Female jihadist 'guide' to life under IS

[frigidmagi]

BBC

Just what exactly is life like for a female jihadist living amongst the extremists of Islamic State (IS)?

A lengthy treatise has been published online in Arabic by female IS supporters in Iraq and Syria, calling themselves the Khansaa Brigades. Aimed primarily at attracting female recruits from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, it sets out to answer questions and debunk myths.

Now it has been translated into English and published by the London-based counter-extremism think-tank, Quilliam.

"It is considered legitimate," says the document, "for a girl to be married at the age of nine."

"Most pure girls," it adds, "will be married by 16 or 17".

From this time onwards she should remain hidden from view, supporting the Caliphate from behind closed doors.

Women, it says, should not be backward, in fact they should be educated, especially about all aspects of the Islamic religion, but only from the ages of seven to 15.

The Western model of emancipated women leaving the house to work, it says, has failed, with women "gaining nothing from the idea of equality with men apart from thorns".

Fashion boutiques and beauty salons are the work of Iblis, the devil, it states.

'Heaven for migrants'
This lengthy document was published online on 23 January, but it went largely unnoticed by the international media.

It appears quite different from the adventurist - often violent - messages posted on social media by female jihadists who have migrated to IS from Western countries.

Women, including an estimated 50 from Britain, are believed to account for about 10% of the thousands of foreign recruits who have crossed the Turkish border to join IS.

The document makes it clear that women's primary role is "sedentary", not to fight but to support the male jihadists in the home, including bearing their children.

Much of the treatise is given over to stressing the normality of life for women under IS rule.

"The state has not forbidden a thing," it says, immediately adding that it has spared no efforts to separate male and female students in colleges.

Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS, is described as "a haven for migrants", where families live "untouched by hunger, cold winds or frost".

"To hell with nationalism," it says, adding that in Raqqa tribes are merged, and the Chechen is a friend of the Syrian, the Saudi a neighbour of the Kazakh.

'Fallen women'
By contrast, it says, women in the Gulf Arab states, notably in Saudi Arabia, face "barbarism and savagery".

It goes on to explain that this includes women working alongside men in shops, appearing in ID photographs, going on Western scholarships or attending "a university of corruption" in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Saudi TV, comprising some of the most conservative outlets in the region, is described as "television channels of prostitution and corruption" and female writers are branded as "fallen women".

Imported teachers are labelled as spies, spreading "their poisonous and corrupt atheist ideas".

No mention is made of the mass enslavement of Yazidi civilians or the trafficking in underage girls, decapitated heads being stuck on railings in Raqqa or gay men being thrown off seven-storey buildings.

There is a passing reference to the coalition air strikes that target Raqqa and other IS centres.

But the overriding message is that women in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states should rush to escape their supposed life of injustice there and migrate instead to the utopia that is Islamic State.

Oh Bloody hell.

[Josh]

women in the Gulf Arab states, notably in Saudi Arabia, face "barbarism and savagery".

Hey, we agree on something.

Just for different reasons.

[LadyTevar]

Now that is a damned fine piece of propaganda, and I bet money it was written by a MAN.

[rhoenix]

Wow.

Yeah - women should be educated... to read the Koran and nothing else. Women should be empowered... to keep a man's house and squat out babies for him.

I'm only shocked it didn't include anything about accepting sister-wives or something.

[frigidmagi]

I'm only shocked it didn't include anything about accepting sister-wives or something.

Unnecessary, Saudi Arabia and many parts of the gulf states already have legalized polygamy. For the targets of this pamphlet having to share their husband with another wife is already just another part of life.

[LadyTevar]

Like I said, 99% sure this was written by a MAN, trying to get more women to join ISIS so they can 'pay' their recruits with a nice biddable wife.

[frigidmagi]

Like I said, 99% sure this was written by a MAN, trying to get more women to join ISIS so they can 'pay' their recruits with a nice biddable wife.

I disagree. The Khansaa Brigades is a verified all female religious police lead and commanded by women. They've repeatedly stated their goal is "saving" Islamic womenhood from the "corruption" of secular life. Additionally there have been a number of women leaving Europe and the US (with a higher number from Turkey) to join the Islamic State. A number of the women from Turkey abandoned their husbands to do it.

To be blunt, while men (as a group, individuals can certainly be innocent no matter their gender) are never innocent in pushing conservative behaviors, quiet often the biggest group enforcing and pushing these behaviors are other women. I can also point to female driven movements in Egypt and elsewhere to push young women into conservative behavior, I can also give anthropological examples. For example female circumcision? Is mostly maintained and pushed by women. In Egypt for example most men are against the idea (it makes sex difficult, creates problems of intimacy with your wife, it's expensive to do safely, I can keep going) but it's still done fairly often. Why? Many women believe it'll protect their daughters against rape and sexual impropriety.

So while it's certainly possible that a man wrote this, declaring 99% certainly is frankly overstating the case in my opinion. I find it just as likely that a group of militant women (who we already know exist and are actively working to force other women out of the public sphere) wrote this to push their own ideology of what the Islamic Utopia will look like. The male leaders of the Islamic State certainly look upon this with favor but frankly we haven't seen them put all that much effort into speaking to women before now, they are intensively focused on males of fighting age. With good reason.

[LadyTevar]

I concede to your excellent arguement, Frig.