IS: Jihadi bride blogs her disturbing Syrian love story

SHE moved to Syria, devoted her life to IS, and married a terrorist in the thrall of martyrdom. This is the disturbing story of a jihadi bride, as told to the world on social media.

THESE are the disturbing diary posts apparently written by a young woman who moved to Syria to pursue life as a jihadi bride.

The 26-year-old, who goes by the name of Shams or Bird of Jannah (heaven), left home on a pilgrimage (hijrah) to the Middle East in February.

She soon found an IS husband and began sharing regular updates on their twisted love story via social media.

Shams shares pictures that combine girlie fantasy and fanatical zeal.

Her posts offer tips and encouragement for others considering joining the terrorist organisation, as well as an unsettling, rose-tinted portrait of her new life among extremists.

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Shams was “excited and sad” about leaving her family in Malvasia, but felt she needed to use her skills as a doctor to “serve the people”, she posted on question-and-answer site ask.fm.

A tweet as @BirdofJannah, now deleted, read: “Stethoscope around my neck and kalash on my shoulder. Martyrdom is my highest dream.”

Shams’ accounts on sites including Twitter, Facebook and Kik are regularly deactivated for flouting terrorism laws, but she is always able to create new ones.

She presents her fundamentalist lifestyle as a Hollywood dream.

She uses these platforms to answer the questions of seemingly fascinated young girls, who ask her for dating advice, details of her journey and the story of her marriage.

Another ask.fm posts reveals that she only told her parents she was going to Syria in a phone call from Turkey, adding that they soon recovered from their shock and were “happy” for her.

Her Tumblr blog, Diary of a Muhajirah (immigrant), tells the story of her bizarre relationship in detail, interspersed with “inspirational” pictures and quotes.

“After two months in Shaam, I finally think about getting married because life without a Mahram (kin) is quite hard and it can cause fitnah (trails or temptations),” she writes.

A post about Jannah (heaven) romanticises death.

A friend suggests her husband’s Moroccan IS comrade, who agrees to the match without meeting his future bride and visits the house the next morning.

“I was trembling,” she writes, what reads like a teenage girl’s approximation of a romantic novel. “Nervous. Scared. My emotions were mixed. When he noticed my arrival, he gave salam and introduced him self, so did I. Then, it was a long awkward silence.

“After few minutes, I flipped my Niqab. He looked at me, our eyes catches each others’. I had palpitation that is faster than the speed of light.”

He asks to marry her the same day, and Shams agrees, calling her father from an internet cafe to obtain his permission.

Shams encourages others to move to Syria and join IS.

“The nikah (wedding) was held at my house. The men were in the room, while the women were outside the room, but we could hear what’s going on inside. It was the simplest nikah I ever witnessed in my life. No glamorous dress, no crowds, no-nothing.”

The next morning, she concludes, she and her husband say a prayer together.

“After we finished the salah, he turned back and smiled at me. And I can feel something. Yes, I guess I just fell in love with someone — my husband!”

Later posts expose the strangeness of the union, with Shams relating a friend’s reaction to the “martyrdom” of her husband and father of her two daughters.

The 26-year-old met her terrorist husband on the day they married.

“I heard Umm Habiba approached me joyfully. She looked pretty as always, she wore a nice cloth, with make-up on her face, jewelries and she smelled good (sic).

“She took her hand and wiped my tears and hold my cheeks. She said something that amazed me.

“‘Today is the day of celebration. Today is the day of joy. No one shall cry!’”

Shams admits she would find martyrdom hard, but is determined to be as “brave” as the people around her.

On others days she posts chirpy diary entries that also serve as propaganda, including a list entitled “10 facts from the Islamic State that you should know”. In it, she praises the absence of rent and tax, supply of groceries and money and the proliferation of mix-race marriages proving that IS is about “brotherhood without racism”.

Meanwhile, other posts include “selfies” of guns, and descriptions of her husband’s zealous behaviour.

“I’m married to Jihad before I’m married to you,” he tells her. “Jihad is my first wife, and you’re my second. I hope you understand”.

The vows of IS couples carry dark overtones of violence and death.