The upper image displays the banner of Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) and the logo of its front group, the charity organization Jamaat-ud Da‘wa. A larger picture of the banner and logo appears below. Each of the images includes familiar jihadi motifs, like the use of significant colors (here, black and blue), a globe and the appearance of a single sword or crossed swords.
Representations of globes are used in jihadi visual discourse in order to globalize localized issues and conflicts, as well as to articulate the global aims/nature of the jihadi struggle and/or particular groups. The sword suggests a desire on the part of the designer to link a message or image to early Islamic history and the first generation of Muslims. Swords are seen as noble weapons that embody the religious purity, nobility and righteousness that is associated with the Prophet and his companions, as well as their successful military campaigns. Thus, the sword helps depict current jihadi activities as modern extensions of those campaigns and lends them an aura of legitimacy.
Finally, the Jama‘at al-Da‘wa logo also contains an open Qur’an, a symbolic sun rising on the horizon (symbolizing the emergence of a new era of Islamic dominance) and a white flag. The flag finds its roots in the Islamic tradition, as the Prophet Muhammad is said to have used a white flag to represent both the leader of the Muslim army and the first Muslim state. The caption at the top of the blue banner is the basmalah (the words “bi-smi Allah al-rahman al-rahim” (“in the name of God the merciful and compassionate”).
