The rescue of a Chibok girl from Boko Haram’s mass kidnapping in 2014 is a reminder of how dangerous radical Islam is, especially in a country such as Nigeria. Boko Haram is a Sunni terrorist organization based in Northeastern Nigeria, but is also active in neighboring states. The group looks to overthrow the Nigerian Government replacing it with Sharia law. Their name, Boko Haram, means “Western education is forbidden” and gives an idea as to why one of the group’s tactics involves abduction, especially of young girls. For Boko Haram it’s about keeping women uneducated, and at the mercy of Muslim men. Women are merely seen as property rather than partners in life. One possible reason why Boko Haram preys on women is because they are easy objects in a male-dominated culture. USA Today lists some of the stigmas women have to face after escaping the terror group:

Victims of sexual abuse are often described as “Boko Haram wives” who are “annoba,” carriers of the Boko Haram ideology, Ngarnnam said. He feared the victims might radicalize others.

“We can’t trust those returning from Boko Haram camps because we fear they have been indoctrinated,” Ngarnnam said. “We can’t allow them back, because they may attack us when we least expect it.”

Others fear that children born as a result of sexual abuse by the terror group carry “bad blood” that might lead them to become Islamic extremists when they grow up.

“Popular cultural beliefs about ‘bad blood’ and witchcraft, as well as the extent of the violence experienced by people at the hands of (Boko Haram) form the basis of this fear,” the report said.

However, there’s something deeper and more fundamental into why Boko Haram targets women. This stems from their understanding of women in Islamic law, which deduces women to being mere servants of males. Boko Haram views women as expendable even to the point of weapons of war (ex. women suicide bombers). A Unicef report reveals from January 2014 to February 2016, 75% of child suicide bombers were girls.

In inheritance law men are worth twice as much as women, Quran 4:11 states, “Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females…” Women are not coequals in marriage but accessories, Quran 4:3 proclaims, “And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four…” Muhammad said most of the “dwellers of Hell-fire” were women, and that women were “deficient in intelligence,” while also remarking about the “deficiency in her religion” in Bukhari 6:301. In regards to capturing women, even married women are fair game to Muslim conquerors, Quran 4:24 states, “And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess…” A Qur’an commentator named Maulana Bulandshahri elaborates on the practice of the spoils of war:

“During Jihad (religion war), many men and women become war captives. The Amirul Mu’minin [leader of the believers, or caliph — an office now vacant] has the choice of distributing them amongst the Mujahidin [warriors of jihad], in which event they will become the property of these Mujahidin. This enslavement is the penalty for disbelief (kufr).”

Most people find Boko Haram’s tactics such as kidnapping schoolgirls deplorable, and rightly so. However, these tactics should not be seen as random acts of violence but of a systematic outlook derived from Sharia law. In order to counter these terrorists, we must first deal with their ideology of jihadism.