The classic cockade would have been discounted, the more original it is disgusting are three slaves for the top three.
This is what happens in eastern Libya where the competition "learn the verses and win a slave" was even put on the net with an official announcement on the occasion of Ramadan. The competition is aimed "at the soldiers of the Islamic State and at all those responsible for the Province of Cyrenaica", as specified in the official announcement.
Continuing the reading you will find detailed lists of suras to know and the mosques where you can register for the competition. The awarding of the "prizes" is set for "Id al-fitr", the end of Ramadan.
But what upsets is precisely the prize offered: slaves of which nothing else is specified. Imagining that the traditions of the IS have not changed in the last period it can be assumed that the trophy women are non-Muslim and seized as booty in the various militia raids. The abduction and enslavement of unfaithful women is good practice is right according to the precepts of sharia, so the prize offered as a prize is fully in the social canons of the IS.
Needless to say, this abomination is normal only for the IS and for those like them who have lost a part of their morality on the street. The Muslim world is united in condemning activities of this kind and all those who take part in it. On the real number of participants and when this "recitation of end Ramadan" will take place nothing is known, however some reflections are necessary.
Does the Islamic State really need to perform such exemplary but simple gestures to maintain its proselytes?
Given the non-existent freedom of non-Muslim women to exist, was such a prize needed?
The IS has accustomed us to a subtle but extremely effective psychological warfare, what makes no sense to us has a great impact for the world of those who have nothing. The abandoned of the so-called Arab spring that cannot find a place in the new international scenario are at the mercy of these social experiments of the Caliphate.
A lonely man who has a miserable job and a frugal life sees in the possibility of learning some verses of the Koran and knowing how to recite an escape from loneliness and frustration because if he does his job well he will be awarded a woman. It is not relevant to him that this is there against his will, but the important thing is to be able to use it in any way and manner he likes. Thus, what for us Westerners is just a game with a sad end to the IS is a table-top plan to attract staff between their ranks.
The IS has understood how to manipulate the weaknesses of others to exploit them to their own advantage. Using non-Muslim women as a trophy is a cause of disgust for us, but worse is the reality behind this script. A subtle means of attraction for men, boys and children manipulated by a handful of self-styled Imams who should have guided them towards redemption and eternal salvation while instead guiding them towards such a deep abyss where no believer would have fallen voluntarily.
In my mind of a young western woman I still hope these girls rebel in the four walls of their prison-house, but then I remember that they don't have a place to escape. They have a place where understanding, support and help do not even know that it exists somewhere in the world. Then I hope they find the best among the worst, that he beats them not too strongly, that he lets them eat from time to time and that in the end you let them die with the same dignity granted to the animals; which is always more than that granted to them.
For us who live in the imperfect part of the world - but where I am allowed as a woman to write what I think - for us I hope that all this will make us open our eyes more and less the mouth.
To defeat the IS four hand grenades and a caravan of Brancaleone are not enough, to defeat the IS one must have ingenuity, rationality, cold blood and a will of steel.
They showed us how their iron will manages to make them overcome even the human decency that is inherent in all men, now it's up to us. The next prize in the flesh will have to be the ideological heart of the IS.
Denise Serangelo
