The Global Role of Muslim Female Jihadists
Author: EMAN Staff
Swiss prosecutors sought a lengthy sentence on September 1 for a woman who stabbed two customers at a luxury store in the name of Daesh in the city of Bellinzona. According to the Office of the Attorney General’s indictment, the accused ‘acted wilfully and with particular ruthlessness’, and shouted “Allahu akbar (God is great)” several times and “I will avenge the Prophet Mohammed”, and declared “I am here for IS (Daesh)”. Since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the so-called caliphate in June 2014, an unprecedented number of female jihadists and young girls from across the world made the journey to join Daesh in Syria and Iraq. According to the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), over 80 Dutch women have travelled to Daesh-controlled territories since 2012. This number is significantly lower, compared to France and the United Kingdom, which documented 220 and 200 cases respectively. By presenting and promoting women as essential components for the formation of the caliphate and ensuring its permanence, Daesh entered a new stage in the exploitation of women for the jihadist cause. Unlike previous jihadist organisations in the past, Daesh was able to recruit record scores of female Western converts, and Muslim-born women, unlike previous jihadist organisations such as Al Qaeda
The self-styled caliphate attracted would-be female jihadists by outlining various strategic positions that women jihadists may hold, whether in Daesh-controlled territories or in their home countries. The roles included serving as internet recruiters, propagandists, wives of jihadists, and attackers. Through these roles, Daesh was able to develop a network of female jihadists who are driven by emancipation and ready to assist the group’s long-term objectives by incorporating foreign and domestic women jihadists. Some Western countries have documented multiple cases of women participating in jihadist activities, with the Swiss 29-year-old being the most recent. A recent report by the European Union’s Terrorism Situation and Trends stated that approximately 25 per cent of those arrested in 2016 for terrorism-related offences were women, a significant increase compared to 2015, which stood at 18 per cent. These findings go in line with AIVD’s warning that governments must not underestimate the significant threat posed by jihadist women. The significant surge in the involvement of women in terrorism-related activities, over the past couple of years, is likely to make the feminisation of jihad a rising trend in the future.
Even though conservative Muslims tend to oppose women’s participation in jihadist activities – which is seen as a male duty – Daesh published a manifesto in 2015 and issued marriage certificates to its members to facilitate violent jihadist attacks to be carried out by women. These controversial certificates gave women who joined the terror organisation the sole authority to impose constraints on accepting the marriage. The manifesto clearly states that the husband cannot deny his wife’s wish to carry out a suicide attack if approved by the Daesh supreme leadership: “If the leader of the faithful [al-Baghdadi] consents to her to carrying out a suicide mission, then her husband should not prohibit her.”
Although women and men had similar motivations to join Daesh and travel to Syria, there are slight differences in how women join due to romantic relationships with jihadist fighters. The concept of a jihadi bride arose as more women joined the group. Perhaps the most circulated jihadi bride name in Western media is Shamima Begum, a Briton who left the UK at the age of 15 to join Daesh. As soon as she arrived in Syria, Begum married a Dutch-born foreign fighter who had recently converted to Islam and travelled to Syria in October 2014. Daesh’s “morality police” had assigned Begum to take up the role of a “morality” enforcer — and work on recruiting other females for its ranks. She was allowed to carry weapons and earned a reputation for strictly enforcing Daesh’s laws, including dress codes for fellow women jihadists.
Joining the caliphate was – among other factors – motivated by the desire to become a housewife and have as many children as possible. It was considered an essential concept by Daesh to develop the next generation of fighters to build its caliphate. Similarly, several jihadist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, concur that women should be primarily housewives and get married to jihadists. Based on such extreme interpretations of the role of women in society, terrorist organisations are well aware of the importance of women and many female jihadist sympathisers see the potential of women’s empowerment in contemporary jihadist propaganda, particularly in the process of developing a new generation of female jihadists who are capable of increasing the number of women involved in jihadist activities across the world. Such ideas are also propagated by exhortations to women to be prepared to participate actively and become a key part of the global jihad movement. Even though such views spark backlash amongst the general Muslim public, Daesh has been able to separate itself from other jihadist views on the question of combatant women and female martyrs since its inception in 2014.
