The “Islamic State” (is) as Proponent of Neo-ahl ḥadīth Manhaj on Gender Related Issues

Abstract

It is the aim of this article to examine several gender related practices considered religiously normative by the is and deconstruct the religious justifications behind them. In the analysis I include the practices pertaining to the all-pervasive nature of gender segregation, obligatory nature of the face-veil (niqāb) and the institution of concubinage through means of enslavement of ‘pagan’ female war captives. In this context I will argue that from interpretational methodology point of view, the is’ stance on gender under discussion are identical with the neo-ahl ḥadīth approach to interpretation (manhāj) of the Qurʾān and Sunna as advocated by major contemporary Saudi Arabian scholars such as Al-Albānī (d. 1999), A. Bin Bāz (d. 1999), M. Al-ʿUthaymīn (d. 2001), Ṣ. al-Fawzān (b. 1933), M. Ṣ. Al-Munajjid (b. 1960), Ibn Jibrīn (d. 2014) and H.R. Al-Madhkhalī (b. 1931). I also briefly note that in many ways the broader Sunnī traditionalist approach as exemplified in “Open-letter to Baghdādī Document” which aims to refute is interpretation of the normative texts, shares many hermeneutically critical presuppositions, and therefor legal determinations, with that of the neo-ahl ḥadīth in relation to the gender issues under discussion.