“Qamat al-Dawla” (“The Dawla Has Arisen,” in reference to the Islamic State) was a nasheed produced by Ajnad Media and released in mid-January 2016. Whereas a number of Islamic State nasheeds use straightforward classical Arabic (“We will move forth to excellence” being a good example), this one is particularly interesting for what is often termed Bedouin Arabic in form and language: terminology used generically to refer to the Arabian Peninsula. A somewhat comparative case is the nasheed ‘Oh Son of Yemen’ that notably contains the phrase ‘وش علامك’ (‘what you want/seek’, in reference to the Houris of paradise).
Many native Arabic speakers would in fact find nasheeds like “Qamat al-Dawla” difficult to understand. A more precise definition of the language of ‘Qamat al-Dawla” is offered by a reader @3bdulelah, who pinpoints the language of this nasheed as Qasimi dialect (from the Qasim region in central Arabia).
Below is my translation of the nasheed (see here for original):
The Dawla has arisen, clear, powerful and determined, as a drawn sword, supporting the religion.
Its direction is clear: exposing disbelief, spilling its blood, rejecting disgrace.
The lions of its soldiers are might in its jihad: the most blessed of leaders, rising above the inferior.
That you may kill us does not mean loss. And the thought is the muslin on the houri.
Free the prisoners, and the tyrant will weep with the loss.
The padding [of the suicide bomber] flares up, its storm terrifies our enemies: it heals and provides deliverance for the oppressed.
Give good tidings to the prisoners: their imprisonment is remembered, and deliverance is near from the Lord of the Universe.
Our army is as a fire that precedes its smoke. And if it intends to attack, it boils from the heat of the fire.
It desires paradise, following the Sunna, the Sunna of Muhammad in which there is no defect.
Earnest in its affairs, strict in its tongue, and the deed is a spear.
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a research fellow at Middle East Forum’s Jihad Intel project.
