In Mosul, many locals are intrigued by this individual, not least because of his name. Those who have worked closely with him say his accent shows that he is clearly of Egyptian descent but they have seen that he carries a German passport. Nobody knows his real name but they know of many of his actions and decisions, which appear to contradict his apparent core mission, education.
At the aforementioned meeting in the courtyard Dhul-Qarnayn announced that the IS group would be taking IQD6 billion out of the education department’s coffers to buy weapons. When it became clear that the gathered employees were unhappy with this decision, Dhul-Qarnayn rebuked them sharply. “It is not important to build schools and universities,” he said. “It is far more important to defeat the enemies of Islam.”
This celebrity among the IS group leaders is also known for his shuttle diplomacy: it takes him from one school to another. He makes the visits to announce irrevocable decisions; there is no room for debate.
One of the local bodies to suffer under Dhul-Qarnayn’s reign is the University of Mosul, formerly one of the largest educational institutions in Iraq. It is one of Dhul-Qarnayn’s most important possessions and it is slowly being transformed into a facility for extremist education. The law, political science and fine arts schools have all been shut down and the Islamic studies course and other aspects of the curriculum have also changed radically. Additionally males and females must now attend the university separately – women go one day and men go the next.
“This man doesn’t act randomly,” says a professor from Mosul, who cannot be named for security reasons. “He plans his projects carefully and he’s been able to get some staff to cooperate with them and get them on side. He has a carrot-or-stick policy.”
As a result the Ministry of Education in Baghdad withheld the salaries of around 200 teaching staff because, it says, they have collaborated with the extremists.
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