The Role of Religious Manuscripts on ISIS Recruitment Process: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Study

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the impact of religious manuscripts for the ISIS recruitment process. The study attempts to concentrate on the persuasion strategies in the ISIS mass media. Over sixty articles are taken from ten issues of both Dabiq and Rumiyah magazines. The study is qualitative descriptive depending on Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Theory developed by O'Halloran (2011) through emerging Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (1989) with Multimodality based on Gunther Kress and Van Leeuwin Social Semiotic theory (2001). The findings indicate the massive role of religious manuscripts for impacting the Muslim communities to be convinced to join the newborn Caliphate, because the religious scripts are orders from God indirectly to be followed. Besides, the non-verbal modes such as images and views have also crucial roles through the massive influence of visual modes along with the scripts.