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The Islamic State hit several allies of the United States with suicide bombings as the holy month of Ramadan came to an end last year. The terror group conducted similar atrocities this year but this time, even the holiest places for Muslims were not safe. Suicide bombers detonated themselves near the Prophet Mohammad Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia. This particular mosque is considered by Muslims as the second holiest place and the attack can be taken as IS declaring war on Islam itself. As the world deals with the aftermath, the extremist continues with its other practices one of which is the sale of women and children.
IS Believes Women are Nothing but Property
The Islamic State follows an archaic doctrine that states that women exist only to serve men. Hence, to the eyes of members of the terror group, women are below them. IS also advocates slavery with the belief that since women are mere possessions, men should be able to barter their women. It is estimated that IS current holds more than 3000 women and girls that it treats as sex slaves. Most of these women come from cities and towns the group has conquered while some are sympathizers who travelled to the Middle East to join the group. IS has various radicalization programs that promise girls and women a better life under IS rule. But once these believers arrive, they are either married off to a jihadist, or worse, turned into sex slaves.
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The Auctioning of Women and Girls
Aside from the 300 sex slaves, IS also holds hundreds of women it intends to sell to the highest bidder. The Associated Press has recently intercepted an encrypted ad about one of these women for sale. The ad contained a picture of the girl with a caption below it saying, “Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old…. Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon.” It has also been discovered that the terrorist group keeps a database of these women so they can track their current owners. This makes it easy for them to be located if the owner reports that they have ran away.
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IS Treatment of Women Unacceptable
We are finally at an age where women are considered equal to men. To treat women as simply objects is like going back to the dark ages. More attention should be put in trying to put a stop to these auctioning of women. Governments should spend more effort and resources in tracking the websites where such ads are posted to prevent any more sales from happening. Rescue attempts save more than a hundred IS-held women each month but rescue becomes exponentially difficult after a woman gets sold.
It is understandable that a terror attack on one of Islam’s holiest places during the Holy month of Ramadan would garner attention. But we should remember that there are other atrocities that IS is doing that also need to be addressed.