This is a strange story. The husbands have appealed to their wives to come home, but the wives and children appear to be headed for the Islamic State. They were known for their devoutness in Islam while in Britain, holding Qur’an classes and spreading Islamic material on the Internet — not that this has anything to do with Islam.
“Missing Bradford sisters ‘are from ultraconservative Muslim family,'” by Josh Halliday, Helen Pidd and Jessica Elgot, Guardian, June 16, 2015 (thanks to Peter):
Three sisters from Bradford who are feared to have fled to Syria with their nine children come from an ultraconservative Muslim Pakistani family.
The women were born and raised in Bradford and speak with broad Yorkshire accents. According to Alyas Karmani, a local councillor for the Respect party, their parents originally came to Yorkshire from a Pashtun community in north-west Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan.
Pashtuns are associated with a strict interpretation of Islam, such as adherence to gender segregation and insistence on women covering their heads.
Neighbours said the family were devout Muslims. One of the sisters, Zohra Dawood, 33, is said to have held evening classes on the Qur’an in her house, while one of the older children appears to have created a website to share his views on Islam and regularly shared sermons from Islamic scholars on his Facebook page.
Some locals suggested the sisters were in unhappy arranged marriages with men from Pakistan – where Zohra’s husband now is, according to the family’s lawyer, Balaal Khan. But the two husbands of her sisters, Khadija Dawood, 30, and Sugra Dawood, 34, appeared at an emotional press conference in Bradford on Tuesday to insist they were happily married and had no idea why their wives appeared to have run away. Akhtar Iqbal, Sugra’s husband, said he could not live without his wife and children. Muhammad Shoaib said he had “the perfect marriage”.
Neighbours of Zohra painted a picture of a private and polite woman whose marriage had broken down. They said Zohra was distraught by her brother’s decision to join militants in Syria more than a year ago….
“The dad disappeared last year then the wife disappeared and then the kids disappeared and we haven’t seen them for six months,” said Alex Firth, 31, who lives in a house next to Zohra’s property. “He was a really good dad. He did everything for them – took them to school, picked them up – he was like their mum. I never saw the mum much.”Zohra’s daughters, Nurah, five, and Haafiyah, eight, went to nearby Marshfields school.
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he used to send his children to Zohra’s house on evenings where they would learn about the Qu’ran [sic]. “She spoke broad Yorkshire, like me,” he said. “Father was a really nice guy but couldn’t speak much English.”…
On social media Ibrahim Iqbal, 14, the second eldest of Sugra Dawood’s five children, revealed himself to be a typical young British teenager….
But the posts also show a young man interested in religion and his heritage. Using another term for Pashtun, his profile picture says “I am Pathan, we don’t keep calm”, in the style of the “Keep calm and carry on” poster. He also posted regular sermons from Islamic scholars, a picture of a Palestinian flag, and a photoshopped image of Marlon Brando in an Islamic prayer cap, with the caption “The Godlover”.
Three years ago, Ibrahim appears to have created his own website entitled An 11-year-old’s point of view about Islam. He wrote: “I have faith in Allah and his angels. His books and his messengers and that all good and evil and fate is from Almighty Allah … this makes my iman [belief] strong.”
Junaid, the eldest of Sugra’s five children, has also posted Islamic quotes on his Facebook page, alongside pictures from the TV shows Arrow and Doctor Who.
One quote from the Qur’an says in English and Arabic: “Sufficient for us is Allah”. Another, from the 13th-century Qur’anic scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah says: “This dunya [world] is like a shadow, if you try to catch it, you will never be able to do so. But if you turn your back towards it, it has no choice but to follow you.”
Peter Buckley says
“Devout” muslims more violent. It’s a fact:
http://www.thelocal.de/20100606/27673
mortimer says
Devout?
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS CREATE ‘DEVOUT’ MUSLIMS!
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS CREATE FANATICAL MUSLIMS!
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS CREATE JIHAD MUSLIMS!
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS CREATE SOCIOPATHIC MUSLIMS!
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS CREATE MISOGYNISTIC MUSLIMS!
ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS TEACH THE ORIGINAL ISLAMIC SOURCE TEXTS.
This family ran an Islamic STUDY GROUP. The family became SOCIOPATHS.
Intelligence agencies and politicians and journalists, take note.
zulu says
“On social media Ibrahim Iqbal, 14, the second eldest of Sugra Dawood’s five children, revealed himself to be a typical young British teenager….”
This is Îbrahïm Îqbål’s facebook profile
https://www.facebook.com/ibrahim.iqbal.332?fref=ts
Jenny H says
The page has been deleted.
Mirren10 says
No, it’s still up.
quotha raven says
Mirren10 – Puzzling! I have tried several times to get to the link and an informed by a screen that sez it’;s not available, has been taken down, etc. I have a facebook account (which I only use for access to other facebook accounts) as well, and the link still does not work for me.I am in the USA. Cheers! Quotha R
Mirren10 says
”Not IN UK its down”
I’m in the UK, and can access it.
This is very odd …
quotha raven says
Zulu – That page is no longer available, it seems. Rats! Quotha
Mirren10 says
” … That page is no longer available, it seems.”
It worked for me, Quotha.
Here’s one of this little creep’s comments;
Îbrahïm Îqbål
January 5, 2013 ·
A muslims who’s 3 children die before the age of puberty will be granted jannah due to the mercy of them.
Interesting, n’est-ce pas ?
zulu says
his name is “Îbrahïm Îqbål”. The account is still up.
quotha raven says
To Mirren 10, Zulu, Jenny H, Chris et al interested in the Facebook entries of Îbrahïm Îqbål. It’s clear some people (me, too) can’t access the page, but I am still intrigued, so I googled Îbrahïm Îqbål and LOADS of hits came up. I don’t have time right now, but I’m going to peruse these hits tomorrow. There must be more than twenty. So, as an alternative to fighting with that page that is up or down, depending on who knows what (does anyone know the answer?), you might just google the dude. Cheers! Quotha
Krishan Bhattacharya says
Notice also that the girls seem to have gone to Saudi Arabia first. Where was their male guardian who must have accompanied them into the country, as is required by Saudi law? Why is he not in the story?
AK says
The eldest son would constitute such I believe by Muslamic standards.
RonaldB says
What comes across is that the husbands, certainly, had no idea in the world what their wives thought: not only about Islam, but about anything. These unacculturated hicks from the hindlands of Pakistan were dropped into a British environment with wives slightly more sophisticated than they were. Islam discourages any thought of women except as unintelligent property, so they had no experience in communication whatsoever.
With the onset of ISIS, the desperately bored and frustrated wives saw an Islamically-approved way to escape the drabness of their lives, without having to go to the trouble of rethinking their commitment to Islam. Even being passed around as a muwa (temporary wife) to the ISIS jihadis is infinitely more exciting than a lifetime with a semi-literate Pakistani yokel.
Baucent says
I think you have hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what’s happened.
mortimer says
Plausible ‘psychological’ explanation. The deeper explanation is the DOCTRINE of the personal DUTY to conduct JIHAD.
Jihadists learn about it in ISLAMIC STUDY GROUPS. ALL CLASSES OF MUSLIMS are drawn in by the DOCTRINE of the personal DUTY to conduct JIHAD…engineers, doctors, businessmen. Such people do not join jihad out of BOREDOM.
So I must disagree.
david wilson says
I think you are both a little bit right, they rationalised themselves into it
RonaldB says
“MUSLIMS are drawn in by the DOCTRINE of the personal DUTY to conduct JIHAD”
mortimer,
You’re correct in the broad sense, of course. Every Muslim has a personal mandate from Islam to help spread Islam.
But, if you will allow me a little more examination, we know that some Muslims act on that duty and some don’t. Very few married Muslim females took up the jihad to ISIS. So, it’s a legitimate question to ask why these women actually left and others didn’t.
One aspect of the story that stood out like a sore thumb was that the husbands were, in fact, congenial yokels who were fresh from Pakistan and didn’t speak English. So, it’s not off the wall to speculate that their wives, having to stay in the home like all good Muslim women, were driven up the wall from boredom.
