“The Islamic State isn’t going to jump up and down and say, ‘This is our official song,’” says Phillip Smyth, a researcher of Middle Eastern affairs at the University of Maryland and a jihadi music obsessive. “The Islamic State has arisen by the jihad of the pious.” God Save the Queen it isn’t. “The Islamic State has arisen by the blood of the righteous,” it goes. It is, arguably, the world’s newest national anthem. It is the most popular song in the Islamic State. This is, to give it its English name, My Ummah, Dawn Has Appeared. And it is about that point you remember exactly what you are listening to. There’s a sword being unsheathed, the stomp-stomp-stomp of soldiers’ feet and some stuttering gunfire. Musically, it’s better than just about any other religious song you could name.īut just as you are starting to enjoy it – perhaps thinking you might tell your yoga teacher to play it in class – some sound effects drop in. Soon he starts layering his voice, so it sounds like a whole choir is trading lines, the song’s impact growing as he does. The man’s melody has got a gentle swing, something you could easily imagine a jazz drummer playing behind to give it some oomph. It sounds timeless – as if it has been dug up from the eighth century. It is little more than an Arabic chant, sung by a man whose voice is so relaxed you expect him to drift off halfway through. T he first two minutes and 52 seconds of Dawlat al-Islam Qamat are undeniably beautiful.