The current caliph of the Islamic State, named to the position in August 2023. As of October 6 2023, the opening stated he "is a militant and the fifth and current caliph of the Islamic State." The word is gone from the whole article today; the opening now calls him only "the fifth and current caliph of the Islamic State." A reader today learns the title the Islamic State gives him, and not that Wikipedia once identified him plainly as a militant.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today it appears nowhere in the article, references included.
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The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi ( ) is a militant and the fifth and current caliph of the Islamic State .1 He was named as caliph on 3 August 2023, in an audio message by the spokesperson of IS, Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari, whose announcement came four months after the death of his predecessor Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi . Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated: "[The] declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria", adding that the title of caliph can "only be given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1177894767.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Caliph of the Islamic State since 2023 Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi ( Arabic : أبو حفص الهاشمي القرشي ) is the fifth and current caliph of the Islamic State . He was named as caliph on 3 August 2023, in an audio message by the spokesman of the IS, Abu Hudhayfah Al-Ansari , whose announcement came four months after the death of his predecessor Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi . Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated: "[The] declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under sharia and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria", adding that the title of caliph can "only be given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295271627. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today it appears nowhere in the article, references included. Read the current article and compare.
Oct '23
2025
militant
1
0
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 6 October 2023 and 2025.
Then
militant and the fifth and current caliph of the islamic state
Now
fifth and current caliph of the islamic state
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
