On 6 May 2025, a new Islamic State-supportive unofficial media outlet emerged on Element. According to its website, Element is a messaging platform that emphasises secure communications through features such as end-to-end encryption and decentralisation. As GNET has noted before, the use of highly secure platforms such as Element by violent extremist and terrorist actors poses a challenge for both content moderation and the online-offline safety nexus. The new IS media outlet is named the Ala Nahjen Qaweem Foundation and describes itself as “an institution based on a sound approach to disseminating Islamic sciences and research in Arabic and other languages so that we may worship God with insight.”
This Insight explores the platforms on which this outlet is currently active and examines its rhetoric to determine its main goals. This Insight also gives brief recommendations on how to effectively counter Ala Nahjen to prevent recruitment into Islamic State’s online ecosystem.
Figure 1: Ala Nahjen Qaweem Foundation Logos.
At the time of writing, the group has rooms on Element in the following languages:
- Arabic, English, Uzbek, Turkestani, Spanish, Dutch, German, Malay and Indonesian.
Although each language has its own room on Element, the rooms are mirrors of each other and share the exact same content. This shows that they are all managed under the same umbrella, very similar to Fursan al-Tarjuma, another IS supportive umbrella organisation for translation houses.
As can be seen in the screenshot below, the group translates their name as “Upon the Correct Methodology Foundation.” This highlights that their main goal is to spread Islamic-State supportive propaganda with the aim of teaching followers their version of how to worship God with insight gained from Islamic Sciences and research in Arabic. It should be noted that their slogan is “So that we may worship God with insight.”
Figure 2: Screenshot from Element showing translation of the name into English according to the group itself.
It should be noted that since around July 2025, Ala Nahjil has been extensively advertised on Islamic State’s Rocket Chat server, proving their connections to the group, despite not sharing any official IS content from either the Nashir or Amaq News Agencies.
Content
The Group shares many different types of content, and its work is extensive. In July 2025, the group published the poster below advertising a book that will soon be released and translated into, presumably, all the languages it currently supports.
Another example of its content is the second poster, showing the back of a fighter, exalting the virtues of Jihad, explaining how spoils of war are to be shared, and highlighting that believers should strive for Jihad regardless of external factors such as whether an Imam is present or if the jihadist in question is alone. This could be interpreted as a call to lone-wolf attacks on behalf of IS.
Figure 3: Posters from Ala Nahjen on Element.
Other examples of the content coming from Ala Nahjen include the extract below from a post detailing the differences between two types of unbelievers called “kuffar” by IS. The extract highlights IS’s ideology against any non-Muslims, emphasising that so-called “original disbelievers” should be called to convert to Islam or be forced to convert through physical violence, or pay Jizyah (a type of tax imposed on non-Muslim populations by their Muslim rulers) if they wish to continue practising their religion under IS rule. The extract also discusses those whom IS deems “apostates” and whom they describe as Muslims who act in contrast to Islam and who are therefore considered infidels.
As can be seen from the screenshots below, and which is evident from the fact that there are currently no Element channels for indigenous African languages, Ala Nahjen notably does not appear to have an interest in propagandising towards Africa, despite African Wilayahs being the most active by Islamic State’s own official reporting. However, Ala Nahjen does highlight in its propaganda that Christians, Jews, Druze and others are infidels who should be converted to Islam or fought/forced to pay Jizyah. There are large populations of Christians, as well as other groups such as Jews, in Africa, and this could be a subtle hint by IS that they should be targeted.
Figure 4: Screenshots from Ala Nahjen’s English-language room on Element.
It is clear that Ala Nahjen’s goal is to dictate to Muslims how to live their lives and to presumably exploit those who are in a position to be recruited by IS. On 10 August 2025, the group shared the below poster entitled “Preface of the Treatise; Important Obligations No Muslim Should Be Ignorant Of” as a teaser to the full scripture, which the group stated on the same day would be released on an unspecified future date.
Figure 5: “Preface of the Treatise” Poster.
Recruitment
The group is actively recruiting digital soldiers. In July 2025, they published the infographic below in Arabic, English, Uzbek, Turkestani, Spanish, Dutch, German, Malay and Indonesian on its various channels on both Element and the Islamic State’s Rocket Chat server. The poster announced the opening of applications for people who want to contribute to spreading the Foundation’s propaganda online, and is specifically looking for individuals who have technical expertise in translation, video editing, design, publishing, voice-overs and proofreading. This speaks to the level of professionalism and seriousness with which the group is approaching its work and highlights the importance of monitoring the spread of this group’s online presence for the prevention of radicalisation.
Figure 6: Poster advertising posts for IS supporters who want to join the Foundation.
Telegram
As has been repeatedly identified by P/CVE practitioners, Telegram is one of the main platforms where the group is active. Telegram is a popular platform for extremist groups, and it is not surprising that Ala Nahjen is active on Telegram. At the time of writing, there is an Albanian-language group on Telegram, notable for the fact that there is not currently an Albanian channel on Element, or at least it has not been advertised by the main Arabic language room. However, this could be an oversight by the users who post on Element since the Albanian Telegram group has the exact same logo as all the other groups that have corresponding channels on Element.
Absence of Imagery
It is notable that compared to many other IS supportive channels and online chatrooms, Ala Nahjen posts much less imagery than others. The group focuses on written content and does not appear to try to draw the reader’s attention through imagery like photos of fighters posing with their weapons or videos of IS activity. Instead, the allure is from living as a righteous Muslim and fulfilling the call to join the Caliphate or act in its interests. However, the fact that the group is recruiting for video editors and designers could indicate that they have an eye towards producing more visuals in the future.
Conclusion and Recommendations
It appears that Ala Nahjen is trying to stay under the radar of authorities and content moderators by not posting any official IS content and by making their content appear – at first glance – like a scientific research group that merely seeks to promote Islamic sciences and achievements. This tactic is also likely an effective way to recruit potential IS members by presenting their extremist rhetoric as rooted in scientific Islamic principles.
Content moderators should keep an eye out for content containing the Ala Nahjen logo and for any hashtags that could be related to the name of the group. It is also necessary to train content moderators to spot extremist Islamist rhetoric from Islamic State and other Jihadist terrorist groups disguised as scientific or tolerant religious discourse.
Telegram clearly remains a hub for IS supporters despite previous migrations away from the platform by official IS channels for the Nashir and Amaq News Agencies. It remains to be seen if Ala Nahjen will find longevity in its Telegram presence or if it will migrate to other alternatives, such as SimpleX, where content moderation is more difficult due to even more heightened privacy measures.
Ala Nahjen is still in its relative infancy compared to other major multilingual IS-supportive outlets, such as the infamous Fursan al-Tarjuma. However, the actors behind Ala Nahjen appear resilient in their efforts to recruit content creators and perhaps this is only the beginning of yet another sprawling multilingual IS-supportive media outlet.
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Cara Rau is an intelligence analyst with experience in monitoring online Jihadist communications. She is particularly interested in terrorism and political violence affecting the developing world and is passionate about the intersection of technology and terrorism. She is also experienced in OSINT investigations focused on human rights abuses and conflict in Africa. Cara holds a Master of Terrorism and Security Studies and speaks Afrikaans, French, Russian and some Levantine Arabic.
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