A torque called terror

Jihadi Jane
Tabish Khair
Penguin
2016, pp 237, Rs 299

Jihadi Jane couldn’t have happened at a better time. A time when newspaper headlines scream of ISIS attacks on unsuspecting innocent people across the world.

A time when we are left asking, “Why, dear god, why?” The trail of carnage left by ISIS has sure made us wonder what motivates them to take their fellow beings’ lives in such a ruthless manner. Well, Jihadi Jane answers many such questions, giving us a sneak peek into the world of jihadis through the eyes of a young British Muslim woman who leaves her family behind to join the fight in Syria.

The story revolves around this young woman, Jamilla, born into a conservative Muslim family, and her friend Ameena, a non-practising Muslim hailing from a broken home with unresolved issues galore. While Jamilla follows the strict code of conduct dictated to her by the radical religious beliefs of her father and brother, Ameena is into pot-smoking and boys. Though they are as different as different can be, friendship blossoms between them, and soon Ameena starts accompanying Jamilla to discussion groups in the mosque. Jamilla is more than happy because “I had been told that every person you bring to the faith — or bring back to the faith — opens a new gate in heaven for you”. Thus begins their journey together into a world that they know very little about, but are enamoured to no end — religious fanaticism.

They participate in discussions that give a religious colour to everything, follow preachers and speakers on Facebook and YouTube who promote a strict version of Islam and ignite religious passions by blaming the West for all the ills plaguing the Muslim world, and cultivate friends on the Internet who read nothing but the Quran and dream of fighting with the jihadis. Of these ‘friends’, the woman who impresses them the most is one who goes by the Twitter name of Hejjiye, wife of a jihadi, who claims her husband “was fighting for the ‘faith’ in Syria, and she was there to support him, which was the job of all women — to help their men fight for the faith”.

Taken in by her glib talk, Ameena decides to marry Hassan, a jihadi, e-introduced to her by Hejjiye, and urges Jamilla also to go with her to Syria. At this point in time, a lot is going on in Jamilla’s life — there’s pressure to get married, and no support of any kind from her family for her wish to pursue higher studies. So, Ameena’s offer seems hard to resist: “...tempted by the promises and the vision of joining a righteous fight, of doing my duty as a Muslim, of having a purpose in my life...”

The two friends soon find themselves boarding a flight to Turkey, and land in an orphanage and home for women run by Hejjiye, in a town on the Syria-Iraq border. They are treated like “trophy ‘Western’ jihadists to the cause”. Life at the orphanage is far from Jamilla’s expectations. Jihadis come, marry girls from the orphanage, and drive off with them. Some women come back with their children after their jihadi husbands are ‘martyred’. No woman is allowed to step out without accompanied by men. There is always the sound of bombs and gunfires at a distance. Orphan girls at the institution are taught the Quran and the Hadith, some Daesh-sanctioned commentaries on these texts, and related news that ranges from celebrations of Daesh victories to condemnation of Western propaganda. In the midst of all this, Ameena gets married to Hassan and leaves with him.

Life goes on thus, till the day it dawns on Jamilla how some innocent girls are indoctrinated to carry out suicide attacks, which, according to her, is against the tenets of Islam, and how whoever questions it meets a gory end. She sees it happen to her ‘thinking’ friend in the orphanage, Halide. War begins. There are bomb blasts everywhere. Rations are cut. More and more girls are married off to jihadis. Kurdish women are captured and ill-treated. Ameena comes back to the orphanage badly beaten up and bruised for trying to save a Yazidi boy. There’s pressure on her to marry a jihadi. Better still, she’s expected to blow herself up with Ameena for the cause of Islam. Slowly but surely, disillusion sets in.

Will Jamilla go on with Hejjiye’s designs for her? Does she still believe in the ‘cause’? What about Ameena? Well, that forms the crux of the story.

Chilling and true to life, Jihadi Jane draws a heartbreaking portrait of militant brides dancing to the tunes of religious fanaticism. The book has a distinct flavour to it, a sense of calmness that is waiting to burst out of the pages. Not to forget the sound of gunfires that seems to be playing out in the background, constantly. As far as the narrative is concerned, there are no dull moments, enticing the reader to thumb through the pages at a frenetic pace. Simplicity of language, crisp editing and captive characterisation add to the allure of the book. Proof enough of the author’s flair for writing.

A haunting tale that stays with you long after you’ve closed the book. If the book has to be described in just two words, it has to be gripping and unputdownable.