In the face of a growing number of women being accepted into the ranks of fighting jihadis, al-Qaeda recently published a women’s interest magazine urging the wives of terrorists to stay in the kitchen and away from the battlefield — and to abstain from pressuring or nagging jihadis in any way.
Al-Qaeda reportedly began circulating the magazine, titled Beituki (“Your Home”) in December, filling a void left by Islamic State (ISIS) publications like Dabiq and Rumiyah, which have not published regularly since the fall of that terrorist group’s “capitals” Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq.
According to snippets translated by the Clarion Project, the magazine emphasizes the importance of jihadi wives remaining quiet, smiling, and adept at cooking. “Greet your husband with a smile when he comes and a smile when he goes,” the magazine advises. “Don’t dabble in his work … and certainly don’t hector him.”
“Prepare the food your husband loves, prepare his bed after that and do what he wants,” another article advises.
The magazine urges jihadi wives to empathize with the stress of dealing with routine terrorism and mass murder. “Can you imagine all the bloodshed and bones he sees every day? Your fussing only increases the pressure,” it asks.
According to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, al-Qaeda has already published three editions of the magazine. “The materials do not incite hate or show images of war or armed women,” O Globo notes. “The topics covered vary from how to deal with back pain during pregnancy to tips for girlfriends frustrated with their men. The magazine also includes love letters between extremist militants and their women.”
The Economist cites terrorist organization experts who believe the magazine is an attempt at undoing the progress jihadi women have made in being accepted as part of Islamic terrorist outfits.
“Al-Qaeda fears the conflict has made women too vocal, active and empowered,” Elisabeth Kendall of Oxford University tells The Economist. “It would rather they focused on etiquette indoors.”
Thanks to the efforts of the Islamic State — which has lost so many of its men that it is encouraging women to fight — and Boko Haram, which relies heavily on young girl suicide bombers, more women than ever are engaging in jihad. ISIS actively urged women to take up arms in the September 2017 edition of Rumiyah magazine, suggesting: “ahead of us await times of intense trials and extreme hardships, and times of severe battles.”
Prior to this call, the Islamic State created women’s interest media centered around married life and motherhood. Dabiq, the now-apparently-defunct Islamic State flagship publication, printed articles helping women living in its territory cope with the deaths of their husbands in acts of terrorism and advising them on how to dress and when they can leave the house while in morning. Dabiq authors railed against feminism and Western freedoms of women, claiming women in America were miserable for having the ability to lead full lives.
Other jihadist groups followed suit. A month before ISIS officially called for women to take up arms, the Pakistani Taliban published a magazine urging women to “organize secret gatherings at home and invite like-minded jihadi sisters” and “distribute literature reflecting on the obligation of jihad, arrange physical training classes for sisters. Learn how to operate simple weapons. Learn the use of grenades.”
In 2015, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College in London published a study finding that the hundreds of women known to have joined the Islamic State were attracted to the notion of “sisterhood” that its publications advertised among the women who lived in occupied Raqqa.
“Much has been made of romantic notions in motivating people to go, but we know that reality is very different,” author Melanie Smith said at the time, dismissing the idea that the women joining ISIS were seeking the romance of a lifetime with a jihadi warrior, as opposed to a community of like-minded and protective women.
In addition to popularizing jihad for women, the Islamic State’s leadership regularly promoted “sexual jihad” — the use of rape to “convert” non-Muslim women to the religion. Rape is among the most common human rights abuses that witnesses say they experienced under the Islamic State, in addition to the sale of women as sex slaves and stoning of those who failed to abide by the asphyxiating sharia requirements imposed on them.
The Islamic State is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, formerly known as “al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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