ISIS Launches Radio Phone-In Show For Terrorists With Personal Problems; Hot Topics Include Whether Women Can Watch Execution Videos

A group of fully veiled women walking together in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State in Syria.Reuters

Trying to sound like everything's normal, the Islamic State (ISIS) has launched a radio phone-in show in the territories it controls where terrorists and their sympathisers can discuss personal problems.

Broadcast in the ISIS Al-Bayan radio, the show called "Fatwas Over the Airwaves" features militant clerics answering questions posed by listeners on what is permissible in Islam, The Daily Mail reported.

In one recent show, the cleric was asked about women's roles in ISIS, particularly on whether they are permitted to watch videos of executions, including beheadings.

Despite the gory nature of the discussion, the cleric appeared to put more emphasis on the issue of modesty for women.

In a transcript of a call, as transcribed by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the cleric was asked: "Are women allowed to watch the mujahideen's videos? And what is the ruling on women looking at men?"

The host cleric replied: "Some of the scholars have tended not to permit women to look at male strangers at all, and some of them have tended to prohibit women from looking at male strangers if this was out of desire or at a time or place ripe for temptation.

"However, if the looking is devoid of these things, it is permissible, and this is the correct stance to which the textual proofs point."

The radio talk show host added that some Islamist scholars allow women to look at male strangers as long as it is "without desire."

"Since women were ordered to conceal themselves from men, and men were not ordered to do this, therefore it is fundamentally permissible for the Muslim women to watch Islamic State videos, even if they contain sermons, military preparation, or combat by the men of the Islamic State," the cleric added.

Last year, the ISIS released a manifesto detailing the role of women in the jihadist group, according to The Independent.

The manifesto stated, among others, that it is "legitimate" for girls to be married to fighters at the age of nine, emphasising their role as wives, mothers and homemakers.

The document, entitled "Women in the Islamic State: Manifesto and Case Study," stated that women can leave the family home to work as doctors or teachers, or for jihad "by appointment" if there are not enough men to fight an enemy attack.

The manifesto points out that after marriage, the woman's "appointed role [is to] remain hidden and veiled and maintain society from behind."