In November 1998, the women’s wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic extremist group, published the first volume of We, the Mothers of Lashkar-e-Taiba. It’s a compilation of the narratives of over 190 “martyrs” who fought “against the infidels of Islam” and died in the process. The volume eulogizes their “sacrifices” and urges other mothers to join the jihadi cause – not as militants taking up arms, but as mothers who can hone the jihadi ideology in sons as young as five.
The Islamic State (IS), which declared itself to be world caliphate or a singular global Islamic government, considers the radicalization of mothers as an essential strategy. The IS created a “female finishing school” called “Al-Zawra,” to “build jihadist ideology in mothers and sisters” who will support their cause. Al Zawra sought out women who were “interested in explosive belt and suicide bombing more than a white dress or a castle or clothing or furniture.”
The American scholar Christine Fair, in her book In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, writes about slain jihadi Abu Quhafa who was sent into battle by his mother to “dispatch to hell all the enemies of Allah.” After his death, Fair writes about how Abu’s mother went about collecting supplies for the mujahideen and distributing LeT’s periodicals among the neighbours at her own expense.
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