Bird of Jannah[1] (also known by the name Dr. Shams[2] or the nom de guerre Umm al-Baraa) is a doctor who left Malaysia in February 2014 and traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. She was notable for her Tumblr blog, "Diary Of A Muhajirah", which described her decision to travel to Syria, and her life once she'd arrived there.[1][2] She also had accounts on Twitter and Ask.fm.[3] Her social media posts attracted international attention.[4]
She has never been publicly named.
Diary of a Muhajirah
editThe information Bird of Jannah posted online indicates she was from Malaysia and of Indian and Pakistani heritage,[5] and was 26 years old when she arrived in Syria in February 2014.[3] She was a medical doctor and felt compelled to go to Syria to help in the civil war, due to her medical expertise.[6] Without the knowledge of her family, she flew to Turkey and crossed the Syrian border. In an answer to a question on Ask.fm, she said her parents "were quite upset at first" about her decision "but then they are very supportive and happy."[2]
She spent the first 20 days in a town in northern Syria in a house with other women. The women were brought to the city of Tabqa. There, a local emir found out Bird of Jannah was a doctor and sent a woman to speak to her. Through this woman, the emir offered her employment: "to work under Dawlah, and Dawlah will give me a house (to be used as a clinic) and provides all the equipment".[1]
Bird of Jannah said she declined because her Arabic was poor and she didn't feel equipped to practice as a doctor in a clinic. She said she could, however, work in primary care, diagnosing patients and referring them to the hospital. She and ISIL came to an agreement and she started working for them, giving vaccines to children and assessments to pregnant women.[1]
Bird of Jannah posted on her blog that after two months in Syria, she began to consider marriage, because "life without a Mahram is quite hard and it can cause fitnah."[3] She married Abu al Baraa, an ISIL militant from Morocco. She said she agreed to marry the man only a few minutes after meeting him and flipping up her niqab so he could see her face.[1] The couple did not share a common language, and downloaded dictionary apps to their phones to be able to communicate with one another. Eleven days after their wedding, Abu al Baraa told her he had to leave to go an operation with ISIL. Bird of Jannah said her husband told her, "I’m married to jihad before I’m married to you. Jihad is my first wife, and you're my second."[2][3]
Speaking about what it meant to marry a stranger and a mujahid, she said, "What does actually matter is – heart. When you love someone for the sake of Allah, He will ‘tie’ a knot between our hearts and make the attachment strong, regardless of the difference between two of you."[7] She acknowledged her husband's likely fate in the caption to one of her images: "Till Martyrdom Do Us Part."[5]
According to her blog posts, foreign fighters for ISIL were given free houses and did not have to pay for electricity or water, and monthly groceries were provided, as well as monthly allowances for married couples and children.[3] Bird of Jannah warned her female readers to join ISIL “only and only for the sake of Allah alone. If you think by coming here you will be always happy, you’re wrong".[8] She indicated she would be willing to help people interested in traveling to Syria if they contacted her over WhatsApp.[9]
In August 2014, Bird of Jannah announced she and Abu al Baraa were expecting their first child.[10] She took leave from her job early in her pregnancy due to a diagosis of hyperemesis gravidarum.[1] She wrote that she texted her husband, "Promise me you will wait until our baby’s birth … Promise me that you will stay alive?" and he responded, "In sha Allah."[5]
Fate under ISIL
editIn 2018, Ummu Atiyah Ahmad Zakuan reported in the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies that Abu Baraa had been killed and Bird of Jannah had last been known to be living in ISIL's Syrian capital of Raqqa with their son, serving the community without a salary.[4]
She last had contact with her family in Malaysia in 2017, and that contact ceased when the area around her house was bombed.[4]
See also
edit- Ifthekar Jaman — one of the first British men to travel to Syria and fight for ISIL
- Brides of the Islamic State
- Aqsa Mahmood – Scottish woman who joined ISIL (1993–2019)
- Sharmeena Begum – Missing British jihadist (born 1999)
- Zafirr Golamaully, an ISIL blogger from Mauritius
- University of Medical Sciences and Technology terrorist cell, a group of British-Sudanese students and recent graduates who joined ISIL
- Tareq Kamleh, an Australian pediatrician who joined ISIL
- Islamic State Health Service
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Diary of a Muhajirat". Archived from the original on June 1, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "'We shall meet in 'Jannah' - Malaysian woman reveals married life with ISIS militant". AWANI International. 2014-09-19. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "'Malaysian Isis member' shares Syrian experiences on social media". Yahoo News. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- 1 2 3 Ahmad Zakuan, Ummu Atiyah (2018-12-31). "Radicalization Of Women In Isis In Malaysia: Profiling, Causes And Roles". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies: 105–123. doi:10.22452/jati.sp2018no1.8.
- 1 2 3 Shubert, Atika (2015-05-29). "The women of ISIS: Who are they?". CNN. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ https://jati.um.edu.my/index.php/jati/article/download/15677/9418/31062
- ↑ "The Female Face of Jihadism: Part of a Joint Study by EUROMESCO". Euro-Mediterranean Women's Foundation. 2017-07-28. Archived from the original on 2025-07-14. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ SINGH, GAYETI (2014-09-18). "From The Diaries of Women Married to Islamic State Fighters: "I'm Making Pancakes.."". www.thecitizen.in. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
- ↑ Yasin, Nur Azlin Mohamed (2015). "Impact of ISIS' Online Campaign in Southeast Asia". Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses. 7 (4): 26–32. ISSN 2382-6444.
- ↑ "ISIS wife blogs on romance and 'martyrdom'". Al Arabiya English. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 2026-01-06.