THE parents of the Scottish woman who travelled to Syria and married an Islamic State fighter have spoken publicly for the first time, revealing how their daughter told them she wanted to become a martyr.
Aqsa Mahmood, who left her family home in Glasgow last November, also said when asked to come home that she would see her parents "on the day of judgment".
The details were revealed after her parents, Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood, decided to speak in the hope of sending their daughter a direct plea to come home. They had issued a statement last week describing their horror that their daughter had become a "bedroom radical", saying it had torn the heart out of their family.
Her mother, Khalida, has now issued a direct plea to her daughter to come back home.
She said: "Aqsa - my dear daughter please come back, I'm missing you so much. Your brothers and sisters miss you a lot. My dearest daughter, in the name of Allah, please come home. I love you."
Aqsa Mahmood, 20, was educated at the private Craigholme School in Glasgow before going on to Glasgow Caledonian University and was described as a "very sweet, peaceful, intelligent child". Her father wept as he described how they were horrified she had become radicalised.
"She was the best daughter we could have and we don't know what happened to her, no," he said.
"We are a moderate Muslim family and it was a big shock for us."
Her mother said the family sensed something was not right the last day she saw Aqsa Mahmood, who said a lingering goodbye to her bedridden grandmother.
She said: "There was something about the way she said 'Khuda Hafiz' (God's Blessings) while taking leave that day, which made us all wonder.
"My husband even asked if everything was OK, and I said she is fine."
Her parents said she only went out with her sisters or family and she didn't even know what bus to take into Glasgow. But she travelled through Turkey to Aleppo in Syria last year and was reported missing to police.
Mahmood called her parents from the Turkish border before entering Syria to tell them of her intentions to join the radical movement.
When Muzaffar Mahmood asked her to come home, he said her one message was, "I will see you on the day of judgment".
"'I will take you to heaven, I will hold your hand'," he said. "That's what she said. 'I want to become a martyr.'"
Aqsa Mahmood is reported to have encouraged terrorist acts via a Twitter account under the name Umm Layth. Before the account was deleted, it was reported she had used it to praise the Boston marathon bombers and those responsible for the massacre at Fort Hood in Texas as well as the beheading of Drummer Lee Rigby in London. "Follow the examples of your brothers from Woolwich, Texas and Boston," she tweeted. "If you cannot make it to the battlefield, then bring the battlefield to yourself."
On Wednesday, her parents held a press conference, where a statement was read on their behalf.
It said: "As parents we would have liked for her to listen to us but we gave her everything possible in terms of love, freedom and education, and she chose the path which we could never approve of.
"All parents want to be proud of their children but sadly we now feel nothing but sorrow and shame for Aqsa."
They condemned her involvement with Islamic State, but added: "We still love her, fear for her life and would urge her to return home while she still can."
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