Holt, M.C. 2020. Islam and Resistance in the Middle East: A Methodology of Muslim Struggle and the Impact on Women. in: Sadiki, L. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Middle East Politics Routledge.
| Chapter title | Islam and Resistance in the Middle East: A Methodology of Muslim Struggle and the Impact on Women |
|---|---|
| Authors | Holt, M.C. |
| Editors | Sadiki, L. |
| Abstract | Following the violent events of 11 September 2001 in the United States, ‘Islam’ increasingly came to be seen as a problematic category in western policy-making circles. From existing simply as a world religion with over a billion followers, it has been reconceptualized as a ‘terrorist’ ideology intent on challenging the dominance of the west. Under the banner of a global ‘war on terror’, western governments have engaged in what appears to many Muslims to be a concerted campaign against Islam itself’. Of particular relevance to this chapter, the ‘threat’ posed by Muslim men has become a rallying cry for the west to intervene to ‘save Muslim women’, as evidenced by the western invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. But these understandings are profoundly misplaced and run the risk of confusing acts of violence committed by Muslim groups and individuals with a larger framework of ‘Islamic resistance’ against various forms of neocolonial coercion, a resistance that is practiced by women as much as men. The chapter looks more closely at the phenomenon of resistance under the banner of Islam and considers why it is routinely dismissed as terrorism. It considers, in particular, the impact on Muslim women, focusing on women in Shi'i women in Lebanon and Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as cases studies. |
| Keywords | Islam |
| Islamic resistance | |
| terrorism | |
| Muslim women | |
| Lebanon | |
| Palestinian Territories | |
| women | |
| resistance | |
| Book title | Routledge Handbook of Middle East Politics |
| Year | 2020 |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 16 Apr 2020 |
| ISBN | 9781138047631 |
| File | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |