What is the significance of the title ‘Amīr al-mu'minīn?'

Abstract

This article examines the use of the title amīr al-mu'minīn in the modern jihadist movement and sets it in the context of the history of how it was used extensively in northern Africa before colonialism. The use of the title did not necessarily signify a claim to caliphate as it is usually taken to be, but described a certain form of activist leadership which may have been attached to a caliph but also could signify a level of authority beneath that. In the modern armed jihad, the declaration of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first as amīr al-mu'minīn and then as caliph was a staged promotion that separated his authority from that of al-Qa‘ida.1