jihad. Struggle; holy war.
jihad al-nafs. Jihad of the soul; internal holy war.
jihad bi’l-sayf. Jihad of the sword; battle against infidels.
jilbab. Long, loose coat or garment with a hood.
jinn. Spirits, demons.
jizya. Tax on non-Muslims.
Kaaba. The cubelike building at the center of Islam’s most sacred mosque in Mecca.
kafir. Nonbeliever; infidel (singular); kuffar (plural).
kazab. Liar.
keffiyeh. Men’s scarf worn around the neck and head.
kufi. Prayer cap.
madhab. School of thought within Islamic jurisprudence.
maqqar. A hostel for women.
muhajirat. Female emigrants.
mujahideen. Participants in jihad; holy warriors.
muntadayat. Forums, gatherings.
mutah. Joy, pleasure.
nikah. Marriage conducted according to Muslim law.
nikah al-mut’. A temporary marriage.
niqab. A woman’s garment covering the entire face except the eyes.
qami. Tunic.
qatl bi qisas. Principle of retribution in sharia, a life for a life.
Quraysh. Powerful tribe in the Arabian Peninsula in the time of Muhammad.
Ramadan. The ninth month in the Islamic calendar, the fasting month.
ridda. Apostasy; abandonment of Islam.
sabr. Perseverance, patience.
salam aleikum. Peace be with you.
shabiha. Ghost, applied to agents of Syrian security services.
Shahada. Declaration of faith, one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
sharia. Islamic law.
Shaytan. Satan.
shura. Ruling council.
sunna. Muslim law based on the teachings and practices of Muhammad.
sura. Chapter of the Koran.
swt. Abbreviation of Subhanahu wa ta’ala: May He [Allah] be glorified and exalted.
talaq. Islamic divorce.
ulama. Islamic legal scholars (plural); alim (singular).
umm. Mother.
ummah. Society; the Muslim community throughout the world.
ummati. My people.
wali. Guardian.
wallahi. By Allah; I swear to God.
wudu. Ritual washing before prayer.
Yahudi. Jew (singular); Yahud (plural).
zakat. Alms, charity, taxes; one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, Leila. Kvinder og køn i islam—Historisk rødder til en modern debat. Forlaget Vandkunsten, 2008.
Akerhaug, Lars. Norsk jihad—muslimske extremister blant oss. Kagge Forlag, 2013.
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: Harper, 1992.
Azzam, Abdullah. Defense of the Muslim Lands. 1987. www.ayyaz.com.pk/Books/Shaykh.Abdullah.Azzam/Defence.of.the.Muslim.Lands.-the.First.Obligation.After.Iman.pdf.
Bouzar, Dounia. Désamorcer l’islam radical. Ivry-sur-Seine: Éditions de l’Atelier, 2014.
________. Ils cherchent le paradis, ils on trouvé l’enfer. Ivry-sur-Seine: Éditions de l’Atelier, 2014.
Brown, Jonathan A. C. Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. London: Oneworld, 2009.
Erelle, Anna. Dans la peau d’une djihadiste. Paris: Robert Laffont, 2015.
Farah, Nuruddin. From a Crooked Rib. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Filieu, Jean-Pierre. From Deep State to Islamic State. London: Hurst & Company, 2015.
Hénin, Nicolas. Jihad Academy: Nos erreurs face à l’État islamique. Paris: Fayard, 2015.
Kasiki, Sophie. Dans la nuit de Daesh: Confession d’une repentie. Paris: Robert Laffont, 2016.
Kepel, Gilles. Terreur dans l’Hexagone. Paris: Gallimard, 2015.
Khan-Østrem, Nazneen and Mahmona Khan. Utilslørt. Muslimske RÅtekster. Oslo: Aschehoug, 2011.
The Koran. Norwegian translation. Einar Berg. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1989.
Lawrence, Bruce. The Qur’an: A Biography. New York: Grove Press, 2006.
Lewis, Ioan M. Understanding Somalia and Somaliland. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
Lister, Charles R. The Syrian Jihad: al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Littell, Jonathan. Syrian Notebooks: Inside the Homs Uprising. New York: Verso Books, 2015.
Maher, Shiraz. Salifi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea. London: Hurst & Company, 2016.
McCants, William. The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015.
Nesser, Petter. Islamist Terrorism in Europe: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Oberlé, Thierry. Jinan—Esclave de Daesh. Paris: Fayard, 2015.
Sheikh, Jakob. Danmarks børn i hellige krig. Copenhagen: Leonhardt and Ringhof, 2015.
Sidea, Emanuel. Mannen från Harem. Reportage. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 2016.
Soei, Aydin. Vrede unge mænd. Copenhagen: Tiderne skifter, 2011.
Stern, Jessica, and J. M. Berger. ISIS: The State of Terror. New York: Harper, 2015.
Thomson, David. Les français jihadistes. Paris: Les Arènes, 2014.
Trévidic, Marc. Terroristes: Les 7 pilliers de la déraison. Paris: Lattès, 2013.
Weiss, Michael, and Hassan Hassan. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York: Regan Arts, 2015.
ALSO BY ÅSNE SEIERSTAD
With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia
The Bookseller of Kabul
A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal
The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War
One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—and Its Aftermath
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Åsne Seierstad is an award-winning Norwegian journalist and writer known for her work as a war correspondent. She is the author of One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—and Its Aftermath, The Bookseller of Kabul, A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal, The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War, and With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia. She lives in Oslo, Norway. You can sign up for email updates here.
A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Seán Kinsella is from Dublin. He has translated a variety of books by Norwegian writers such as Kjell Askildsen, Tore Renberg, and Stig Sæterbakken. He lives in Norway. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Author’s Note
PART I
1. The Rupture
2. Veiled
3. Blindman’s Buff
4. In
PART II
5. Early Teens
6. The Mission
7. Eating with the Devil
8. Norway, Thine Is Our Devotion
9. This Outfit
10. It’s All About the Heart
11. Valentine’s Ummah
12. Target Practice
13. Halal Dating
14. Paragraphs
15. Strange Bird
16. Separation
17. Fraud in the Name of God
18. The October Revolution
PART III
19. Danse Macabre
20. Blueprint
21. Home
22. A Kind, Wonderful Man
23. Spoils of War
24. The End of Sykes-Picot
25. God Is Not Great
PART IV
26. Not Without My Daughters
27. New Year, New Opportunities
28. Housewives of Raqqa
29. Boys from Norway
30. Shoot the Girls If You Want!
31. Ramadan
PART V
32. A Different Life
33. Voices in the Mind
34. Legacy
The Basis of the Book
Glossary
References
Also by Åsne Seierstad
A Note About the Author and Translator
Copyright
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
175 Varick Street, New York 10014
Copyright © 2016 by Åsne Seierstad
Translation copyright © 2018 by Seán Kinsella
All rights reserved
Originally published in Norwegian in 2016 by Kagge, Norway, as To søstre
English translation published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
First American edition, 2018
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Seierstad, Åsne, 1970– author.
Title: Two sisters: a father, his daughters, and their journey into the Syrian jihad / Åsne Seierstad; translated from the Norwegian by Seán Kinsella.
Other titles: To søstre. English
Description: First American Edition. | New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017047949 | ISBN 9780374279677 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: IS (Organization) | Terrorists—Norway—Recruiting. | Women terrorists—Norway. | Radicalism. | Muslims—Ethnic identity.
Classification: LCC HV6433.N8 S45165