Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey Into the Syrian Jihad
Page 45
In order to gain insight into the various rescue plans, and the desperation Sadiq experienced as those plans either failed or were never put into action, the message logs between Sadiq and Osman were crucial. They gave a unique insight into the operations of a local smuggler in the ongoing war and how intertwined he is with the society around him. Osman is aware of the use of this information and has also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary Only a Father, albeit with his back to the camera. I changed his name.
The logs were written in Arabic and were translated by the writer and Arab Spring activist Iyad al-Baghdadi. He also translated voice messages from Osman and the so-called Double, and I drew heavily from his knowledge of Salafism and its appeal when new information came to light about the girls’ radicalization, in turn prompting fresh discussion.
I benefited greatly from experts in the field, including the writer Charles Lister, the blogger Aymenn al-Tamimi, and Thomas Hegghammer of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, whom I constantly pestered with questions.
Lister’s The Syrian Jihad is a work I often reached for to check the time line of events in Syria and for background on the conflict. Aymenn Al-Tamimi’s blog provided up-to-date information about IS and matters concerning al-Nusra. Shiraz Maher’s Salafi-Jihadism was an important reference. A list of other books that I found helpful is included at the back of the book. As regards women in IS, the literature in French is one step ahead of what is available in English, as is apparent from the reference list.
In addition, I was in contact with the activists behind Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently and also discussed conditions there with representatives for organizations on the ground in Syria.
To a large degree I relied on articles and reports available online. My Norwegian sources include Marius Linge’s in-depth study of Islam Net, Brynjar Lia’s studies of the Prophet’s Ummah, and Thomas Hegghammer’s writings on jihadi culture and radicalization.
I made use of research reports from the Brookings Institution, King’s College, Quilliam, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
The information on the reaction of Aisha’s mother came from the Norwegian daily newspaper Vårt Land. The account about Haji Bakr appeared in Der Spiegel, and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi’s negotiations with IS were published in The Guardian. Sadiq showed me his income tax form for 2015 where DB Medialab, a company connected to the Dagbladet newspaper, was listed as one of his employers.
A complete list of links to reports and articles can be found on kagge.no using the search term To søstre—kildeliste.
* * *
This book would not have been possible without all those who contributed. I am impressed with and grateful to those who chose to speak when it would have been easier to keep silent and to those who set aside time to further illuminate matters so that they are as correct as possible.
Some of these people I spent hours, days, and weeks with; others I merely chatted with online or met for a brief interview. Together they created the images, scenes, and stories in this book.
I am deeply grateful to all those who spoke to me and responded to my inquiries.
Assistant Professor and Arabist Pernille Myrvold from the University of Bergen helped me with Arabic words and transcription. Likewise, the medical student Warsan Ismael helped with regard to Somali words and phrases.
I am grateful to those who unearthed material for me. Nasser Weddady found the al-Nusra soldier’s text about the sisters, and the historian Tore Marius Løiten located relevant articles and research material. Ikhlaque Chan, employed by Bærum county, offered me interesting perspectives on radicalization from his work with youths from the area. I also am thankful to friends of the girls for sharing what they knew, as well as the teachers and principals at Dønski, Nesbru, and Rud secondary schools.
I am grateful to Styrk Jansen and Veslemøy Hvidsteen for their cooperation over the course of two years. We shared material we found and discussed each other’s projects under way.
The author Trude Marstein tidied up my language, while the editor in chief at Kagge, Tuva Ørbeck Sørheim, held things together to the last to ensure the book actually was published.
I thank the publishing director, Anne Gaathaug, who arranged my meeting with Sadiq Juma, and the publisher, Erling Kagge, who was there at every stage and at every twist and turn the book took. For the English version, I am grateful to the translator, Seán Kinsella, and the editor, Alex Star at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. They did a tremendous job of helping transfer my text into English.
Turning a story told into a book is demanding. Many choices need to be made along the way, many decisions considered. What ended up in this book is what I found most important to answer: What causes two girls, who are good students, who are ambitious, and who fled from war when young, to seek out war again and submit to the strict control of the Islamic State?
For her help throughout the process of making their story into a book, I thank Cathrine Sandnes from the Manifest think tank, who was there to discuss the choices taken along the way, and contributed to putting the manuscript together. Finally, I thank the editor Aslak Nore, who delved into the topic and met the problems around it with great knowledge and enthusiasm.
Together we arrived at how this story could best be told.
* * *
Two individuals deserve the most gratitude.
Sadiq and Sara.
Of approximately ninety sets of Norwegian parents whose children have traveled to Syria, only a handful have come forward. The rest have remained silent. There can be many reasons for this: to protect themselves, or to protect their children, perhaps in the hope that if their children return, they can continue their lives where they left off, without the stamp of being a jihadist.
