Browsing by discipline "Religion, Conflict and Dialogue"

Since its establishment, ISIS has been applying the old principles of Islamic law, by killing anyone who disagrees with its ideology, by oppressing ethnic and religious minorities, by violating human rights, by treating women as objects and by using different types of abuse. ISIS legitimizes its actions by employing the Sharia Law to justify their acts. Members of ISIS believe that they are the only real Muslims while others are infidels. This thesis discusses the rules set by ISIS concerning the female enemy and the justification for these rules as described in their online magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah. By analysing specific articles concerning the female enemy, the thesis investigates ISIS policy towards the female enemy, which involves employing different justifications from Quran and the Sunnah of prophet Muhammad. Furthermore, the thesis examines how ISIS propaganda legitimizes the use of sexual violence against women as a war tactic. Qualitative content analysis and the deductive category assignment as used as techniques in analysing the primary material. The analysis clarifies how ISIS shapes the image of the enemy by gathering evidence from the Quran and Sunnah. ISIS propaganda categorizes the enemy depending on its own made criteria and division of the faith level. Therefore, enemies are labelled as Murtaddīn (apostates), Kuffar (unbelievers), Mushrikin (polytheists) and heretics. Through the examination of the primary material, it becomes obvious, that gender plays a significant role in ISIS’ construction of enemy traits. The study of the selected articles confirms that slavery is the prominent rule on the female enemy and it is reinforced by selective examples from Islam. The thesis uses five elements to measure the level of employing sexual violence against the female enemy. The elements are derived from a number of feminist authors who focus on sexual violence as a war tactic, including Joshua Goldstein (2001), Laura Sjoberg (2013), Elisabeth Wood (2014) and Sara Meger (2016). The elements are: (1) feminizing the enemy, (2) financing war expenses, (3) attracting and rewarding fighters, (4) employing military institutionalized rape and (4) defending women as an excuse for war. Examining the feminist approach for sexual violence as a war tactic exposes that ISIS’ re-establishment of slavery gives a license to rape by feminizing the concept of slavery and confines its meaning to females only. ISIS organizes and propagates slavery to rationalize rape. The analysis on the feminization of the enemy proves that enslaving women and children serves ISIS’ goal to damage the enemy; in particular, that the failure of the male fighters in protecting the land and the nation, brings discredit upon their government or administrations. Further investigation on the use of sexual violence to finance the war expenses confirms the association between slavery and financing terrorist organizations. The element of using sexual violence to attract and reward fighters suggests that ISIS nourishes the notion of rewarding its men by legitimizing the ancient idea of looting practice (Ghanimah) of the enemy’s property. According to ISIS, looting practice includes enslaving women and children. Utilizing the “defending our women” artefact as an excuse for war suggests that ISIS employs its propaganda taking advantage of the stereotypical notion of men as defenders and women and children as symbols of the land and the nation. ISIS calls Muslim men to Jihad in to take revenge for their victimized women whose honour has been abused by the enemy. Finally, the thesis proposes more studies that study ISIS fighters, especially members who have either witnessed or have committed rape against the female enemy in order to illuminate the topic and further analyse how the use of sexual violence is employed as a war tactic.

Peacebuilding today is increasingly guided by the inclusivity norm, which has resulted in a call for participation of a diversity of actors. While religious actors’ and women’s efforts are sought in peacebuilding, the bridging group of actors – women active in peacebuilding on religious basis – has largely remained invisible. The aim of this thesis is to explore if and how women and religion are recognized and described in recent research on the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. A second aim is to try to understand why women active in peacebuilding on religious basis remain invisible, especially with the recognized need for diversity in the peacebuilding field. In this thesis, quantitative and qualitative analyses are carried out on two sets of literature sources regarding the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. The literature sets included primary sources such as official United Nations documents and secondary sources with a broad, global research focus. The quantitative analysis indicates that the literature on religious peacebuilding more frequently delved into topics related to women and gender than the literature on women’s peacebuilding does on matters of faith and religion. The qualitative analysis reveals several, at times contradictory perspectives on women and religion. In literature on women’s peacebuilding, religion is portrayed as a hindrance to women’s rights, as a resource for peacebuilding, as extremism and as a reason for conflict. The literature on religious peacebuilding portrays women as suppressed by religion, as empowered by religion, as victims of violence, as religious peacebuilders and as equal to men. The qualitative analysis reveals that identity and agency are important questions when looking at intersections of women, religion and peacebuilding. Both literature sets tend to juxtapose religious identity and gender identity in attempting to determine which one is or should be of greater importance. Both fields could benefit from carrying out an intersectional analysis, creating new possibilities for action in different contexts. Regarding agency, especially the field of women’s peacebuilding could benefit from a broadened view of agency, where it would not only be equated with women resisting religious traditions and leadership. The field of religious peacebuilding, on the other hand, could benefit from broadening the view of women to include the role of agents and not just passive victims. Future research should address the different forms of agency exhibited by religious women engaged in peacebuilding and how religious and/or gender identity can enhance or hinder peacebuilding.