Marry a martyr: Twitter's jihadi matchmaker

Jihad Matchmaker encourages both men and women to send a direct message with their background, status and location, but no pictures.

By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN
Jihad Matchmaker (photo credit: SOCIAL MEDIA)
Jihad Matchmaker
(photo credit: SOCIAL MEDIA)
A new English-language Twitter account is trying to marry off women to jihadis, or Islamic holy warriors, in the Islamic-State-occupied parts of Syria. 
The user, called Jihad Matchmaker, calls on men and women to send a direct message including their background, status and location, but requests not to send pictures. The account has also not verified that any matches were made.
The user has posted several tweets and retweets encouraging people to fast as a way to find their match and to "protect you from the hellfire and prevent you from sins."
The account denies any affiliation to Islamic State, but uses the same Islamic State imagery, such as a picture of lions retweeted from @babyanimals. Lions are often used as a symbol of Islamic State fighters.
The first tweet was posted on September 4, saying  "Bismillah [In the name of God]! Jihad Matchmaker. The account aimed at brothers and sisters living in Syria, helping them to find their future halal [permissible] spouse."
Another post, from September 8, says "Keep it halal and get married: Picture all the little mujahideen [extreme Islamic militants] running around.. Prophet s.w would be proud :)".
As of September 17, there were 130 followers, 47 of whom only joined in the five days prior.
The account comes amid reports of foreigners from around the world running away to Syria after becoming influenced by extreme Islamic streams. Men become violent militants, while women are quickly married off to fighters.
As a sign of the commonality of death among the jihadis in Syria, which Jihad Matchmaker and Islamic State members refers to as Sham, the account tweeted: "Sisters who have been widowed, we do not devalue infact [sic.] you are expensive in our eyes... inshaAllah [God willing] victory is near."