But ultimately, when we look at the threat itself, it stems from the doctrine of personal jihad, and you are more correct on the underlying cause than I was in my semi-sardonic speculation.
What are you saying says
Somedays I can’t read jihad watch, it’s just to sad, nothing but evil this is a good story
Benedict says
How badly brainwashed. Majority of Muslims are like this family
Matthieu Baudin says
… “This dunya [world] is like a shadow, if you try to catch it, you will never be able to do so. But if you turn your back towards it, it has no choice but to follow you.”…
An example of the type of delusional nonsense that parades as wisdom and makes followers of people with susceptible minds. Add a bit of violent imagery, with a promise of unlimited sexual rewards and you have a Jihad warrior ready for action.
Peggy says
Something sounds a a bit fishy here. Since when do Muslim wives ever do anything without their husbands’ permission? How could they organize all this and all slip out without anyone knowing? If these men were not born in the UK then they would be even more backward and made sure that the wives didn’t step out of line.
What’s next? The husbands follow under pretence they are looking for the wives? Maybe they thought they were too obvious if they all borded the plain together.
Peggy says
Plane not plain.
No Fear says
The wives have left their husbands and fled to Syria?
They are drawn by the “bad boys” i.e. those men who are the most violent.
It is called Stockholm Syndrome.
Firebug says
5/6 year old child in a headbag.. oh, yes, they’re ‘devout’ alright.
Firebug says
Also, I love the fact that they were able to travel to and move around Saudi Arabia WITHOUT a male relative. Doesn’t happen.
TheBuffster says
A 14 year old boy counts as a male relative. Doesn’t have to be what we consider an adult.
Stuart Smith says
I would say they had a muslim divorce and are buried somewhere in Bradford, or have been eaten in a Kebab shop around the area.
Mirren10 says
”I would say they had a muslim divorce and are buried somewhere in Bradford, or have been eaten in a Kebab shop around the area”
Another possibility !
Tommo says
There is something wrong with this story. The family were under surveillance since the brother joined ISIS and went to Syria sometime ago. Their trip to Syria was well planned and took the usual route from Saudi Arabia to Istanbul then onto Syria. Two of the youngest family members are thought to be still in Saudi Arabia. The fathers, still in the UK, were on TV weeping for their families. We’ve seen these shows of emotion before which proved to be false and staged to get public support.
Mirren10 says
”The fathers, still in the UK, were on TV weeping for their families. We’ve seen these shows of emotion before which proved to be false and staged to get public support.”
Yep. You’re an old cynic, Tommo; just like me ! 🙂
Peggy says
I smell something fishy too. Muslim men do not cry because of their wives. The wives cry because of the husbands and there is no way these women would do anything without their husbands’ approval.
particolor says
Fled to Syria ? No doubt get away from the Savage Uncouth Inhospitable British Infidels ?
I hope the British Gubmint keeps their Jizra Payments topped up ?..:-)
Angemon says
He was in his late 50’s and she was nine?…
Doug says
Perfect for him.
duhg_swami says
Three sisters from Bradford who are feared to have fled to Syria with their nine children…
Feared? It should be cheered…Pack up, move out, reverse immigration should be encouraged not feared. Just don’t let them back in when things get too tough for them in Paradise…
Lioness says
Muslims are Muslims. Sooner or later even the “moderate” become jihadis; it’s in their blood. You cannot transform a dog into a cat, and you cannot transform a Muslim into a human being.
DbA says
Isn’t it about time for Muslims worldwide to READ the whole Qur’an? They should really get to know what Islam stands for.
Mirren10 says
” …and you cannot transform a Muslim into a human being.”
You can if they apostasise.
Joseph says
@ Mirren10
You can if they apostasise.
___________________
Agreed! ! If is of their own free will. Of course it would be, because that would be a death sentence.
jayell says
“Another (surprised) neighbour…..said….“She spoke broad Yorkshire, like me,” he said. No doubt, just like the other specimen in the press recently who was ‘the first British suicide bomber’ in the area (to the ‘shock’ and ‘dismay’ of his family, of course) who was – so we are told – a ‘regular Yorkshire lad’ (etc., etc.,…)…who regularly prayed in his local mosque (???).
