As terrorist attacks attributed to Islamic fundamentalism here and there around the globe are growing multiple and recurrent, the word ‘jihad’ has become one of the most polemic, unstable and promoted concepts in the humanities, mainly after the 9/11 and the 7/7 attacks. An unprecedented attention is now given to journeys of fighting for the sacred, particularly after news have revealed that many European and American young people have joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Levantine, accronomyzed as ISIL or ISIS or even DAESH. Although a lot of biased representations of the terrorist group have been favored by most, if not all, Western media which in most cases make a connection between this terrorist organization and Islam as a religion, little research has been conducted on the motives, the sponsors and the contradictory behavior of the group in relation to Islam as a religion, and Arabism as a cultural entity. Moreover, very little attention has been given to women of ISIL jihadis who come from different parts of the world and are of paramount importance in the spread of the thread in the region, and in the world. This special issue is dedicated to a variety of explorations which range from gender studies, to geopolitics, to theology and literature. Original research papers are solicited in any area related to the unearthing of facts and realities of the so-called ISIS and the way this global terror should be investigated in the humanities. Special interest is in papers aiming at deciphering the mysteries of women of DAESH who might be manipulating armies from within their dark invisible spaces.

Aims and Scope:

1. The relationship between Islamic faith and Global jihad
2. Women (dis) empowered by their status inside the ISIS organization
3. What threat the ISIS has on the MENA region and on neighboring countries
4. The modern conceptualization of the word jihad
5. Aspects of defining and re-conceptualizing the word terrorism
6. Is the ISIS group homophobic, islamophobic, arabo-phobic or misogynist
7. The role of female poets, who have joined the ISIS, in promoting more killing and more murder in the region
8. The literature of and on Jihad as a new trend of postmodern art
9. Why ISIS destroys/ed universal heritage and ancient sites in Iraq and Syria
10. Is ISIS a political, religious or barbaric chaotic organization