New Fatwa Permits Kidnapping, Imprisonment & Rape of "Infidel Women"

For women, and even couples including a woman, thinking of an exotic vacation destination, they may wish to steer clear of regions where the mujahideen are prevalent. According to a new report by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, a recent fatwa allows mujahideen to “kidnap, imprison and have sexual intercourse with infidel women:”

On October 28, 2011, the jihadi forum Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad published a fatwa by Sheikh Abu Humam Al-Athari, a member of its shari’a council, in which he unequivocally permits mujahideen to capture the infidels’ women and have sexual intercourse with them, even those who are married, on the claim that their marriage bonds to infidels are dissolved as soon as they are taken captive. [Emphasis added]

As MEMRI reports:

The inquiry in response to which Al-Athari issued the fatwa reads as follows:[1] “Is it permissible for mujahideen in jihad fronts to kidnap the infidels’ women and hold them as their captives? What is the ruling regarding a captive in our times? How should they be divided [among the mujahideen]? Is it permissible to imprison [an infidel woman who has been taken captive] in an infidel land, or must she be brought to Dar Al-Islam [the abode of Islam]? How much time must one wait before having sexual intercourse with her, regarding both one who is a virgin and one who is not?”

Al-Athari replies: “There is no doubt that taking the women of the combatant infidels captive – whether they are from AhlAl-Kitab [i.e., Christians or Jews] or pagans – is permitted according to the shari’a… That being said, it must be done only after [the spoils] has been divided by an imam in Dar Al-Islam; if there is no imam at hand, prisoners may not be taken…”

Al-Athari emphasizes that before deciding to take infidel women captive, “one must consider the gains and losses that will result from this deed, which is to say that if the imam of the Muslims in a given country believes that taking the infidels’ women captive will lead the infidels to band together and rape the Muslims’ women, and that the Muslims are in too weak a state to prevent this, he should forbid taking [infidel women] captive…”