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The Multi-faceted Roles of Women Inside Al-Qaeda
The online periodical al-Khansaa, published in 2004, is addressed to women who
share the ideology of al-Qaeda and illustrates the importance of female support.
This magazine purports to be published by an organization called the Women’s
Information Bureau of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and claims that Abdul al-
Murqrin, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Issa Saad
Mohammed bin Oushan are among the founders. 8 “Al-Khansaa bint Omar was a
poetess of the pre-Islamic period who converted to Islam during the time of the
Prophet Muhammad, and she is considered “the mother of the Shahids”. When her
four sons died in the battle of al-Qadissiya, she did not mourn but thanked Allah
for honouring her with their death” (Memri, 2007). The choice of the name al-
Khansaa for the magazine was not without reason: the magazine clearly aims to
motivate women to participate in Jihad by bringing up their children to be good
Jihadis and by being supportive of the Jihadist activities undertaken by their
husbands, brothers and sons. The magazine specifies that the goal of the virtuous
woman should also be to become a Shahid. An editorial in the magazine baldly
states: “(…) we love Allah and his Messenger. We march in a single path, the path
of Jihad for the sake of Allah, and our goal is Shahada for the sake of Allah, and
our goal is (to gain) the pleasure of Allah and His Paradise” (Memri, 2007). The
image here is one of women standing shoulder to shoulder with their men,
supporting them, helping them, and backing them up. Similarly, an article entitled
“Obstacles in the Path of the Jihad Warrior Woman” written by Umm Badr
includes indoctrination and guidelines for women. “My noble sisters (…). The
woman in the family is a mother, wife, sister and daughter. In society she is an
educator, propagator and preacher of Islam, and a female jihad warrior.” 9 One
recently emerged web-based female propagandist is Um Muhammad, the wife of
the deceased al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. She posted a letter in
July 2006 on the Mujahideen Shura Council website urging Muslim men to hold
steady in Jihad and warned the Iraqi government that the “great death is coming”.
Mohamed Salah states that “What is new here is the use of the medium of the
Internet to recruit women (Rageh, 2004).” It is widely known that the whole
ideology of the global Salafi Jihad is intended to create a revival of the Golden
Age, which took place in the decades between 632 and 661. As a consequence, the
role of women is also historically derived. “My sister you might hear these stories
and think that they have been fabricated (…) but once you will learn that even
today there are women similar to those of the past, you will believe the stories
about (the women in) the past.” 10 The online periodical al-Khansaa urges women
to play a larger role in the Jihad. At this point it is useful to have a closer look at
female online conversations.
In collaboration with the Dark Web Team at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the
University of Arizona, four selected web forums were analyzed. 11 These four
forums were chosen according to the criteria of containing some radical postings,
having a timely stability and, based on user name, exhibiting a high level of female
participation. The forums examined were:
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