04 December 2015

An immodest woman

The latest revelation about the husband-wife team who shot up San Bernardino on December 2 raises the question of who wore the pants in the family. The wife reportedly made a video in which she swore allegiance to the self-styled Islamic State, while no similar evidence has yet emerged for the husband, and since the husband, an American citizen, met her in Saudi Arabia, the current speculation is that she radicalized him. One of the most peculiar things about the latest fashion in jihad, at least to outside observers, is the attraction the IS or Daesh has for young women. We're used to thinking of Islam in general as demeaning to women because of the dress code strict observers insist upon and the underlying assumption that women in public inevitably tempt men sexually. Western or secular women who see difference as implicitly hierarchical tend to assume that an observant Muslim woman is a second-class citizen of the umma. There's evidence to the contrary throughout the Muslim world, from women in the Iranian legislature to Kurdish female militia fighting ISIS to mass murderers like the San Bernardino shooter. The dress code appeals to some women who hope it will keep them from being objectified sexually, judged by appearance, etc. To a Muslim, also, religiously mandated dress is often less the livery of subjection and servitude, as outsiders assume, than a uniform conferring identity and power. In a horrific way Islam in its extreme (and presumably misogynist) form empowered this woman. This should make clear that Islamic extremism in the 21st century is not about "going back to the seventh century," as many still assume.It has also gone beyond the point where we could say it's all about legitimate grievances that need to be addressed to quiet Muslim rage. It is all about power now, and if Muslims look to the first century after the Hegira for inspiration, it's because faith inspired the successors of Muhammad to conquer the Middle East and much of the world beyond. The problem with women like the shooter is that they think Islam is their only route to power or their only way to share in it. Worse, as the Shiite-Sunni struggles in the Muslim heartland show, the struggle for power among Muslims remains a zero-sum, win-or-die, rule-or-ruin game, and the Muslim struggle against the west and the rest is seen by many Muslims in similar terms. Meanwhile, this week's news that American women are now eligible for all combat units in the U.S. military, after the first women passed the Army Ranger tests earlier this year, suggests that those women who do see Islam as subjugation and second-class citizenship are acting on their beliefs and finding empowerment in uniform as well. Some of us like the idea of women warriors, be they Kurds, Americans or other, taking the fight to the slave-taking, slave-raping men of Daesh, but when they fight women as well everyone will have a better idea of what this struggle is really about.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or, perhaps, it has little to do with power. Perhaps the woman saw this as a perfect opportunity to become a martyr and escape a life of objectification, slavery or worse for a place in heaven. In which case it points out the dangers that religion holds for the civilized, educated world. The more desperate the ignorant and uneducated peasants of the world become, they more they turn to religion for relief, since the ONLY other choice is revolution which will cost many lives. I feel too many people underestimate the power religious belief has over the ignorant and "down-trodden".

Samuel Wilson said...

But with Islam today it looks like you get religion and revolution in one; jihadis definitely aren't turning to religion in order to avoid the physical risks that come with revolution. Of course, by most standards jihadism, salafism, takfirism, etc. are the opposite of revolutionary, but if revolution requires disregard for your own life and especially other peoples' lives it shouldn't surprise us that relatively backward people seem better at it.

Anonymous said...

Which is because the lie of religion is that by dying "for the cause" you are automatically given a guaranteed spot in heaven - especially if you manage to wipe out infidels in the process.

hobbyfan said...

The problem with that is, while these jihadis see this as martyrdom, in truth it is anything but.

Anonymous said...

That's the problem with all religions. They all make outrageous claims and none of them are expected to actually prove those claims.