Some of the European women already in the ranks of the Islamic State are trying to lure their ‘sisters’ to the marriage beds of the caliphate’s holy warriors.

◼ The ISIS Online Campaign Luring Western Girls to Jihad - The Daily Beast

Umm Layth warns prospective recruits that the biggest problem in deciding to take the plunge and head to Syria might be opposition from family. “Even if you know how right this path and decision is and how your love for Allah comes before anything and everything, this is still an ache which only one [who] has been through and experienced it can understand. The first phone call you make once you cross the borders is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do…when you hear them sob and beg like crazy on the phone for you to come back it’s so hard,” she writes.

She adds: “Many people in present day do not understand…why a female would choose to make this decision. They will point fingers and say behind your back and to your families’ faces that you are taking part in…sexual jihad.” But there is no question that extremist groups try to reward their fighters with brides, however they can be obtained. One obvious example elsewhere is the mass kidnapping of schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Islamic State has opened a “marriage bureau” in the northern Syrian town of Al Bab for women who want to wed jihadist fighters in territory they control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based pro-opposition group that relies on activists on the ground for its information.

A key topic for discussion in the Tweets and online advice is what to do if parents oppose plans to go to Syria or refuse to bless a wedding—both major hurdles for believers who need parental consent to travel and marry. The online recruiters say IS can appoint a guardian for them to provide permission. One of the Western jihadi women, Umm Anwar, says in her case the emir (leader) of her prospective husband was appointed and he phoned her father “to ask for my dad’s consent by phone.”