It has to be terribly worrisome for these parents because chances are they will never see their kids again.
Double Blow for Parents of Jihadists: Losing Children, Then Their Community
By KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURADEC. 27, 2014
Photo
The Alfurqan Islamic Center in Manchester. A mother from the congregation recently traveled to Syria in search of her daughtersCreditAndrew Testa for The New York Times
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They know how Ibrahim Halane and his wife, Khadra Jama, who are immigrants from Somalia, followed their daughters to Turkey. How Ms. Jama, who ventured into Syria after them, was arrested by the militants and detained for more than five weeks. How the parents came back empty-handed, their 17-year-old daughters, Salma and Zahra, already married off to jihadists.
They know the story, and they sympathize. But they keep their distance.
“We know he’s upset, and everyone feels sorry for him,” Haji Saab, chairman of the mosque, said of Mr. Halane. But “we leave him alone.”
It has been very difficult for the community as well, Mr. Saab said. It has “shut itself up.”
“People are traumatized,” he said.
About 3,000 men and women
Continue reading at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/w...sing-children-then-their-community.html?&_r=0
Double Blow for Parents of Jihadists: Losing Children, Then Their Community
By KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURADEC. 27, 2014
Photo
The Alfurqan Islamic Center in Manchester. A mother from the congregation recently traveled to Syria in search of her daughtersCreditAndrew Testa for The New York Times
Continue reading the main story
They know how Ibrahim Halane and his wife, Khadra Jama, who are immigrants from Somalia, followed their daughters to Turkey. How Ms. Jama, who ventured into Syria after them, was arrested by the militants and detained for more than five weeks. How the parents came back empty-handed, their 17-year-old daughters, Salma and Zahra, already married off to jihadists.
They know the story, and they sympathize. But they keep their distance.
“We know he’s upset, and everyone feels sorry for him,” Haji Saab, chairman of the mosque, said of Mr. Halane. But “we leave him alone.”
It has been very difficult for the community as well, Mr. Saab said. It has “shut itself up.”
“People are traumatized,” he said.
About 3,000 men and women
Continue reading at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/w...sing-children-then-their-community.html?&_r=0