Islamic State's Black Widow Lures Supporters

NEW DELHI: Dubbed the “Black Widow”, Zehra Duman -- a 21-year old woman from Melbourne of Turkish descent and widow of deceased jihadi “playboy’’ Mahmoud Abdullatif -- took to website Ask.fm to answer questions on life in Syria and joining the Islamic State.

(Source: Daily Telegraph)

“Lifestyle here is amazing, it’s something you need to see for yourself,” Duman says, without going into specific details. When asked about what she does on a “daily basis” she says: “It depends really, you need to come and see for yourself.”

The jihadist bride also issued a threat to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. “Let the truthful Muslims make hijjrah (travel to Syria). If you don’t, your (sic) only adding fuel to the fire. Which means attacks on your soil,” she said.

Duman says she knows several “sisters” from Melbourne, and states that there are several English-speakers in Syria. She also reflects on her parent’s reaction to her leaving, saying, “They were shocked, as I never have been public with my jihadi views, but also heartbroken, as my mum was very close to me ... and she knows she will never see me again. Till (heaven, god willing).”

When asked if she has any intention of returning to Syria, she says: “0.”

Duman, extremely active on social media, is not alone. The Citizen ran a story on the diaries of several other such women, which can be found here.

One other such woman is Sally Jones. She’s a 45 year old a mother of two from Chatham, Kent, and was once an aspiring rock musician. Now she’s known as Sakinah Hussain, who lives in Raqqa, Syria and is a very vocal supporter of the Islamic State.

She converted to Islam after meeting Junaid Hussain online. Recently, a British newspaper, revealed that Jones was actively recruiting young women to join the militant group.

As part of the paper’s investigation into the Islamic State, Aisha, 17 -- a fictional character -- contacted Sakinah, who told her that her “sins will be forgotten” if she were to join the militant group. “At the end of the day if you’re Muslim you gave to get out of ul kufr [the land of the disbelievers] to please Allah if you can [sic],” Sakinah said.

Aisha and Sakinah first made contact on Twitter, after which they moved the conversation to messaging app Kik.

According to the report, Aisha expressed concerns over a certain Abu Abbas al-Lubana -- a name provided to her by Sakinah, who said that Jones would set up a meeting where Aisha would receive money needed to travel to Turkey.

“U have [to] give the bros name to Western Union as the collector. Listen if he’s giving u money to help u make hijrah [holy migration] dw [don’t worry] sis. He needs ur passport pics to check u aint spys or police cos hed get in big trouble if u was so dw ok just meet his brother and get the money,” Sakinah said.

Sakinah spoke to Aisha about the reality of living in the self-declared Caliphate. “Women dont have careers sis under sharia law . . . We are wives we are expected to look after our men,” Sakinah said, although adding that life there was “awesome.” "They look after u. U will never want for money again u live a good life here. U need to get married to get a house im just being honest with u but there are loads of men.”

(Sally Jones spent a lifetime on state benefits before she left to join the Islamic State).

(A video posted on YouTube, and then deleted, is believed to show Sally Jones playing in a rock band in the early 1990s).

(A picture of a female fighter, believed to be Jones, posted on an account attributed to Umm Hussain al-Britani -- which may belong to Jones).

On what is believed to be her Twitter page @ummhussain101, Sakinah actively posted quotes proclaiming that the only religion is Islam.

"You Christians all need beheading with a nice blunt knife and stuck on the railings at raqqa..... Come here and I will do it for you” she posted.

"My husband is away at training camp at the moment refreshing his 'kaafir killing skills'... Don't cry though he'll be back soon :)" was another Tweet.