What a load of rubbish!
1. Speaking with an accent tells you nothing about a person apart from the fact that they’ve lived in an area long enough to pick the accent up.
2, All the ‘regular Yorkshire lads’ I knew when was up there were painfully straightforward, honest and law-abiding, rarely duplicitous or underhand (or they knew about it from their mates!), usually spent their leisure time wisely (maybe including a sociable pint or two in the local pub), often had links with the local church or chapel and came from families who’s been in the area for centuries. I can’t quite see how our suicide-bomber friend fits this bill.
Mirren10 says
”Speaking with an accent tells you nothing about a person apart from the fact that they’ve lived in an area long enough to pick the accent up.”
Exactly.
It **infuriates** me when these scum are referred to as ”British”. They are **not**, they are merely mohammedan parasites battening on Britain.
bob kelly says
I new there was more to the story than the husbands crying on TV, hard core shia nut cases, the lawyer with the salafist beard, patriarch family structure were the husband does the thinking and all the discussion making, they should not be allowed to have child, they hate every thing that is not the islam, they appreciate nothing that the west has given them – now these poor little children are having there lives ruined because of their parents, just another case of terror being home taught , the British government – real soon is not going to have a country , just a piece of land that is in the middle of civil war
bob kelly says
As I suspected there is more to the story than husbands crying on TV, the lawyer with the salifist beard was a dead give away, and the families have there own Koran classes to brain wash they children, the child will suffer the rest of their lives, if they live that long, these muslin’s have no appreciation of anything the west has to offer, Britain has a big problem now , the muslin s will turn it into a civil war just give them time. The lawyer will sue the British government saying it was their fault
Angemon says
That’s not a very accurate description. It’s the poster of the movie “The Godfather” photoshopped to have Marlon Brando wear the prayer cap and with the name changed to “The Godlover”.
Huck Folder says
I think you mean one of these:
http://img.sadistic.pl/pics/4397a33d4d8b.jpg
http://www.chamsko.pl/demot/0_0_36975439_The_goatfucker_przez_napohybel77_middle.jpg
After all, mo was the godfather of all the mafia godfathers, his spawn having ruled Sicily for generations.
cheekturner says
Saw this on the BBC news channel (sanitised as usual) and immediately recognised the “crocodile” doing his usual bit (oscar nomination on the way!). Lying p.o.s.! Wonder if the videos of recent demonstrations around the area will reveal yet more faces that appear on T.V. claiming to have no knowledge of the why and wherefore of their “family” members disappearance to join ISIS. As a previous poster noted… well planned and executed. These people and their ilk betray Britain as do the enablers such as Cameron, May, Blair and the media, especially the BBC. There will be civil war and hopefully our young men and women will be influenced by “older men/women” whose parents and grandparents sacrificed much of, if not indeed all of their lives, to make Britain a once great country, and not the Islamic shithole it is being turned into by these creepy tarts in oversized balaclavas, who spew out numerous “mohammeds” on demand, like a dog shitting on command.
greygandalf says
Why did the husbands need a lawyer? Because they will 1. Try and sue the government. 2. Try and sue the police. This is a complete setup, with the husbands soon to follow the wives and kids – to the “holiday camp” Jihad Paradise. They will say that they are trying to find their wives, and use the pay-out to fund their trip.
bob kelly says
This story isn’t over yet, these men crying and the TV interview is a total diversion from the truth, this is muslim deception at its best, we will have to wait and see – this is jihad in the making, just getting on international TV to tell their side of the story is a form of jihad toward all democratic counties, I wonder how much law enforcement agency’s know ?
Mark says
Send them all to Syria. This is such a great idea.
bob kelly says
The men are liars, they say they have the perfect marriage – a sharia marriage – really !!!!! – The men don t want to lose their British citizenship, Cameron should put them on a plane to join their wives, these men and their lawyer are looking for a loop hole so they can sue the government, If Cameron does not very soon start deporting this trash , you Brits will not have a country.