• Redeeming Slavery: The 'Islamic State' and the Quest for Islamic Morality

    Author(s):
    Mizan: Journal for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations (view group) , Kecia Ali
    Editor(s):
    Michael Pregill
    Date:
    2016
    Group(s):
    Mizan: Journal for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations
    Subject(s):
    Islam, Violence--Religious aspects, Slavery
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Islamic ethics, Islamic extremism, isis, Religion and violence, Apocalypticism
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/tf86-a521
    Abstract:
    Engaging texts produced by the so-called Islamic State and some of its Muslim opponents, particularly as they treat the enslavement and sexual use/abuse of female captives, this essay argues for a nuanced account of how actors invoke and claim tradition. The Islamic State’s capture, sale, and rape of Yazidi women and girls have garnered media attention. It has also generated attempts by IS to justify their deeds as religiously legitimate—not just permissible but actively good—a triumphalist reflection of the Islamic State’s authority, its enactment of a continuous Muslim legal tradition, and a proving ground for the moral improvement of its adherents. I assess the disparate ways IS presents enslavement in its English-language propaganda and its Arabic legal manuals and compare its appeals to authority and precedent with those of its Muslim opponents. Muslims confronted with IS’s actions and proclamations engage in disaffirmation, distancing, and denial, ranging from the rejection of IS’s claim to be Islamic to more sophisticated attempts to rebut its interpretation of sacred sources and historical precedent. Both IS and its Muslim opponents propose historically-grounded notions of legitimacy that affirm their actions as properly Islamic to a variety of audiences, Muslim and non-Muslim.
    Notes:
    This is a stable archival PDF of an open-access, peer-reviewed journal article originally published at www.mizanproject.org/journal/.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    Mizan Project (www.mizanproject.org/journal/)
    Pub. Date:
    September 2016
    Journal:
    Mizan: Journal for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations
    Volume:
    1
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    41 - 66
    ISSN:
    2472-5919
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

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