'Islamic Books' Channel On Encrypted App 'Telegram' Gives Followers Easy Access To Jihadi Texts

On November 22, 2015, a channel called "Islamic Books" was created on Telegram. The channel's description states that it is an "archive for Islamic books," and includes contact information for readers who have book requests or recommendations. In addition to the Koran, the Islamic Books channel circulates a wide range of texts authored by some of the most notorious extremist clerics, such as the late Yemeni-American sheikh Anwar Awlaki, and leading Al-Qaeda idealogue Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi. At the time of writing, the channel had 300 subscribers.

"Islamic Books" channel on Telegram

The first text shared by the channel was a Koran text:

Another message shared a book called "In the Line of Victory!" It was described as "an excellent English book released documenting the story of an engineer who worked for [the] Taliban and helped in producing some of the most terrifying anti-enemy weapons with such easy methods. Inspiring ideas for the Muslims who want to help in Jihad!"

Another post shared a letter called "Soon I will teach you how to Hunt Hawks," by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, describing it as "A letter from the esteemed Shaikh Abu Muhammed Al Maqdisi addressing his son, on some memories of Ramadan while in Prison! Advices we all can benefit from!"

One of Anwar Al-Awlaki's most popular lectures, "Dust will Never Settle Down," was distributed via the channel. It was described as "One of the classic talks of Shaikh Anwar Awlaki RH transcribed... It talks about an extremely important topic today: About our obligation on the One's who insult the beloved Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him... With all the insults and cartoons going on today, this is a must know topic and many modernist scholars hide these narrations etc. mentioned here!"