Ansar al Islam
- proper noun
- Literature
:
Ansar al Islam
- Ansar al Islam claimed responsibility for the attack, intensifying concerns in the region.
- a militant Ansar al Islam group
Examples
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Several leaders of Ansar al Islam were reportedly linked to other extremist groups in the Middle East.
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In the early 2000s, Ansar al Islam gained notoriety in Iraq.
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The international community continues to monitor Ansar al Islam due to its history of violence.
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The group Ansar al Islam was known for its militant activities.
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They are fighters for Ansar al Islam, a group of militants who have taken hold of a small corner of Kurdish-controlled Iraq and established a harsh Islamic order over a wild, isolated land.
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A special U.S. military and intelligence team found potassium cyanide at a camp in northeastern Iraq used by Ansar al-Islam, a group with alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
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The rise of Ansar al Islam significantly escalated tensions in the Kurdish region due to its radical ideology.
Synonyms
An armed Islamist group in northern Iraq linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components literally mean 'Ansar' (helpers/supporters) + 'al' (the) + 'Islam' (Islam), so a learner who knows the parts would likely infer it names a group that supports or represents Islam. However, the specific sense that it is a militant, anti-secular, and terrorist-associated organization is not predictable from those constituents alone, so the full meaning is not transparently derivable.
Etymology
Ansar al Islam comes from Arabic and literally puts together ansar 'helpers' and al Islam 'Islam', so it means 'helpers of Islam'. That's why this militant group chose the name: to show they were 'supporters' or 'defenders' of Islam.
