Typology of Sunni jihadist organizations: The cases of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Nusra Front, Taliban, Boko Haram, and Hamas

Beginning with the intellectual foundation created by the Islamic awakening process, which started to become institutionalized in the 1930s, the jihadi movements based on the Islamic faith have changed and transformed in response to various national and international developments. Since the 1980s, they have also started to reflect the contemporary jihadi intellectualism that started to emerge in the 1960s. Today, the large number of jihadi movements, their increasing influence, and the emergence of tensions among the organizations, despite the similarity of their basic objectives, at least in terms of the establishment of an Islamic order, necessitate typology studies on these organizations and the classifications offered by these studies. This study, which proposes a typology for Sunni jihadist organizations solely, is based on the assumption that, despite sharing a common belief system and the goal of establishing an Islamic order, Sunni jihadi organizations have significant similarities and differences. In light of this assumption, the study's main argument is that Sunni jihadi organizations have similar understandings of jihad, as well as similarities and differences in the scales of takfirism and pan-Islamism, and the content of their goals and methods for achieving these goals; this situation allows for classification and the creation of a typology to be presented accordingly will be functional. Depending to this argument, the study identified the exemplary actors of the typology as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Nusra Front, Taliban, Boko Haram, and Hamas. Based on the sub-findings acquired from the analysis of these exemplary formations, it concluded that developing a typology that includes compartmentalizations within the frameworks of takfirism and pan-Islamism among Sunni jihadist organizations, the scope of jihad, and the content of methods for the goal would be useful in comprehending and assessing these organizations in a meaningful and inclusive manner.