A book entitled "Women in Islamic state" written by Tatiana Dronzina, PhD in political sciences and professor from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"and the Master of International Affairs Yavor Raichev. The book examines a poorly studied aspect of the phenomenon of the so-called "Islamic State", as is female participation. Among the sources for the study there are 57 interviews with men and women who fought for the Islamic State and then returned to their homeland in Central Asia, as well as with their relatives. Over 30,000 foreigners fight on the side of the Islamic State. The study attempts to answer the question of how this sinister organization has managed to attract many women from different countries. We learn about the situation in which they find themselves, about the physical and psychological harassment to which they have been subjected.

"We are impressed by the high concentration of foreign fighters in the Islamic state, but this is not something new. Just recall the Spanish Civil War of 1936 which included 53,000 foreigners also guided by different motives”,Prof. Dronzina reminds. “Our study shatters the myth that fighters in the Islamic State are illiterate and poor people without profession and social prospects. Also, the link between poverty and terrorism is widely disputed in the scientific literature. Their motivation is rather in the sense of impaired social justice and a strong desire to participate in building a social ideal. It is also not uncommon in history. But we resent the brutality of what we see in the Islamic state, the primitive interpretation of Islam."

How was the idea for the book "Women in the Islamic State" born?

"The idea came up due to the fact that women are a strategic resource for the Islamic State. This is perhaps the first terrorist organization that claims to have its own state. The natural cell of each state is the family unit and the woman is an integral part of it. Sunnis from around the world are called upon to undertake “hijra”- a migration from the lands of the infidels to the lands of the faithful and to join the Islamic State. About 10% of Europeans who fight in its ranks are women. Many of them are active in the propaganda of the Islamic State and in the Al Khansaa brigade-the all-women morality police that watches over the compliance with the ethics of Muslim women and their behavior in public places," says Prof. Dronzina.

The motives of women joining the ranks of the Islamic State are very complex. As Prof. Dronzina points out, this issue is approached in a one-sided mannerin thepress, pointingmainly to the so-called "Jihad-al-Nikah" ("sexual jihad"), based on a controversial concept in Islamic of "mut'ah" ("temporary marriage") in order to raise the morale of fighters. What are the reasons, according to the research results of Prof. Dronzina?

"First comes the belief that in the Islamic state they will find the perfect place for faithful Muslims. One woman from Kirgizstan, who was going to Syria with her three-year-old son, said that in her opinion this is the perfect place to raise a child - away from drugs, vices, unregulated sex, alcohol and so on. This shows that one of the reasons persuading women and generally fighters to join the Islamic State is their yearning to meet people who share their values. Another motive is romance. Every woman dreams of meeting her prince charming. And there are the heroes, those who are willing to die in the name of faith. Among the motives is also the desire for adventure, since these are young people. And last but not least, it comes to women of Central Asia who are aged 28-29 years old and at this age they already find it hard to find a partner. They travel to the Islamic state with the intention to meet the right man and start a family, to have children. Another motive is the idea of social justice. I followed the social networking accounts of three women actively engaged in propagating the idea ofIslamic State. They raised slogans similar to those from the social movements in 1968, only in a Muslim version: "Justice for Palestine", "Justice for the Arab community",i.e. motives of these women are very complicated and complex."

The expectations of these women sharply disagree with what they find in this territory ravaged by war, says Prof. Dronzina:

“Many of the women I talked to had returned voluntarily to their countries because they have not received what they were looking for. Often they encounter there a number of unpleasant circumstances. Before an investigative committee of the United Nations an Arab girl from Tunisia acknowledged that within one year only she had 152 "spouses" - a terrifying figure for anybody's common sense."

Prof. Dronzina stressed that so far there has been no evidence of Bulgarian citizens fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State, but the fact that there are thousands of fighters in the Islamic state coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Turkey is sufficient for us to be on the alertthat as a society we cannot be immune towards anything.

English Rossitsa Petcova