You’ve come a long way, baby: ‘Jihad’ magazine for women on web.

Notice the bizarre bland tone of this BBC article, conveying not even a hint of disapproval. The only judgment the Beeb can summon up is that “some” of the articles “take a somewhat patronising attitude.”

Radical Islamists have launched a new magazine publication on the internet especially for women. The aim of the magazine is to show women how to reconcile the apparent contradiction of fighting jihad while maintaining family life.

The magazine is called Al-Khansa, after a famous Arab woman poet in the early days of Islam, who wrote eulogies to male relatives who had died in battle.

The magazine says it is published by an organisation called “The Women’s Media Bureau in the Arabian Peninsula”. And it claims that the former leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin - who was killed by Saudi security forces in June - was one of its founders.

Al-Khansa also appears to be linked to the most well-known jihadist outlet on the internet, Sawt al-Jihad - or Voice of Jihad. The first edition of the magazine uses fierce language similar to that 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.” …

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.

Some [of the articles] 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. A section on current affairs also devotes some space to an attack on the recent development of having women presenters on Saudi TV, suggesting it is a kind of prostitution.