Unbelievable: The details of Islamic State's official 'Guidelines to Rape'.

TRIGGER WARNING: This article deals with accounts of sexual assault and violence. It may be distressing for some trauma survivors.

A new guide distributed amongst Islamic State fighters makes clear beyond doubt that the abuse of women and girls is sanctioned by the radical organisation.

The Daily Beast reports that the terrorist organisation’s “Research and Fatwa department” has issued a set of guidelines on exactly how Islamic State militants may treat the women, teenagers and girls they capture – and the rules are as distressing as you would imagine.

Now, reports that the Islamic State rapes, beats and trades women — and sexually enslaves women, and girls so young they haven’t even reached adolescence — are nothing new.

Gruesome details of the terrorist organisation’s imprisonment of 40 women in barred rooms in Iraq’s north were revealed by Italian newspaper La Repubblica earlier this year; that interview revealed that the women and girls as young as 13 were raped by IS fighters up to three times a day. Then last month, a chilling video emerged of what appeared to be IS fighters trading captured sex slaves, believed to be women from Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority, at a local market.

But this new guide takes the horror to a new level.

Issued on 3 December, the horrifying guidelines address issues like whether fighters may have sex with pre-pubescent girls, whether children may be separated from their mothers when the girls are sold, and whether women can be beaten.

The Middle East Media Research Institute, a nonprofit that monitors extremism, released the following extracts from the guidelines to the Daily Beast.

 ‘It is permissible to capture unbelieving women.’

“There is no dispute among the scholars that it is permissible to capture unbelieving women [who are characterized by] original unbelief [kufr asli], such as the kitabiyat [women from among the People of the Book, i.e. Jews and Christians] and polytheists.

“However, [the scholars] are disputed over [the issue of] capturing apostate women. The consensus leans toward forbidding it, though some people of knowledge think it permissible. We [ISIS] lean toward accepting the consensus…”

‘It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female captive.’

“It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female captive. Allah the almighty said: ‘[Successful are the believers] who guard their chastity, except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame [Quran 23:5-6]’…”

If she is a virgin…

“If she is a virgin, he [her master] can have intercourse with her immediately after taking possession of her. However, if she isn’t, her uterus must be purified [first]…”

‘It is permissible to beat the female slave.’

“It is permissible to beat the female slave as a [form of] darb ta’deeb [disciplinary beating], [but] it is forbidden to [use] darb al-takseer [literally, breaking beating], [darb] al-tashaffi [beating for the purpose of achieving gratification], or [darb] al-ta’dheeb [torture beating].

‘It is permissible to separate them if the children are grown and mature.’

“It is not permissible to separate a mother from her prepubescent children through buying, selling, or giving away [a captive or slave]. [But] it is permissible to separate them if the children are grown and mature.”

‘If she is not fit for intercourse, then it is enough to enjoy her without intercourse.’

“It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn’t reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse; however, if she is not fit for intercourse, then it is enough to enjoy her without intercourse.”

‘It is permissible to have two sisters.’

“It is permissible to have two sisters, a female slave and her aunt [her father’s sister], or a female slave and her aunt [from her mother’s side].

“But they cannot be together during intercourse, [and] whoever has intercourse with one of them cannot have intercourse with the other, due to the general [consensus] over the prohibition of this.”

“Further, it is forbidden to hit the face.”

You can read the Daily Beast article here.

If you or anyone you know has been the victim of a sexual assault. Help is available. Call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic, Family Violence Counselling Service 24/7 on  1800 737 732. Bravehearts are another organisation that help the victims of child sex abuse. You can find more information about them here.

You may also be interested in reading:

Girls are being raped and buried alive by Islamic State. So why aren’t we talking about it?

Chilling new footage shows ISIS fighters selling girls at the market.

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