For a male al-Qaeda fighter, life is straightforward: you fight, you die. But what about their women, the wives and mothers who feed and care for husbands and rock babies to sleep? Theirs is usually a mysterious and impenetrable world.

  How does one go about raising the next generation of terrorists? What about battlefield first aid for your jihadi husband, staying slim for combat and other wartime essentials. The answers to those questions, and many more, can be found in the twenty-three rose-colored pages a new online women's magazine al-Khansa, courtesy of al-Qaeda's Arabian Peninsula Women's Information Bureau.

  Named for a famous poetess of the pre-Islamic period who wrote eulogies to male relatives who had died in battle, al-Khansa is the first jihadist publication exclusively for women. It aims to define just what an Al-Qaeda woman's role is and how she can best succeed.

  Born a pagan, al-Khansa (the pug-nosed; her nose was deemed to be of exceeding beauty), Tumader bint Amru converted to Islam during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. She is considered the "mother of the Shehadin." Her proclamation, made after her four sons died in battle against the Persians, became the motto of all Shehadin, "I thank God for awarding me with their death. I ask God to unite me with them in a place of His mercy." she did not mourn but thanked Allah for honoring her with their death. A Mujaheda is said to be "today's Khansa."

  Al-Khansa appears to be linked to the most well-known jihadist outlet on the Internet, Sawt al-Jihad - or Voice of Jihad. The magazine uses the same fierce language found on Sawt-al-Jihad. One of its encouragements to jihad reads: "The blood of our husbands and the body parts of our children are our sacrificial offering."

  Most of the articles are written as if by women, although it is not clear if they actually were. Some take a somewhat patronising attitude, dwelling on supposed female weaknesses that must be overcome in the cause of jihad - such as over-dependence on home comforts like TV and air conditioning.

  The objective is to teach the wives of radical Islamists how to support their husbands pursuing jihad. It also gives them specific advice on how to bring up their children in the path of jihad, how to provide first aid and what kind of physical training women need to prepare themselves for fighting.

  The first issue admonishes women to "watch your weight!""You are a crucial part of the preparation for jihad," the Webzine says. "You must be fit." As such, the authors recommend push-ups, "reduced-calorie regimens" and "occasional fasting."

  While the magazine insists that "women have just as important a role as men in the jihad," in reality the female world is decidedly un-emancipated. "Women's lives are terribly sheltered and private," said Henner Kirchner, the publisher of Mid East Press-Digest and a researcher at the Institute for Middle and Near Eastern studies in Giessen, near Frankfurt. That is part of what makes this magazine so "intriguing," he said. Al-Qaeda has published a myriad of male-oriented magazines, but "there has never been anything like this."

  A good terrorist wife will educate her child in the ways of martyrdom, like Palestinian mom Rheem Reyashi, who killed herself in a suicide bombing in 2004. Forget the fun most 20-somethings enjoy and that traditional women's magazines exude. A good terrorist's wife must have a steady trigger hand and a gun at the ready. She is allowed to both carry and fire a gun in order to defend herself and her family. And, she should be versed in first-aid. No house should be without scissors, spoons and iodine to disinfect wounds.

  "A Mujaheda must be a role model at all times and places," the magazine declares. A woman's job consists of "helping to finance the jihad, caring for her jihad-oriented husband and teaching her children to know God's will." Lessons are to begin "even when children are still in the mother's womb." There is more, and none of it is any cheerier.

  Like other terrorism experts, Kirchner believes al-Khansa was written specifically for Saudi Arabian women. That's because all of the authors write under pseudonyms that use prominent Saudi names. Saudi women's lives are a study in contrasts. On the one hand, women are not allowed to go outside without a male chaperone nor can they hold their own passports independent of a male companion. Yet, most are pushed to attend private women's universities. They generally marry at age 17-18, with their families playing a large role in the decision. As such, the Internet is a perfect women's tool: it provides global access from home.

  Kirchner also has another theory about the magazine: He thinks its authors are men. More precisely, he thinks they are men who want to justify jihad to their otherwise unconvinced wives, mothers and sisters. "They are using the voices of women to tell women what to think," he said. "It's a deliberate and quite smart approach." It's also a fascinating one, as it acknowledges the emotional struggle of the families - particularly the women - behind the stoic male faces so often presented in the media.

  A favorite theory of some European and American terrorism experts is that al-Khansa was designed to frighten terrorism investigators by making them believe Al Qaeda is stronger and more deeply imbedded in Saudi Arabia than it actually is.

  SISDE, the Italian state security service, notes the importance of Al Qaeda's PR move aimed at female audience. "This concerns a major turn in planning within the international terrorist web, which up until recently has been recruiting only men for any sort of "operations" as opposed to the Palestinian intifada or Chechen nationalistic extremist groups."

  Another noteworthy event comes to mind in connection with the terrorist publication for women. In May 2003 one of the most influential religious figures of the Islamic world sheikh Usuf al-Karadaui issued a Fatwa relieving women suicide bombers of the neccessity of following traditional Islamic behavioral norms when engaged in Jihad. Such a statement could be viewed as an emancipation of Arab women.

   The following are excerpts from the articles:

  "... We love Allah and His Messenger. We march in a single path, the path of Jihad for the sake of Allah, and our goal is Shahada [martyrdom] for the sake of Allah, and our goal is [to gain] the pleasure of Allah and His Paradise.

  "We stand shoulder to shoulder with our men, supporting them, helping them, and backing them up. We educate their sons and we prepare ourselves. May Allah know of the honesty of our intentions and of our good deeds, and [may He] choose us and make us Shehadin for His sake, as we charge forward and do not retreat and as Allah is pleased with us.

