Former Christian Turned Muslim 'Tattooed Texas Girl' Overwhelmed With Marriage Proposals From ISIS Fighters
A former Christian-turned-Muslim woman has been overwhelmed with marriage proposals from ISIS fighters since her posts on social media went viral.
Jennifer Williams, who is a terrorism research assistant for the Brookings Institute's Center for Middle East Policy in Washington D.C., caught the attention of thousands of jihadists on Twitter last month when she shared a tweet about her conversion from Christianity to Islam.
The Texas native, who was raised a Southern Baptist, weighed in on a debate last month on Twitter about Muslims VS extremists after the hashtag #MuslimApologies began trending. She had absolutely no idea that her 140-character tweet would go viral and win her thousands of admirers.
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"Sorry I read the Quran to learn abt terrorist beliefs but ended up converting to Islam b/c of what it said. #MuslimApologies #sorrynotsorry," Williams tweeted on September 24.
At the time she had roughly 60 followers, but within two weeks of her tweet she gained more than 8,000 new followers. Williams shared her experience in an essay for Lawfare, in which she describes herself as an unlikely Muslim convert.
"If you were to pass me on the street, you would never suspect I'm a Muslim: I don't wear hijab. I have platinum blonde hair and blue eyes. And I am heavily tattooed. I grew up in Texas and was raised Southern Baptist. I use the word "y'all" a lot—and not ironically. But I am Muslim," she wrote.
Although Williams has openly denounced terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda, which she says have "twisted interpretations of Islam," thousands of terrorist supporters continue to admire her.
The "blonde tattooed Texas Girl" has received marriage proposals from "a healthy number" of ISIS supporters and many she says, reside in Saudi Arabia. A number of them have "the black flag of ISIS as their Twitter profile photos" while others have "pictures of themselves holding swords."
Williams described all of the above as "disturbing" and even began using the hashtag #No2ISIS" in an attempt to get through to her admirers, however, most continue to express interest in her.
Williams hopes all of the attention will soon fade and that if anything, her story encourages terrorists to read the Qu'ran further and get off social media.
