The Al-Qaeda feminist movement
posted at 9:30 am on June 1, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
The latest from Cairo and the Middle East about violent jihad proves that women around the world have to fight for equality — even the right to be as looney as the men. Women now demand that al-Qaeda change their “hiring” policies to allow for female jihadists. AQ #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri has thus far stuck to his guns publicly, telling Muslim women to have babies and shut the heck up, but the network’s use of women for recent suicide attacks belies his inclusive heart:
Muslim extremist women are challenging al Qaeda’s refusal to include — or at least acknowledge — women in its ranks, in an emotional debate that gives rare insight into the gender conflicts lurking beneath one of the strictest strains of Islam.
In response to a female questioner, al Qaeda No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said in April that the terrorist group does not have women. A woman’s role, he said on the Internet audio recording, is limited to caring for the homes and children of al Qaeda fighters.
His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists. The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al Qaeda.
There is more than one strain of the absurd in all of this. Women now argue for the right to be used like Kleenex for widespread murder, which hardly sounds very liberating In contrast, barefoot and pregnant sounds downright enlightened. And if these women want liberation, they are unlikely to find it in one of the most misogynistic versions of Islam in the world, a religion not known worldwide for its celebration of equality among the sexes in any form.
Even Zawahiri’s response to the questions shows how culturally disjointed this demand is:
“I say to you … (I have) tasted the bitterness of American brutality: my favorite wife’s chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling,” he wrote in a 2005 letter.
I wonder how long the rest of his wives had to hear about the tragedy of losing his favorite wife in an attack brought on by his group’s terrorist attack against the US on 9/11.
If Arab women want liberation, they are unlikely to find it in the radical Islamist movement. Volunteering for suicide missions will only have the effect of strengthening their oppression, not of liberating them in any sense except escaping it through death. Maybe they see that as their only option.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Progress.
Et tu Brute on June 1, 2008 at 9:44 AM
If I had to have children and raise them to hate and to die in jihad, I’d probably want to commit suicide as well.
Sad.
bridgetown on June 1, 2008 at 9:47 AM
Zawahiri misunderstood them, saying “we already have blow up dolls in our caves here.”
Patrick S on June 1, 2008 at 9:48 AM
The sheep and camels don’t get all uppity like this. Don’t the women understand their role as livestock?
trubble on June 1, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Eh. Remember the young woman with children who was seduced by her husband’s friend? The husband and friend then told her that the only way she could regain her honor was to become a suicide bomber which she did.
Blake on June 1, 2008 at 9:54 AM
yes, believe it or not, Al-Qaeda has its own ‘Feminist Movement’ and it’s called:
“Qaeda Organization For Women”
or Q O W.
Members of Al-Qaeda ‘Feminist Movement’ are all bearded men.
Indy Conservative on June 1, 2008 at 9:59 AM
A female friend of mine has complains that guys online are always asking for her pix. I sent her a copy of the photo accompanying this story for her to use. That should give the guys a hint.
Blake on June 1, 2008 at 9:59 AM
Ah, those sweet memories of the domestic pleasures of matrimony.
Cicero43 on June 1, 2008 at 10:06 AM
If I was a less-than-favorite wife, I’d probably want to commit suicide as well.
jgapinoy on June 1, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Indeed, they do see that as their only option. Leaving Islam itself probably doesn’t even cross their minds.
Islam dooms its followers not only to hell after earth, but also hell on it. Most of these women will find no hope for good lives.
Grafted on June 1, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Better dead than wed… to a theocratic maniac.
Suicide is the only individual freedom Muslim women have from Islam if they are too afraid to face the death threats for becoming an apostate.
Doing it “for Islam” seems like a massive and twisted rationalization to “save the family honor”.
Nothing but contortions from this “religion”, spiritually, morally, emotionally and intellectually.
The Aztecs ripped your heart out only literally.
Islam does it in all ways.
profitsbeard on June 1, 2008 at 10:39 AM
A real selling point for the cult of Islam, that the right to blow yourself up is a lofty goal that should be cherished.
