Hijra to “Islamic State” through the Female Narratives: The Case of Kazakhstan
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2021-39-3-XX-XX
EDN: NEBCOQ
Abstract
The article deals with factors and motives for the emigration of women, citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to the territory of the so-called “Islamic State" (IS). The idea is to represent the voices of women, who performed the Hijra to IS, through the analysis of their personal narratives. The study is based upon interviews with forty women who were returned from Syria and Iraq with the humanitarian operation Zhusan. The case of female emigration to the territory of the “Islamic State" is presented against the background of the process of formation of various types of female identity and problematic issues of the development of the Kazakhstani ummah. The compiled social profiles of women refute their stereotypical portrayal as people with a low level of secular education, low income and lack of agency. The dominant discourse in women’s narratives is a break with the previous secular life, the rejection of old religious patterns in favour of a new community - a female jamaat - based on the idea of “pure" Islam. The main factors of the Hijra were: identity crisis and religious quest; striving to find social support in a new community; romantic relationships; insufficient development of religious education for women; socio-economic deprivation; ISIS propaganda.
About the Authors
Yuliya Shapoval
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Madina Bekmaganbetova
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
References
1. Avishai, O. (2008) ““Doing Religion” in a Secular world. Women in Conservative Religions and the Question of Agency”, Gender & Society 22(4): 409–433.
2. Brubaker, R. (2012) “Religion and nationalism: four approaches”, Nation and Nationalism 18(1): 2–20.
3. Davydov, D.G. (2015) “The causes of youth extremism and ways to prevent it in the educational environment”, Russian Social Science Review 56(5): 51–64.
4. Deed, L. (2006) An Enchanted Modern. Gender and Public Piety in Shi\`I Lebanon. Prince ton Oxford, Princeton University Press.
5. de Leed, S. (2018) “Western Women Supporting IS/Daesh in Syria and Iraq — An Exploration of Their Motivations International”, International Annals of Criminology 56: 43–54.
6. Dosanova, G.M. (2010) Zhenskaia religioznostʹ i novye musulʹmanskie praktiki v Kazakhstane [Female religiousness and new Muslim practices in Kazakhstan]. Avtoreferat dissertatsii na soiskanie akademicheskoĭ stepeni doktora filosofii (PhD). Astana.
7. Erikson, E. (2006) Identichnostʹ: iunostʹ i krizis. [Identity: Youth and Crisis]. M.: Flinta: MPSI: Progress.
8. Izbairov, A.K. (2013) Islam v Kazakhstane. [Islam in Kazakhstan]. Almaty: TOO RPIK «Dәuіr».
9. Jamal, A. Jamaat-e-Islami (2013) Women in Pakistan: Vanguard of a New Modernity? Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.
10. Kamarova, R.I. (2017) “Vzaimodeistvie etnicheskogo i religioznogo v sekuliarnom obshchestve: tataro-bashkirskie etnokulʹturnye tsentry v Kazakhstane” [The interaction of ethnic and religious aspects in secular society: Tatar and Bashkir ethnocultural centers in Kazakhstan], in Ėtnokulʹturnye tsentry Assamblei naroda Kazakhstana: vzaimodeistvie etnicheskogo i religioznogo v svetskom obshchestve, pp. 46–55. Astana: TOO «Master Po».
11. Karin, E. (2014) Soldaty dzhikhada: Mify i realʹnostʹ [Jihad Soldiers: Myths and Reality]. Almaty: Izdatelʹskii dom Vlastʹ.
12. Knelghat-Doost, H. (2017) “Women of the Chaliphate the Mechanism for Women`s Incorporation into the Islamic State”, Perspective on Terrorism 11(1): 17–25.
13. Lofland, J., Stark, R. (1965) “Becoming a World Saver: A Theory of Conversion to a Deviant Perspective”, American Sociological Review 30(6): 862–875.
14. Mahmood, S. (2012) Politics of Piety. The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
15. Oishybaev K.B., Ә.S. Қaĭdarova, Kamarova R.I., Oryntai A.O., Burova E.E., Zhakiianov T.Zh. (2019) Analiticheskii otchet o problemakh v musulʹmanskoi umme, v tom chisle v deiatelʹnosti DUMK [Analytical report on the problems of Muslim ummah including in Muslim Spiritual Administration of Republic of Kazakhstan`s activity]. Nұr Sұltan: «Rukhani zhanғyru» қazaқstandyқ қoғamdyқ damu instituty KEAҚ.
16. Privratsky, B.G. (2001) Muslim Turkestan. Kazak Religion and Collective Memory. Richmond Surrey: Curzon Press.
17. Rafiq, H., Malik, N. (2015) Calliphettes: Women and the Appeal of Islamic State. Quilliam.
18. Roy, O. (2017) Jihad and Death. The Global Appeal of Islamic State. London: Hurst & Company.
19. Saltman E.M., Smith, M. (2015) “Till Martyrdom Do Us Part”. Gender and ISIS Phenomenon. Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
20. Spencer, A.N. (2016) “The Hidden Face of Terrorism: An Analysis of the Women in Islamic State”, Journal of Strategic Security 9(3): 74–98.
21. Syshchenko, T. (2018) “ZHenskie kluby pri mecheti͡akh kak forma raboty s zhenskim dzhamaatom” [Female’s clubs at mosques as a form of the work with female’s jamaat], in G.Nurbaeva (ed.) Rolʹ zhenskikh organizatsiĭ v dukhovno-nravstvennom vospitanii molodezhi i v formirovanii immuniteta k radikalʹnoi religioznoĭ ideologii, pp. 60–61. Astana: «Dәme» baspasy.
22. Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan «O religioznoi deiatelʹnosti i religioznykh ob”edineniiakh» [Law of Republic of Kazakhstan “On religious activity and religious associations”] (2013). Almaty: IURIST.
Review
For citations:
Shapoval Yu., Bekmaganbetova M. Hijra to “Islamic State” through the Female Narratives: The Case of Kazakhstan. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2021;39(3):289-315. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2021-39-3-XX-XX. EDN: NEBCOQ
Views:
1
Email this article 