The Women of ISIS

The Women of ISIS
Mary Chastain

The Islamic State (ISIS) Sharia Law in their self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq include laws that treat women as second-class citizens. Yet, somehow this terrorist group manages to recruit women from around the world to participate in their jihad.

As Aryn Baker at Time points out, women devoted to ISIS openly declared they wished they were the ones who murdered American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. They use social outlets like Tumblr and Twitter to express their desires to murder innocent human beings. But due to the strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are not allowed on the front lines of the holy war. Instead, the women coax other women to join through “vital support roles through effective social media campaigns that promise devout jihadi husbands, a home in a true Islamic state and the opportunity to devote their lives to their religion and their god.”

More than 30,000 pro-ISIS Twitter accounts popped up after Foley was murdered in August. Twitter attempts to delete these accounts, but the jihadists form new ones right away. The women are just as prolific on the social media outlet as men, even though they do not usually have the large amount of followers. There is one who refers to herself as Jihadi Jane. She told two of her “sisters” she wants to chop off the head of the woman in this picture:

Umm Farriss provided the rules to marry in Islam.

She even owned an ask.fm account to answer questions, but the account is deactivated.

Umm Ubaydah’s Tumblr page is an advice column for women who want to join ISIS.

Anonymous: Asalamu Alaykum ukhti. Hope you are in good health inshaAllah. Quick question are there homes for big families ? If they wanted to travel together do you think it would be complicated ? JazakaAllah xx 

Hope you are too, Wa iyyaki and yes in sha Allah it should be availed but might take a bit to find depending on where you settle

Baker said ISIS originally did not women to join, but changed their minds in order to enforce Sharia Law. Shiraz Maher at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization said the women are needed “to ensure that local women complied with Islamic laws of dress and conduct.” These women need to examine women at checkpoints since males and females cannot touch other.

Salma and Zahra Halane, 16-year-old twins from Manchester, England, went to Syria to join their older brother in ISIS. They married ISIS fighters and one said she wants to be a doctor for the terrorists.

The women provide men an opportunity to reproduce future ISIS fighters. Women openly volunteer for jihad al-nikah, or sexual jihad, with ISIS fighters. Females from Britain, Australia, and Malaysia are among the hundreds of comfort women in Syria and Iraq.

“These women are believed to have offered themselves in sexual comfort roles to ISIS fighters who are attempting to establish Islamic rule in the Middle East,” said one source in Malaysia, adding, “This concept may seem controversial but it has arisen as certain Muslim women here are showing sympathy for the ISIS struggle.”

“Checks with our foreign counterparts and intelligence disseminated reveal that there may be up to 50 Malaysians in the Middle East,” he said.

To some it is a surprise these strict Muslims encourage women and men to engage in premarital sex, but the jihadists actually believe the sexual jihad is a legitimate form of holy war. In 2013, women from Tunisia traveled to Syria after fatwas were issued that asked women to offer themselves up as “comfort women.” In Raqqa, Syria, ISIS opened a marriage office.

The relationship between these women is almost as important. On the social media accounts, these women shower each other with love and affection. They treat each other as actual sisters and best friends, which could bring in any woman who longs for friendships.

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