“Crusader blood is red, and the same for a Jew,
If you can explode for Mohammad,
A woman can too.”
Hening on June 1, 2008 at 10:49 AM
It is always too easy to forget, or not consider, that these people really believe this nonsense just as firmly as a zealous bible thumper believes his doctrine. The challenge is how to get them to abandon their faith in favor of something less dangerous. It may be too much to hope for that these victims of religion learn to ignore the basic tenets of their cult like the faithful of many a religion have done in the past and present (ex. most Catholics on birth control and many on abortion), but until radical Islam is stamped out. as well as any risk of it resurfacing, the danger will remain.
Annar on June 1, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Where is N.O.W. when you need them?
Maxx on June 1, 2008 at 10:54 AM
That bad old glass ceiling, who knew that it extended all the way over into the Middle East?
Maxx on June 1, 2008 at 10:57 AM
This remark is damning with faint praise. It seems to be evidence of the sort of tin ear that I think must tend to cause many men’s lines to die out in our time. In former times, when women could not easily avoid becoming pregnant if they had sex, it must have sufficed for the continuation of a man’s line that he be able frequently, by whatever means, to persuade a woman to have sex with him. Now his line will thrive only if a woman is persuaded to become pregnant by him and remain so, and if his persuasion works again and again.
This order seems all too likely to be destroyed by colonial Islam before it has time to complete its work. However, if it were to remain in place for many generations, it seems it would issue into a race of men with fine instincts (and other attributes) for persuading women to bear their children in large numbers. As I imagine such a product of sexual selection under these circumstances, he would instinctively flinch from such constructions as, “In contrast, barefoot and pregnant sounds downright enlightened.” He would persuasively maintain and probably sincerely believe that, “Where I’m involved, being barefoot and pregnant becomes idyllic.”
Kralizec on June 1, 2008 at 11:01 AM
On the other hand, that’s downright funny.
Kralizec on June 1, 2008 at 11:04 AM
’splodey dopettes?
wccawa on June 1, 2008 at 11:08 AM
A woman’s role … is limited to caring for the homes and children of al Qaeda fighters.
And making little future terrorist who will die for the False Prophet. Oh, what an honor it is to push a human bomb out of your womb instead of a gift from God for you to LOVE.
His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists.
Good, let ‘em do it, just make sure they do t BEFORE they have any kids! Hopefully they’ll only blow THEMSELVES up. I wonder where N.O.W. stands on this issue?
The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al Qaeda.
A sure sign of desperation.
Tony737 on June 1, 2008 at 11:09 AM
That picture is disturbing…
AlexB on June 1, 2008 at 11:29 AM
She was the one with the least chest hair.
morganfrost on June 1, 2008 at 11:43 AM
With a face like that, I’d be pissed and wearing a suicide pack too. Allah made sure she was born at the very top of the ugly tree, and hit every single branch on the way down. She looks fifty, is probably 28 years old, and I’d bet my bottom Dinar she’s still a virgin. Glad I’m an American.
adamsmith on June 1, 2008 at 11:47 AM
adamsmith on June 1, 2008 at 11:47 AM
That comment makes me embarrased that you are an American.
bridgetown on June 1, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Need them ? ? Hell they may endorse them. As wacky as some
of these groups are. . . Who knows ? ? ?
Texyank on June 1, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Well, she’s a looker, you gotta giver her that.
bloggless on June 1, 2008 at 6:33 PM
hey…isn’t that gov. david paterson under that veil?
dont taze me bro on June 1, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Lady suffragette…fighting for the right to
votedetonate.dont taze me bro on June 1, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Just kill em all and lets be done with it already.
Viper1 on June 1, 2008 at 7:50 PM
Viper1 on June 1, 2008 at 7:50 PM
LOL
bridgetown on June 1, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Poster child for the full burqua?
awake on June 1, 2008 at 10:39 PM
There’s a joke here somewhere about a glass ceiling and concrete ceiling….I just can’t quite seem to give life to it.
Anyone?
webproze on June 2, 2008 at 8:14 AM