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Boko Haram


  • URI(s)

  • Variants

    • BH (Boko Haram)
    • Boko Harram
    • Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunnah li-Daʻwah wa-l-Jihād
    • Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunnah lil-Daʻwatihi wa-al-Jihād
    • Jamāʻat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Daʻwah wa-l-Jihād
    • Jamaat Ahlussunah lid-Dawa wal-Jihad
    • Jamaʼatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaʼawati Wal-Jihad
    • Jama'atu Ahlisunnah Lida'awati wal-Jihad
    • Jamaʼatul Alhul Sunnah Liddaʼwati wal jihad
    • Jamatu Ahlis Sunna Lidawatti wal Jihad
    • JAS (Jama'atu Ahlisunnah Lida'awati wal-Jihad)
    • Nigerian Taliban
    • People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad
    • Yusufiya
    • جماعة اهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد
  • Additional Information

  • Additional Related Forms

  • Exact Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: LRA, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, AQIM, and other sources of instability in Africa, 2012:p. 3 (In Nigeria, Boko Haram, which refers to itself as the Nigerian Taliban) p. 30 (In Nigeria, longstanding political and socioeconomic grievances in the north led to the creation of Boko Haram in 2001) p. 33 (Boko Haram (BH))
    • found: U.S. Dept. of State website, Aug. 21, 2012:media note, June 21, 2012 (Nigeria-based militant group, Jamaʼatu Ahlis Sunna Liddaʼawati Wal-Jihad, commonly referred to as Boko Haram)
    • found: Council on Foreign Relations website, Aug. 21, 2012:menu selection, publications, Africa (Boko Haram colloquially translates into "Western education is sin," which experts say is a name assigned by the state. The sect calls itself Jamaʼatul Alhul Sunnah Liddaʼwati wal jihad, or "people committed to the propagation of the prophet's teachings and jihad")
    • found: Wikipedia, Aug. 16, 2012(art. Boko Haram; جماعة اهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد = Jamā'atu Ahlis Sunnah Lādda'awatih wal-Jihad; People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad)
    • found: Jihadology website, Aug. 16, 2012(Boko Haram; Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunnah li Daʻwah wa-l-Jihād)
    • found: La naissance de Boko Harram, 2015
    • found: Al-Qaeda accelerant in Boko Haram's rise, 2015:page 15 (JAS (full name: Jama'atu Ahlisunnah Lida'awati Wal-Jihad) existed from 2010 to March 2015 in its first iteration, which until 2014 included a Shekau faction and an AQIM faction; in August 2016, it formed again under the same name; both iterations have been under Shekau's leadership)
    • found: Unmasking Boko Haram, 2020:ECIP text, pages 2-3 ("Boko Haram" is an inaccurate moniker encompassing formal names of several jihadist groups, including ISWAP, that originate from one Nigerian "jihadist family"; founded in 2002, known then as the "Taliban", based at camp in Kanama, Yobe State; when that camp was destroyed by Nigerian security forces in 2003, members began calling themselves "Yusufiya" (Muhammed Yusuf's followers, referring to the group leader 2004-2009); the name "Boko Haram" emerged in 2007; by 2015, Boko Haram was ranked the world's most lethal terrorist group; that year, IS formally declared it an affiliate, or "wilaya" (province), leading to its rebranding as Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP); still commonly called "Boko Haram"; after IS lost its Iraq- and Syria-based 'territorial caliphate' to U.S.-backed military coalitions in 2010, ISWAP became increasingly important for sustaining IS' global project) page 4 (after Nigerian security forces killed Muhammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau succeeded him in 2010, Shekau formally named the group Jamaat Ahlussunah led-Dawa wal-Jihad (means "Salafi Muslim Group for Preaching and Jihad"); no convenient acronyms, and bestowed religious legitimacy on Shekau which his Muslim rivals sought to undermine, therefore still labeled by others in Nigeria as "Boko Haram"; "Boko Haram" was Nigeria's only jihadist group until formation of Jamaat Ansarul Musilimin fi Biladis Sudan (means "Group of Muslim Supporters in Black Africa"), founded in 2012 by former subsequently used abbreviated name, Ansaru; in 2015 Shekau formally pledged loyalty to IS, which IS accepted after a one-year courtship starting with the Chibok kindnapping; after the pledge, IS renamed "Boko Haram" as "Islamic State in West Province" (ISWAP), and "Boko Haram" or Jamaat Ahlussunnah lid-Dawa wal-Jihad was superseded and became inactive; Ansaru still existed but was marginalized; in 2016 IS named Abu Musab as ISWAP leader and demoted Shekau, who announced that he would not retract loyalty to IS "caliph" Abubakar al-Baghdadi but would reassume leadership of "Boko Haram" or Jamaat Ahlussunah lid-Dawa wal-Jihad again, reviving the group that was inactive since the year before; therefore, from 2016 to the present [2019], ISWAP and "Boko Haram" or Jamaat Ahlussunnah lid-Dawa wal-Jihad were the two main Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, and distinct from the third, smaller jihadist group. Ansaru)
    • found: Wikipedia, December 5, 2019(Boko Haram; the Islamic State in West Africa or Islamic State's West Africa Province (abbreviated as ISWA or ISWAP); ISISWAP/Boko Haram (in reference to 2019 incident); in March 2015 Shekau pledged allegience to ISIL, and the group was nominally renamed 'Wilayat Garb Ifriqiyah' or the Islamic State's 'West African province'; signed Twitter claim responsibility for bombing in July 2015 as "Islamic State, West Africa province"; Wilāyat al Sūdān al Gharbī; formerly known as Jamāʻat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'ʻwah wa-l-Jihād, Arabic: جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, "Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad") and commonly known as Boko Haram until March 2015; a jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon; founded upon principles of Salafism advocating Sharia law, developed into a jihadist group in 2009; as of 2016, the group has split into pro-Barnawi and pro-Shekau factions, with reports of armed clashes between them; 2019 has seen further decline of Boko Haram and the loss of much of the territory it once controlled; Shekau has released videos since the split referring to his group by its previous name of Jamatu Ahlis Sunna Lidawatti wal Jihad)
    • found: Encyclopedia Britannica (online), viewed December 5, 2019(Boko Haram; Nigerian Islamic group; alternative titles: ISWA, ISWAP, Islamic State in West Africa, Islamic State's West African Province, Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunna lil-Daʻawah wa al-Jihād; Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunnah li-l Daʻawah wa al-Jihād (Arabic: "People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad"); from 2015 also called Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) or Islamic State's West African Province (ISWAP); in 2015 the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and took the name Islamic State (or State's) West African Province (ISWAP), a.k.a Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA); the next year the group split, one faction retaining that name Islamic State (or State's) West African Province (ISWAP), Haram in Hausa, or Jamāʻat Ahl al-Sunnah li-l-Daʻwah wa al-Jihād (JAS) in Arabic; "Boko Haram" used at times to collectively refer to the various factions, particularly when there was confusion as to which group was responsible for an attack)
  • Editorial Notes

    • [Non-Latin script reference not evaluated.]
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  • Change Notes

    • 2012-08-21: new
    • 2023-11-22: revised
  • Alternate Formats