  "We will stand covered by our veils and wrapped in our robes, weapons in hand, our children in our laps, with the Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet of Allah directing and guiding us. The blood of our husbands and the body parts of our children are the sacrifice by means of which we draw closer to Allah, so that through us, Allah will cause the Shahada for His sake to succeed.

  "The wind of Paradise is already blowing, and [we are sworn] to Allah. We must not miss it. We are walking, with Allah's help, in the path ... of Ayat [Al-Akhras] and Rheem [Al-Reyashi]."(3)

  'Just as Our Righteous Female Jihad Warrior Ancestors Confronted Obstacles in this Path [of Jihad], so the Female Jihad Warriors of this Time Does Likewise'

  An article titled "Obstacles in the Path of the Jihad Warrior Woman" by a contributor calling herself "Umm Badr" included indoctrination and guidelines for women: "... My noble sisters... The woman in the family is a mother, wife, sister, and daughter. In society she is an educator, propagator and preacher of Islam, and a female Jihad warrior. Just as she defends her family from any possible aggression, she defends society from destructive thoughts and from ideological and moral deterioration, and she is the soldier who bears his pack and weapon on his back in preparation for the military offensive...

  "Just as our righteous female Jihad warrior ancestors confronted obstacles in this path [of Jihad], so the female Jihad warriors of this time does likewise; [may] Allah make them fruitful and make their way successful."

  Umm Badr: "The Jihad Warrior Woman Must be in Top Condition, not Overindulge in Eating and Drinking"

  "Let me shed light on these obstacles, in hopes of finding ways of overcoming them, lest they constitute an obstacle to the woman's Jihad. With Allah's help, I will begin by presenting all these obstacles:...

  "Meager knowledge of Jihad: Many among our women are negligent in this matter... The first source for obtaining knowledge is the Koran, and female Jihad warriors must persevere in reading it aloud, must be strict about learning it by rote, and must draw the foundations of the correct belief ... from this leading source.

  "Similarly, a woman must study the Sunna and learn by rote the reliable traditions [Hadiths] and their interpretations, and read the books of the faith, Shari'a, Qur'an commentary, and the chronicles of the Prophet Muhammad...

  "Weak belief and connection to this world: We see the Muslim woman crying in sadness over her sisters in Iraq, over women prisoners in Palestine, over bereaved mothers in Chechnya, and over orphans in Afghanistan, and in the rest of the Islamic lands. We hear her threaten the enemies and plan to help [Muslim women]. Then, in time of emergency, she turns back; she clings to her work and her status, and it is difficult for her to leave them...

  "Negligent preparations: "1) Emotional preparation - The female Jihad warrior feels fear and anxiety about Jihad for the sake of Allah by means of property, words, and the sword... 2) Military preparation - This is the main problem, not only for our women, but also for our men. It is worthy for a woman, even if she is not a female Jihad warrior, to at least know how to use a weapon in order to defend her honor, because this is one of the five obligations in the event that she encounters a robber, a desecrator, or a criminal - and particularly in our time in which there are many such instances.

  "All the more so when the enemy at the gate, with his equipment, his ammunition, his army and his navy, his criminals, and his whores, has desecrated the honor of Muslim women everywhere. How will we ensure that he will not harm our honor? He thought [harming] our sisters and spilling their blood was permitted; how can we let [the enemy] protect our women? He stole money and plundered land; how will we appoint him guardian of our property and our treasures?

  "The female Jihad warrior must be familiar with various types of weapons and ammunition, and with how to disassemble, clean, reassemble, use, and shoot a weapon. With Allah's help, we will assist her in this matter in upcoming issues [of our magazine].

  "3) Physical preparation - It is important that the female Jihad warrior be in top physical condition, not overindulge in eating and drinking, and frequently carry out the elective fasts [i.e. fasts other than during Ramadan]. She must do exercises, and this is covered in a different chapter of our issue.

  "After the female Jihad warrior has reached this [level of] fitness, she must maintain it in order not to lose it, must refrain from remaining awake at night and from poor nutrition, physical fatigue, and the other factors that will cause her to lose what she has achieved.

  "Insufficient Awareness: Among certain sisters, it is possible to encounter a defective understanding of Jihad, according to which only men are responsible for waging Jihad, or Jihad means only bearing arms and direct conflict [with the enemy].

  "This perception is counter to the truth, as the Muslim woman is a female Jihad warrior always and everywhere. She is a female Jihad warrior who wages Jihad by means of funding Jihad; she wages Jihad by means of waiting for her Jihad warrior husband, and when she educates her children to that which Allah loves.

  "She wages Jihad when she bears arms to defend her family... She wages Jihad when she shows patience and fortitude with her husband who is waging Jihad for the sake of Allah. She wages Jihad when she supports Jihad and when she calls for Jihad in word, deed, belief, and prayer.

  "It is true that originally the commandment of Jihad was incumbent upon men and not women. The woman's Jihad is pilgrimage to Mecca, and pilgrimage to Mecca not during the Hajj. But when Jihad becomes a personal obligation, then the woman is summoned like a man, and need ask permission neither from her husband nor from her guardian, because she is obligated and none need to ask permission in order to carry out a commandment that everyone must carry out..."
No to Women on TV

  A section on current affairs, "The Feminine View," attacks the recent appearance of women presenters and correspondents on Saudi TV, suggesting it is akin to prostitution: "The striptease campaign still continues, and the so-called Saudi regime's Channel Two is still presenting women, [as it has] since it was founded. We have seen no vehement stand by our clerics..." The issue of Saudi women's rights in general is also scorned. The publication of the magazine is another sign of how radical Islamists have developed the Internet as an essential tool for information and propaganda.