My Son, the Jihadist
Author(s):
BIRMINGHAM, England — I gripped the phone, trying to make out the words on the crackling line. There was a moment of silence before the voice at the other end spoke: “I’m sorry, but your son is dead.” It was the call I had feared for months. How was I going to tell Rasheed’s sisters that their brother, a fighter for the so-called Islamic State, had been killed in an airstrike somewhere on the Syria-Iraq border? How would I answer their questions? I had none myself. Nor any body to grieve over. All I wanted was to hold him for one last time and say goodbye…..