Both Al-Qaeda and the ISIS avowedly belong to the Salafi sect of Sunni Islam. However, the most distinguishing tenet of this sectarian ideology is its insistence against ‘innovation’ (bidaah) in matters of religion. But when it comes to the concept of ‘Jihad’, these terrorist movements are the biggest violators of their supposed religious order as they kill civilians and non-combatants in spite of expressly stated prohibitions against it in the Quran and Ahadeeth (sayings of the Prophet). The Al-Qaeda has written a seven-point justification for its indiscriminate killings and the ISIS follows the practices stated in the ‘The Management of Savagery’ by Abu Bakr Al-Naji, which includes creating religious and sectarian conflict. The latest in this series of highly radical ‘innovations’ by the ISIS has been its practice of carrying out pledges of allegiance (bayaah) by unknown global adherents of its perverted interpretation of ‘Jihad’ to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi (the self-proclaimed Caliph) through the Internet. This move has been strongly criticized not only by Muslims around the world, including Salafists but also Islamists, who claim that the virtual ritual as well as the IS caliphate contravene Islamic law. Writing for the S. Rajaratnam School for International Studies (RSIS), Philipp Holtmann has provided an analysis of the ISIS’ new online office of increasing its nexus of terror globally through online and offline pledges (bayah), to create long range command patterns and to radicalize individuals across the globe. We invite your comments and responses on this disturbing new development. To read more about this issue please click the link beolow: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CO14239.pdf?utm_source=getresponse&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rsis_publications&utm_content=RSIS+Commentary+239%2F2014+Online+and+Offline+Pledges+of+IS%3A+Creating+a+Nexus+of+Authority+by+Philipp+Holtmann+