Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 33

ISLAMIC STATE ACTIONS

necks till you have bloodied them” (47:4). The beheading of between six and nine hundred Jews from the
Banu Qurayza on the orders of Muhammad is recorded by Ibn Ishaq, the prophet’s earliest biographer;
Islamists see his example as another justification for
beheading.6 Third, the use of extreme violence in holy
war is promoted by Abu Bakr Naji in his Islamist text
that is known to have been studied by both the leaders
and foot soldiers of IS.7 Naji says that holy war involves
“naught but violence, crudeness, terrorism, frightening
[others] and massacring. … We need to massacre (others) and (to take) actions like those that were undertaken against the Banu Qurayza and their like.”8
In July 2015, twenty-five Syrian soldiers were shot
in the head by twenty-five of IS’s child soldiers at
Palmyra, Syria; in volume 8 of Dabiq, child soldiers
are pictured with guns in their hands as they stand in
front of dead bodies. The article says that the prisoners in the accompanying picture had been killed
by the child soldiers because they were Russian and
Israeli agents. The use of children is justified, the magazine argues, because Muhammad used child soldiers
at the Battle of Badr.9

Sexual Slavery and Rape
Apart from Jews and Christians, who share with
Muslims a belief in common descent from the ancient
monotheistic patriarch, Abraham, Middle Eastern
religious groups with origins unrelated to Abrahamic
tradition have become special targets of IS brutality.
Prominent among those are the Yazidis, members of
a faith with ancient roots in Zoroastrianism, another
monotheistic religion that originated before the birth of
Christ. At least seven hundre d of its men have been executed and thousands of its women taken into slavery.
In an article in Dabiq, the author justifies the actions of
IS by referring to what is known as the Quranic “sword
verse” (9:5, quoted above).10 The author further argues
that because the Yazidi religion is categorized as an
apostate faith (one whose members have turned away
from Islam), Muslim law lays down that men must
be killed and women taken into slavery. To justify his
position, he quotes numerous traditions concerning
Muhammad: the prophet is reported to have said that
“Allah marvels at people who enter jannah [paradise] in
chains”; and also that it is good to put people in chains
until they convert to Islam.11 Other sayings of the

Slave Prices in the Islamic State
According to Sangwon Yoon, “Islamic State Circulates Sex Slave Price List,”
Bloomberg.com website, 3 August 2015,
“A senior United Nations official says Islamic State is circulating a slave price
list for captured women and children, and that the group’s ongoing appeal and
barbarity pose an unprecedented challenge.
“The official, Zainab Bangura, said that on a trip to Iraq in April she was given
a copy of an Islamic State pamphlet, which included the list [see figure on next
page], showing that captured children as young as one fetch the highest price. The
bidders include both the group’s own fighters and wealthy Middle Easterners.
“The list shows the group’s view of the value of those it captures … , though its
authenticity came under question. Bangura, who is the UN special envoy on sexual
violence in conflict …, said she has verified that the document came from Islamic
State and reflects real transactions.
(MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor)
“‘The girls get peddled like barrels of petrol,’ she said in an interview last
“Questions and Answers on
week in New York. ‘One girl can be sold and bought by five or six different men. Taking Captives and Slaves,”
Sometimes these fighters sell the girls back to their families for thousands of
distributed by the Islamic State
in late 2014.
dollars of ransom.’
“For Islamic State fighters, the prices in Iraqi dinars for boys and girls aged 1 to
9 are equal to about $165, Bangura said. Prices for adolescent girls are $124, and it’s less for women over 20.”

MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2016

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