Atif Waseem: The Hyderabadi Who Became an IS Martyr in Syria

What makes economically-privileged, well-educated Indians join the Islamic State?

After a couple of turns on a dusty path in Shastripuram on the outskirts of Hyderabad, stands a tall glass building with high walls and lofty gates.

This is where the family of Mohammed Atif Waseem stays. This is the house in which Atif grew up and spent his formative years.

On April 24, Atif’s family received a message from the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria informing them that Atif had died while fighting for them, and that the State considered him a martyr of God.

“We’re still in shock. We do not know how to react. What drove him to do it, even I don’t know,” says one of Atif’s brothers, as his eyes tear up. “I do not want to talk about what happened to my younger brother, please go away,” he says, closing the gate.

A Well-off kid

Atif was from a well-off family. Hailing from Manchriyal in the Adilabad district of Telangana, Atif’s family settled in Hyderabad two decades ago. His father runs a real estate business, which has provided well for the family.

28-year-old Atif was known to be a bright child. He did well in school and was a Computer Science Engineering graduate from a college in Hyderabad. “He was a very smart kid. I remember playing cricket with him”, says 25-year-old Asif who mans his father’s shop near Atif’s house. “I have known Atif since we were kids,” he says.

He was one of the richest kids in the colony. He was the first one to get a CBR 250 sports bike in the neighbourhood. Even during his college, he used to take his Honda Civic.

— Atif’s Friend

Atif’s move to London seems to have triggered his interest in the Islamic State. Earlier last year, he had moved to London to pursue a Masters degree in Engineering. Family members and police officials say that it was in the UK that he was lured to the Islamic State.

Heeding the Call

But what drove a bright, well educated, well-to-do kid to join a terrorist organization and pay for it with his life, is still a matter of mystery. The Hyderabad police say they have established that Atif was lured through Facebook, and that given his educational background, it is unlikely he would have been involved in warfare.

Atif, however, is not the only person from India to have joined the IS.

Mehdi Masroor Biswas was arrested in December last year on charges of running the Islamic State propaganda Twitter account @ShamiWitness.

That the popular social media account was being run by a well-mannered techie from Bengaluru in India came as a shock to many. Biswas had been using the micro blogging site to spread the ideology and messages of the Islamic State for a while and gathered more than sixteen thousand followers before his arrest.

So what makes young, educated and seemingly middle-class men get attracted to the Islamic State? Is there a particular social construct or socio-economic background which explains this?

As The Guardian states, IS propaganda and messaging is aimed at foreign fighters from diverse backgrounds.

There is no single pathway, no common socio-economic background, not even a common religious upbringing among individuals attracted to foreign fighting in general, or jihadist fighting in particular. The Islamic State attracts people with a media mix of graphic violence and utopian idylls.

— The Guardian

A CNN report mentions how terror groups prey on a recruit’s sense of identity and “religious duty”, besides operating a sophisticated propaganda machine.

The IS turns out timely, high-quality media, with video footage like an action movie trailer and it uses social media, much better than a PR team, to secure a widespread following, mostly teenagers, who are easier to manipulate. And the target of such PR are the ones hooked to social networks on smart phones.

That several Indian-origin men continue to get enamoured by the IS, seems to be neither because of “state actors” like Rajnath Singh suggests, or a result of poverty in Muslims as others say. Will the Indian government be able to usher in religious security in the minds of well-meaning Muslims in India?