MEDIA

Al Qaeda Launches Women's Magazine

Woman poses with machine gun on cover.

Probably won't find this at your local newsstand: Al Qaeda's media network has launched a new magazine called Al-Shamikha—"The Majestic Woman"—which bears some similarities to popular glossies like Cosmopolitan and Glamour. Al-Shamikha offers plenty of advice, including how to find the right man (by "marrying a mujahideen"), how to take care of your skin (by staying inside and covering your face at all times), and touches a bit on health and the importance of good manners. But while Cosmo's cover might have a woman in some fashionable garb, Al-Shamikha features a niqab-clad woman clutching a sub-machine gun. You won't find any sex-tips in Al-Shamikha, but you might find step-by-step instructions on how to operate a lethal weapon. It has all the attractions of a traditional women's magazine, mixed in with strict lessons in jihad, like "not [to] go out except when necessary." It also includes interviews with martyr's wives and praises those who give their lives for their religion and god, an idea which the magazine's editors ran with to develop a credo: "From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety, and happiness." Roughly a year ago, Al Qaeda's media launched another magazine in English called Inspire, which was geared to recruit muslims in the west to acts of terrorism.