Sara and Sadiq experienced one of the worst things imaginable to a parent: their children leaving them with no intention of ever returning. They invited me into their home in Bærum and to Hargeisa in Somaliland. In addition, I undertook a trip to Hatay with Sadiq.
They themselves decided where to draw the line; they established how open they would be. They both read the finished manuscript, or in Sara’s case had it read out loud in translation by an interpreter. They had the opportunity to make corrections. They were not, as per our agreement, allowed to correct or change what others said about their daughters. In this respect, all the sources are independent, have been compared against one another, and were double-checked.
I am deeply humbled that Sara and Sadiq allowed me to study the dynamics and story of their family. What I included in the book is what I found most relevant to the question: Why did the daughters go?
Without the courage of Sadiq and Sara, there would not have been any book.
Åsne Seierstad
Oslo, October 4, 2016
GLOSSARY
Arabic words often have various spellings in English.
abo. Father.
ajr. Reward in the hereafter.
akh. Brother.
akhi. My brother.
akhirah. The hereafter; life after death.
Alawites. Syrian religious minority.
Al-Dawla al-Islamiya. The Islamic State (IS).
Al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Alhamdulillah. Praise be to God.
al-Khansa. IS women’s police brigade.
Allah. God.
Allahu Akbar. God is greater.
al-salaf al-salih. The first three generations of Muslims after Muhammad.
al-Shabaab. Islamic terror group on the horn of Africa.
al-Sham. Greater Syria.
aqeeqah. Animal sacrifice for a newborn.
Baath. Renaissance/resurrection; the ruling party in Syria and previously in Iraq.
baya. Loyalty; oath of allegiance.
caliph. A religious successor of the Prophet Muhammad.
caliphate. A geographical area ruled by a caliph.
Daesh. Arabic acronym for the
Islamic State.
dawa. Literally, invitation; proselytizing of Islam.
deen. Righteous way of life; good deeds.
Dhu al-Hijjah. Pilgrimage month.
dunya. The world; earthly life.
Eid al-Fitr. Celebration marking the end of Ramadan.
emir. Leader, commander.
fard al-ayn. An individual’s religious duties.
fard kifaya. Collective religious duty.
fatwa. Islamic decree.
fiqh. Islamic jurisprudence.
fi sabil Allah. The cause; the way of God.
Five Pillars of Islam. Faith, prayer, charity, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca.
ghanimah. Spoils of war.
hadith. Descriptions of the word, actions, and habits of Muhammad.
hafiz. Someone who knows the Koran by heart.
hajj. Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.
halal. What Allah has permitted.
haqq. Right; Truth.
haram. Forbidden.
hijra. Emigration.
iftar. Evening meal at sundown during Ramadan.
imam. Leader of congregational prayer in a mosque.
iman. Belief in the metaphysical aspects of Islam.
inshallah. God willing.
Jabhat al-Nusra. People’s front; Syrian militia, previously tied to al-Qaida.
Jannah. Paradise.
jihad. Struggle; holy war.
jihad al-nafs. Jihad of the soul; internal holy war.
jihad bi’l-sayf. Jihad of the sword; battle against infidels.
jilbab. Long, loose coat or garment with a hood.
jinn. Spirits, demons.
jizya. Tax on non-Muslims.
Kaaba. The cubelike building at the center of Islam’s most sacred mosque in Mecca.
kafir. Nonbeliever; infidel (singular); kuffar (plural).
kazab. Liar.
keffiyeh. Men’s scarf worn around the neck and head.
kufi. Prayer cap.
madhab. School of thought within Islamic jurisprudence.
maqqar. A hostel for women.
muhajirat. Female emigrants.
mujahideen. Participants in jihad; holy warriors.
muntadayat. Forums, gatherings.
mutah. Joy, pleasure.
nikah. Marriage conducted according to Muslim law.
nikah al-mut’. A temporary marriage.
niqab. A woman’s garment covering the entire face except the eyes.
qami. Tunic.
qatl bi qisas. Principle of retribution in sharia, a life for a life.
Quraysh. Powerful tribe in the Arabian Peninsula in the time of Muhammad.
Ramadan. The ninth month in the Islamic calendar, the fasting month.
ridda. Apostasy; abandonment of Islam.
sabr. Perseverance, patience.
salam aleikum. Peace be with you.
shabiha. Ghost, applied to agents of Syrian security services.
Shahada. Declaration of faith, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
sharia. Islamic law.
Shaytan. Satan.
shura. Ruling council.
sunna. Muslim law based on the teachings and practices of Muhammad.
sura. Chapter of the Koran.
swt. Abbreviation of Subhanahu wa ta’ala: May He [Allah] be glorified and exalted.
talaq. Islamic divorce.
ulama. Islamic legal scholars (plural); alim (singular).
umm. Mother.
ummah. Society; the Muslim community throughout the world.
ummati. My people.
wali. Guardian.
wallahi. By Allah; I swear to God.
wudu. Ritual washing before prayer.
