to the piece, Christians continued to bear grudges against Muslims for what they had suffered at their hands in previous eras, such as in Andalusia, which, the editorial claimed, Muslims lost after they deserted Al-Wala’ Wal Bara’ and grew spoiled in luxury. Expressing an old belief that today’s Spain remains an “Islamic land,” the editorial stressed that Andalusia would not be recouped except through jihad, resistance, perseverance, and endurance, as Muslim ancestors did.
Addressing the “knights of Islam in Africa,” the editorial called on them to prepare whatever force they are able to muster against the “Crusaders,” and to arm themselves with faith and knowledge towards success and greater effectiveness on the path of jihad.
According to the editorial, a stronger jihad in Africa will lead to jihad in Europe. It prayed for jihadis in Africa to succeed in their “mission” to carry their jihad to the shores of Europe, “conquering it, shattering its security, and transforming its streets and capitals into an Ituri and a Cabo Delgado.”
Inciting terrorist acts in Europe similar to the terror campaign against Christians in the DRC, Mozambique, and other areas of the African continent, the editorial concluded: “The hearts still ache for revenge against the Christians of Europe. The call is still open to the heroes of Islam to attack them again and invade them in their own backyards and implement the divine rulings against them as their brothers did in Africa, and Allah will surely support those who support Him.”
MEMRI Vice President Alberto Miguel Fernandez told Fox News Digital: “What we see in Africa today is a kind of silent genocide or silent, brutal, savage war that is occurring in the shadows and all too often ignored by the international community. That jihadist groups are in a position to take over not one, not two, but several countries in Africa – take over the whole country or most of several countries – is dangerous.”
According to MEMRI, fighters from the Islamic State of Mozambique allegedly captured and beheaded six Christians in the village of Natocua in July.
Fernandez described the difficulty in combating attacks from the group, which has changed the way it operates in recent years after losing the large chunks of land it occupied across Iraq and Syria until 2017. Rather than occupying land and operating as an Islamic caliphate, the group now has influence over dozens of small, independent cells operating across continents.
Fernandez added: “It’s kind of like a whack-a-mole situation.
One Response
Is the perceived threat worth a timely effective response from those threatened?
Who’s riding the weak horse?