By Mohamed Mahmoud
A new manifesto on women issued by the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) which sets out guidelines governing their life and role in Islam has been roundly rejected by religious scholars and the Egyptian public.
The al-Khansaa Brigade , an all-female wing of ISIL in Syria, issued the 10,000 word manifesto in Arabic last month.
The document, titled, “Women in the Islamic State: Manifesto and Case Study”, has been translated and analysed by Charlie Winter, a researcher on jihadism in Syria and Iraq at Quilliam, a British counter-extremism foundation.
According to the manifesto, which stresses women’s role as wives, mothers and housewives, it is considered “legitimate” for girls to be married between the ages of 9 and 17.
“The fundamental function of a woman is to stay at home with her husband and children, but [she] could leave the house to serve the community under exceptional circumstances, such as jihad in the absence of men, or to study religion,” it states.
A woman can get an education, the document says, but the curricula must focus on Islamic studies, the Qur’an, the Arabic language, cooking and sewing and other skills that prepare her for the role of wife and mother.
A woman’s movements also are heavily restricted and she is prohibited from traveling for any reason, the document says, and she must remember at all times that she comes second to a man.
“No matter what she does, she will not be able to prove that she is more intelligent and skilled than a man,” the document says.
“Women who go out to work acquire corrupt ideas and incorrect beliefs rather than religion,” the manifesto continues, noting that the model used by “infidels” failed the moment women were liberated.
ISIL disapproves of the Muslim community’s preoccupation “with trying to unravel the secrets of nature and reaching the pinnacle of architectural sophistication”, the manifesto adds, suggesting that “instead, it should focus on the application of sharia and spreading Islam”.
Manifesto bears ‘no relation to Islam’
Ibrahim Negm, adviser to Egypt’s Grand Mufti , told Al-Shorfa that ISIL’s leaders and supporters ” abuse women and exploit them to the worst degree to achieve lowly purposes and objectives that bear no relation whatsoever to Islam”.
The group’s violations and transgressions against women “have no connection to any religion whatsoever”, he said. “These barbaric acts and violations existed before Islam, until Islam came and prohibited them.”
“These takfiri groups operate on the principle of abolishing others of different opinions, religion or gender, which confirms how far removed these organisations are from the teachings and principles of Islam which brought equality to women,” Negm said.
ISIL has expanded its exploitation of women, now using them to help enlist new recruits, and has turned women into “prisoners of war and sex slaves sold to the highest bidder”, Negm said.
Islam disavows the ideology of takfiri groups such as ISIL whose manifesto completely contradicts Islam, said Ahmed Omar Hashem, a member of Al-Azhar’s Council of Senior Scholars.
For example, he said, “sharia permits women to work within the regulatory rules governing [work], including the ethics that govern their profession with the stipulation that they do not conflict with the provisions of sharia”.
A woman works in order to ease the burdens of living on the members of her family, he said, and this originates in the Qur’an’s message that a woman is a man’s partner and has family obligations and household duties.
Al-Azhar University professor of philosophy and comparative jurisprudence Amna Noseir said that ISIL “falsifies and distorts religion”.
“Islam respects women and preserves their role in community-building and building the country,” she said, adding that in his final sermon, Prophet Mohammed enjoined men to care for women and safeguard their rights.
According to a 2014 poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre, ISIL’s ideology will find little support among the Egyptian public.
The poll indicated that 81% of Egyptians reject the ideology of extremist groups, and about 75% expressed concern that extremist ideas might undermine regional security.
‘A death sentence for all women’
“I cannot imagine my life without a job outside the house unless there is a need [for me] to take care of my children,” said Amira Abdel-Hakam, 28, who works for a private sector food company.
“Islam urges me to be pro-active in building my country, and to take care of my family by all means,” she said. “My work helps me do that.”
“Everyone at my workplace respects and appreciates me,” she said. “I was even [named] exemplary employee last year, and this is difficult for ISIL to understand because a woman to those groups is merely a body.”
“ISIL’s ideas are a myth and have no basis in reality or Islam whatsoever,” she added. “If Islam were so, it would have ended thousands of years ago.”
“ISIL’s manifesto for women is a death sentence for all women,” said Hanan Zaki, 43, who works in the public service sector.
Zaki was particularly scornful of the manifesto’s rulings on early marriage.
“How can a 12-year-old, or even a 15-year-old, take care of a nursing baby?” she said, adding that a mother is highly influential in a child’s life, and marriage at such an early age will produce children who lag behind their peers.
“My husband is a very devout Muslim, yet he has encouraged me to work since we got married more than 20 years ago,” Zaki said. “He also encouraged me to get a master’s degree in administrative sciences in order to get top positions at the ministry where I work.”
Her 19-year-old daughter wants to be an agricultural engineer, she added, yet that has not stopped her from memorising the Qur’an and studying sharia via courses offered by an Al-Azhar-affiliated centre.
“I think this will make her a wonderful Muslim mother and I am very proud of her,” Zaki said. “How can ISIL ask us to sacrifice this positive energy for mere ideas that have nothing to do with Islam?”
Suad Mohamed Amer, 72, a grandmother of 10, told Al-Shorfa she never imagined she would see Islam distorted in this way.
“Sharia gives women a role in all walks of life so she may serve her family and her country,” Amer said. “But treating women as something that must be silenced dates back to before Islam, to the Jahiliyyah eras.”
“God blessed me with the gift of grandchildren, both girls and boys, but we rely more on the girls because they are all highly educated and have a great sense of responsibility,” she said. “They are the ones who manage the family’s financial affairs.”
“I cannot imagine my life with them just sitting at home, ignorant, and there just to take care of the children,” she said.
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