Yahudi. Jew (singular); Yahud (plural).
zakat. Alms, charity, taxes; one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, Leila. Kvinder og køn i islam—Historisk rødder til en modern debat. Forlaget Vandkunsten, 2008.
Akerhaug, Lars. Norsk jihad—muslimske extremister blant oss. Kagge Forlag, 2013.
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: Harper, 1992.
Azzam, Abdullah. Defense of the Muslim Lands. 1987. www.ayyaz.com.pk/Books/Shaykh.Abdullah.Azzam/Defence.of.the.Muslim.Lands.-the.First.Obligation.After.Iman.pdf.
Bouzar, Dounia. Désamorcer l’islam radical. Ivry-sur-Seine: Éditions de l’Atelier, 2014.
________. Ils cherchent le paradis, ils on trouvé l’enfer. Ivry-sur-Seine: Éditions de l’Atelier, 2014.
Brown, Jonathan A. C. Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. London: Oneworld, 2009.
Erelle, Anna. Dans la peau d’une djihadiste. Paris: Robert Laffont, 2015.
Farah, Nuruddin. From a Crooked Rib. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Filieu, Jean-Pierre. From Deep State to Islamic State. London: Hurst & Company, 2015.
Hénin, Nicolas. Jihad Academy: Nos erreurs face à l’État islamique. Paris: Fayard, 2015.
Kasiki, Sophie. Dans la nuit de Daesh: Confession d’une repentie. Paris: Robert Laffont, 2016.
Kepel, Gilles. Terreur dans l’Hexagone. Paris: Gallimard, 2015.
Khan-Østrem, Nazneen and Mahmona Khan. Utilslørt. Muslimske RÅtekster. Oslo: Aschehoug, 2011.
The Koran. Norwegian translation. Einar Berg. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1989.
Lawrence, Bruce. The Qur’an: A Biography. New York: Grove Press, 2006.
Lewis, Ioan M. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
Lister, Charles R. The Syrian Jihad: al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Littell, Jonathan. Syrian Notebooks: Inside the Homs Uprising. New York: Verso Books, 2015.
Maher, Shiraz. Salifi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea. London: Hurst & Company, 2016.
McCants, William. The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.
Nesser, Petter. Islamist Terrorism in Europe: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Oberlé, Thierry. Jinan—Esclave de Daesh. Paris: Fayard, 2015.
Sheikh, Jakob. Danmarks børn i hellige krig. Copenhagen: Leonhardt and Ringhof, 2015.
Sidea, Emanuel. Mannen från Harem. Reportage. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 2016.
Soei, Aydin. Vrede unge mænd. Copenhagen: Tiderne skifter, 2011.
Stern, Jessica, and J. M. Berger. ISIS: The State of Terror. New York: Harper, 2015.
Thomson, David. Les français jihadistes. Paris: Les Arènes, 2014.
Trévidic, Marc. Terroristes: Les 7 pilliers de la déraison. Paris: Lattès, 2013.
Weiss, Michael, and Hassan Hassan. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York: Regan Arts, 2015.
ALSO BY ÅSNE SEIERSTAD
With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia
The Bookseller of Kabul
A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal
The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War
One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—and Its Aftermath
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Åsne Seierstad is an award-winning Norwegian journalist and writer known for her work as a war correspondent. She is the author of One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—and Its Aftermath, The Bookseller of Kabul, A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal, The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War, and With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia. She lives in Oslo, Norway. You can sign up for email updates here.
A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Seán Kinsella is from Dublin. He has translated a variety of books by Norwegian writers such as Kjell Askildsen, Tore Renberg, and Stig Sæterbakken. He lives in Norway. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Author’s Note
PART I
1. The Rupture
2. Veiled
3. Blindman’s Buff
4. In
PART II
5. Early Teens
6. The Mission
7. Eating with the Devil
8. Norway, Thine Is Our Devotion
9. This Outfit
10. It’s All About the Heart
11. Valentine’s Ummah
12. Target Practice
13. Halal Dating
14. Paragraphs
15. Strange Bird
16. Separation
17. Fraud in the Name of God
18. The October Revolution
PART III
19. Danse Macabre
20. Blueprint
21. Home
22. A Kind, Wonderful Man
23. Spoils of War
24. The End of Sykes-Picot
25. God Is Not Great
PART IV
26. Not Without My Daughters
27. New Year, New Opportunities
28. Housewives of Raqqa
29. Boys from Norway
30. Shoot the Girls If You Want!
31. Ramadan
PART V
32. A Different Life
33. Voices in the Mind
34. Legacy
The Basis of the Book
Glossary
References
Also by Åsne Seierstad
A Note About the Author and Translator
Copyright