Child Brides of the Islamic State

Qur'an (33:50) - "O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet desired to marry her-- specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; " 

AP Photo    CCTV images show three teenagers going through security at London's Gatwick airport before they caught their flight to Turkey to join ISIS. A Global News investigations suggests militants use the same tactics as sexual predators to lure young girls to join their cause.

Canadian girls are being lured by predators working for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham targeting their impressionable state of romantic altruism, in shaping before their minds a special and exclusive state designed for the faithful of Islam, in which they can be pioneers and as such symbols of veneration and respect in the upcoming annals of the historical re-enactment of the modern Islamist caliphate; inspirations through their courage and commitment to future virginal 'wives'.

The world has been treated to exposes, published and aired media stories and photographs of young girls from France, from Britain and elsewhere who succumbed to the allure of joining a brave new world that featured Islam reborn as it was meant to be; a shining city on a hill resembling unearthly Paradise, replicated from the ancient sacred texts, transforming modernity into the placid beauty of pure dedication to the most authentic form of Islam, the one that Prophet Mohammed bequeathed so generously to humankind.

And they would be the vanguard, the beautiful, pristine and highly educated girls prepared to sacrifice their purity to the warriors of Islam, who have in turn dedicated themselves to Islamist jihad. For does not Islam instruct its faithful to go forward and multiply, not only through natural procreation, but by persuading the unbelievers that purpose and value in life can be found only through submission to Islam?

Online contact is the way of the Islamic State's dedication to 'marriage' counselling. Contacting young Muslim girls, gaining their trust, piquing their sense of romantic angst, and promising them that their fondest, most beautiful dreams of being cherished and cherishing in return are a plane ticket's passage away in a foreign country where handsome gallants are awaiting their arrival to claim them as their own.

The recruiters personify themselves as personable, skilled communicators, and they present in photographs as appealingly manly. Prepared to sweep the girls off their feet on the magic carpet of love. The secret relationship builds on trust and the draw of the romantic future fulfilling all the aspirations of young women prepared to build a life for themselves with the stranger who becomes so familiar, promising the world they pine for.

A professor of security studies at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, who has studied the roles of women in terrorism, asserts that Islamic State recruits western girls using the very same and successful techniques groomed by online pedophiles; building trust, establishing that secret relationship, finally consolidating the effort with an in-person meeting when 'elopement' can be fulfilled.

This is a new phenomenon in Canada. Underage girls who are lured for sex-trafficking are considered under Canadian law as victims. But no law exists yet in Canada against 'marrying' a terrorist let alone any other criminal. The example of women acquainting themselves with convicted and jailed murderers, rapists and serial killers a case in point; they are free to meet with them, marry them, and enjoy conjugal relations in prison.

For the young Canadian girls who submit to the invitation to elope and carry on their lives in foreign destinations with the eager young man who desire them as 'brides of Islamist State', the only inhibition is parental consent. And if matters are kept covert and carried out in absolute secrecy until the date of the sudden abandonment of family, country and future, there is little to prevent young girls from discovering themselves living a life they never imagined.