Which specific Qur’anic verses are most frequently quoted in ISIS and al‑Qaeda propaganda?

1. The landscape: what the evidence base actually covers

The strongest empirical work on jihadist Qur’anic quotation uses digitised corpora and media audits—one AQIM study catalogued more than 1,200 Qur’anic quotations across 200+ documents from 2004–2017 and found frequent truncation and tailored citation ^[1], and other researchers have examined hundreds of ISIS videos and Dabiq magazine issues to map verse frequency and partial citations ^{[6] [4]}. These studies establish patterns but do not claim to exhaust every outlet or time period, so any “most frequent” list draws on samples rather than an absolute universe of propaganda ^{[1] [6]}.

2. The small set of verses that recur across media

Several distinct verses and verse‑types appear repeatedly in both ISIS and al‑Qaeda output: a verse cited about exemplary believers (“among the believers are men” — Q33:23) is explicitly noted as frequently used in propaganda materials ^[3]; variants of the injunction to “hold fast to the rope of God, all together, and be not divided” are quoted in ISIS materials and scholarly discussion of its rhetorical role ^[4]; and a family of so‑called “sword” or combat verses (for example passages in Sūrat al‑Baqarah and Sūrat al‑Anfāl such as Q2:191–193 and Q8:65) are commonly invoked by militants and commentators as justification for violence ^{[5] [7]}. Secondary sources also show repeated citation of mid‑Qur’anic passages about community, obedience, and fighting, with some magazine‑level repetition (e.g., several verses quoted multiple times in Dabiq) ^[4].

3. How extremists use these verses—selection, truncation, and miscontextualisation

Across groups the method is consistent: pick short, rhetorically useful phrases, omit surrounding context or the remainder of the ayah, and thereby craft an apparently scriptural warrant for political aims ^{[1] [8]}. Researchers emphasize that extremists often quote partial ayahs or only the first half of an ayah to change its apparent meaning, a tactic documented in ISIS video analysis and in research rebuttals noting how the omitted half alters legal or ethical implications ^{[8] [6]}. Scholarly and policy analyses repeatedly characterize this as selective use of scripture rather than faithful exegesis, a point made in Brookings and ASU white‑papers ^{[2] [9]}.

4. Internal disputes and alternate scriptural claims among jihadists

Al‑Qaeda and ISIS do not always deploy the same verses or interpretive frames; rival publications and leaders contest religious legitimacy and attack one another’s readings, even while both draw from overlapping Qur’anic language ^{[3] [9]}. This intra‑movement competition means a verse frequently used by ISIS in one period might be emphasized or reframed by al‑Qaeda affiliates elsewhere, and some groups intentionally highlight different prophetic traditions or juristic authorities to bolster distinct political projects ^{[3] [10]}.

5. Limits of current reporting and what remains uncertain

Existing studies provide strong signals about commonly quoted verses but do not produce a single ranked frequency list spanning all groups, languages, and decades; most cited‑verse claims come from corpus‑specific audits (AQIM corpus, ISIS videos, Dabiq issues) and meta‑analyses rather than a universal catalog ^{[1] [6]}. Likewise, while commentators and scholars document systematic misquotation and strategic selection, statements about why particular verses “work” for recruiters blend textual analysis with inference about audience psychology, an area where the literature offers interpretation rather than incontrovertible proof ^{[2] [9]}.