Simple Al-Qaeda Matrimonial Practices: Utilizing Idle Salafi Male Facilities, Sin and the Rolling Stones…….
“BAQUBA, Iraq — A snippet of news from a shadowy corner of Iraq: Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia recently issued a fatwa telling its fighters to marry the widows of those who have fallen…… So terrorism experts and others have been picking it over, hoping for clues to the strength of this group, which remains a critical part of the Iraqi insurgency. Still, trying to make sense of the directive, which has been passed down only by word of mouth so far, is a bit like reading a cloud. What you see depends mostly on who is looking at it. Not surprisingly, the terrorism analysts have an entirely different viewpoint from that of the jihadist newlyweds, who are trying to do what they see as their duty. But even among outsiders, the fatwa has different interpretations: a sign of weakness or cleverness; an act of rationality or utter cynicism about mixing affection and politics. ……The first point of view is held by Malcolm Nance, a former American intelligence officer in Iraq and the author of “The Terrorists of Iraq: Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraq Insurgency.” For him, the edict represents “an incredible admission of total mission failure,” considering how central suicide bombings have been to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s tactics……..”
Trying to analyze this from a Western point of view will not cut it. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has hit hard times and, most important, its potential support base has to come from only 15% or less of the population who are Sunni Arabs (most of whom oppose al-Qaeda). But this marriage business is not about “total mission failure” although the mission will surely fail given its narrow potential base of support. This idea of marrying widows of fallen fighters is a common practice and goes back to early Islam. Many famous early Muslims, all the way up to the “highest”, married widows of fallen fighters. It was largely in order to keep these women protected and housed and fed in those days. And the men were allowed up to four wives. Simple.
In the case of al-Qaeda it is partly the same principle and partly domestic “politics”. The terrorists are outsiders, non-Iraqi Arabs (mostly Saudis and other Gulf states, with some North Africans, Jordanians, etc) who have no clan ties inside Iraq. Marriage ties can be helpful to them. Another factor is simpler and more basic: keeping the warriors “satisfied” and keeping the widows “respectable” (they aren’t supposed to need any satisfaction and they don’t get much satisfaction, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones). Shaggy Salafis also seem to have a great worry of leaving their “male facilities” idle for too long, more so than any other groups, except maybe teenagers. They are naturally amenable to taking more wives, up to four in some cases, but alas that is the limit.
Cheers
mhg
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