Watched on September 28 2018

"The State" (a four-part British drama serial), Episode 2

  • written by and directed by written and directed by Peter Kosminsky
  • The screenshots are from:
    The State episode 2 minute 29 and 18 seconds
    The State episode 2 minute 30
    The State episode 2 minute 47
    (consecutively)

Men’s side:
Jalal andd Ziyad have a conversation that the world is coming to an end and it is written in the hadith and some of the things that they predicted are happening.

“There are hadiths which say there is going to be a battle with the Roman army. And that some scholars think that means Turkey, and Turkey means NATO.”

In this episode, they show Jalal and Ziyad feeling lonely. Jalal calls his mom and tells her that he’s in Syria. Then suddenly, there is an attack in Sham (Damascus) on the fighters. We find out that that happened because the “enemy” was able to locate them through Jalal’s phone signal.

The men lose a fighter from their unit due to the attack.

Jalal tries to find out more about his brother and befriends Sayed.

Women’s side:
in this episode, we see that a woman cannot go out without mahram (a male guardian) according to the Hisbah, “if the travelling woman has her son with her, of competent, distinguished mind, then he can be considered a mahram for her.”

Shakira: it has to be a close relative with who you cannot legally have sex with.

Women cannot work - it is haram.

Finally as in the hospital there is a shortage of doctors, the IS man allows her to work.

The other tells Shakira that for the IS police in the hospital, the most important is the Sharia, not health, not medicine.

At the same time as the “enemy” bombed the fighters, there was also a direct bomb on the hospital where Shakira started working.

In the evening while talking to the house leader Umm Walid, Shakira proposes to use social media every in a café to convince the sisters in the UK, why it is important to come to Syria; in return to get Umm Walid’s written permission as her mahram. Umm Walid claims that only committed people do that sort of work; she would only be doing it so she could work in the hospital. But she ends up agreeing to the proposal.

In the café, Shakira, records herself on Webcam saying “sometimes I wonder what we’ve done to jihad. I think we’ve turned it into a fashion statement. We hold up our index fingers like we’re in some supercool club. Of course we are part of a really supercool club but we need to be careful we are not trivializing our din till jihad ends up just some fancy hand gestures, some white on black banners and AK-47s. Jihad is struggle. It’s dedication, honestly, selflessness, compassion, perseverance, battle. And we should ask ourselves, “are we properly honouring what the Mujahideen are giving up their lives for? Or are we just using scary symbols that make us feel we’re contributing to the fight? More sisters who come from the land of kafir, when they arrive here, they expect perfection. And the truth is, Dawla-t-al-Islam isn’t perfect. It’s a new state and it has its problems. But instead of finding fault why not put your efforts towards improving it? We are the first generation to ever migrate to this blessed land and that means that we will never enjoy the fruits of it in this Dunya (world). But don’t forget, it’s not the hardship that matters. It’s the final reward of Allah. The Islamic State is the state of the Muslims and we are responsible for making it grow and flourish. So if we aren’t aiding it who are we to criticize who are working tirelessly to improve it?