Al Qaeda takes a page from Hamas playbook

From NYT (h/t Soccer Dad):

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia recently issued a fatwa telling its fighters to marry the widows of those who have fallen.

In Diyala Province east of Baghdad, the fatwa has produced about 70 marriages in a little more than three weeks, according to members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and their relatives and associates. They spoke to an Iraqi reporter conducting interviews for The New York Times.

While Diyala is one of the group’s last remaining strongholds, the mere fact that so many people would rush headlong into marriages to strangers seemed to reflect how far the American military and the Iraqi government remain from their goal of eliminating the organization.

Some members say they are taking third or fourth wives, but many new husbands are from among the group’s most dedicated fighters — confirmed bachelors previously wedded only to the work of killing invaders and their Iraqi allies.

After Cast Lead, Hamas actually offered $3000 to anyone who would marry a wife of a "martyr,", and at least some took advantage of this program - using these women as second or third wives - in a mass wedding last July.

Can't these women just go the old fashioned way and meet the mujaheed of their dreams from a Muslim dating site?