the Art of Resistance in Islam

271 Pages·2022·5.124 MB·English

by  Yafa Shanneik

The Art of Resistance in Islam
Basedonfirst-handethnographicinsightsintoShi‘ireligiousgroupsin
theMiddleEastandEurope,thisbookexamineswomen’sresistanceto
stateaswellascommunalandgenderpowerstructures.Itoffersanew
transnationalapproachtounderstandinggenderagencywithincontem-
poraryIslamicmovementsexpressedthroughlanguage,ritualpractices,
dramatic performances, posters, and banners. By looking at the aes-
thetic performance of the political on the female body through Shi‘i
ritual practices – an aspect that has previously been ignored instudies
onwomen’sactsofresistance–YafaShanneikshowshowwomenplaya
central role in redefining sectarian and gender power relations in the
MiddleEastandtheEuropeandiaspora.
Yafa Shanneik is a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Department of
Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham. Her research
focuses on the agency and authority of women in Shi‘i and Sunni
Muslim communities in the Middle East and their transnational links
toEurope. Shewasawarded threeBritishAcademy grantstoexamine
understandings of gender relations and women’s resistance to patri-
archal gender norms among Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the Middle
EastandEurope.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge Middle East Studies
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CharlesTripp(generaleditor)
JuliaClancy-Smith
F.GregoryGause
YezidSayigh
AviShlaim
JudithE.Tucker
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The Art of Resistance in Islam
The Performance of Politics among Shiʿi Women
in the Middle East and Beyond
Yafa Shanneik
UniversityofBirmingham
Published online by Cambridge University Press
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781316516492
DOI:10.1017/9781009030335
©YafaShanneik2022
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Contents
Listof Figures page vii
Preface ix
Noteon Transliteration xiv
Introduction 1
0.1 Inner-ShiʿiCommunalPowerDynamicsandtheFigure
ofFatima 2
0.2 ScopeoftheBook 4
0.3 ThePoliticsofOurSelves 9
0.4 PerformancesasaSensorializedPoliticalSociality 18
0.5 NewApproachestotheStudyofMuslimWomen’s
ResistanceMovements 26
0.6 OverviewofChapters 30
1 Trajectories ofShiʿis in the Gulfand Their Presence
in Europe 35
1.1 ArabShiʿisintheGulf 36
1.2 Kuwait 39
1.3 Bahrain 43
1.4 ShiʿisinEurope 52
1.5 TransnationalShiraziNetwork 58
1.6 Conclusion 61
2 TheRites ofMourning within ShiʿiIslam 65
2.1 TheStructureofaMajlis 68
2.2 TheReligious,Political,andSocialDimensionsofRituals 72
2.3 Women’sRoleinShiʿiCommemorationPractices 76
2.4 VowingforIntercession 82
2.5 Conclusion 93
3 Performing the Sacred: Emotions, the Body,and Visuality 96
3.1 TheRitualofTashābīh 97
3.2 TashābīhinWomen-OnlyMajālis 98
3.3 Performingthrough“SensoryCultures” 99
3.4 Tashābīh:PoliticalPerformativity 105
3.5 Gurīz:TheArtofLinking 117
3.6 Conclusion 125
v
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vi Contents
4 Aestheticization ofPolitics: TheCase ofTatbīr 128
_
4.1 ThePoliticalandReligiousDimensionofTatbīr 133
_
4.2 GenderDynamicsaroundTatbīr 135
_
4.3 TatbīrContested 138
_
4.4 TatbīrasaFormofWomen’sReligiousEmpowerment 143
_
4.5 TheAestheticizationofShiʿiPolitics 147
4.6 Conclusion 151
5 Fatima’sApparition: PowerRelations within Female
Ritual Spaces 153
5.1 TheImportanceofFatima 156
5.2 Apparitions 158
5.3 ApparitionswithinShiʿiIslam:ẒuhūrFatima 160
5.4 MaterializationsofFatima 163
5.5 Fatima’sApparitionasaMediumforChange 166
5.6 Conclusion 173
6 ThePowerof the Word: ThePoliticization ofLanguage 176
6.1 ThePoliticizationofPoetry 178
6.2 ThePoliticizationofGenderIdentitythroughLanguage 182
6.3 ThePoliticizationofSectarianConflictsthrough
thePerformativityofPoetry 187
6.4 Posters,Banners,andGraffiti 194
6.5 Conclusion 205
7 Conclusion 208
7.1 Agency,Resistance,andPain 208
7.2 PowerandResistance 211
7.3 NewReligiousMovementsandAestheticFormations 214
Bibliography 219
Index 242
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Figures
1.1 Distribution ofShiʿis and Sunnisin the
Middle East page 37
1.2 Acemetery in which anumber ofthe Bahrain victims
ofthe 2011 uprisingsare buried (Bahrain 2015) 47
1.3 Exampleof apartially besieged village border
(Bahrain 2015) 49
2.1 Shiʿi processionin London (2014) 67
2.2 Majlisin London (2014) 68
2.3 Majlisin Kuwait (2015) 69
2.4 Procession, “Hussein made selfless stand for social justice”
(London2018) 76
2.5 Sufra in London (2014) 83
2.6 Sufra in Bahrain (2015) 84
2.7 Asufra withthe pot ofpudding(London 2014) 86
2.8 Theopenpot of pudding (London2014) 87
2.9 Sufra in London (2014) 90
2.10 Bahraini-style sufra in London 91
3.1 Performance ofthe battle at Karbala (Kuwait 2015) 99
3.2 Performance ofthe killing ofImam Husayn’sson
(London2014) 100
3.3 Women’s theatricalperformances in Kuwait (2015) 103
3.4 The Weddingof Qasim and Fatima (Kuwait2015) 106
3.5 Wedding gifts given to the couplein the majlis
(Kuwait 2015) 108
3.6 Preparation of the coal forthe ritual (Kuwait2015) 111
3.7 Setting up the placewherethe hot coals will be placed
(Kuwait 2015) 113
4.1 Entrance of atatbīrtent in aShirazi-ledhusayniyya
_ _
(London2014) 129
4.2 Theinterior female space ofahusayniyya where tatbīr
_ _
is performed (London2014) 130
vii
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viii ListofFigures
5.1 Fatima’s tent (closed) in oneofthe majālisin Kuwait
withFatima’s hand on the top (2015) 163
5.2 Fatima’s open tentin one ofthe majālis in London
withFatima’s hand on the top (2014) 164
6.1 “Thechildren ofAdamshould succumb to the inevitability
of death like the necklace that surrounds agirl’sneck”
(Bahrain 2015) 196
6.2 “Oh Allah, you know that it was not that we have been
competing for authorityor seeking anything out ofthis
ephemeral life. But we have been striving tosaveyour religion
and to establish reformsin your country so that the oppressed
feelsafe, fulfill their duties and abide byyour judgments”
(Bahrain 2015) 199
6.3 “Betrayal is an old characteristic ofyours and has become
part ofyour being” (Bahrain2015) 201
6.4 “Thepeople want the fall ofthe regime”(Bahrain 2015) 203
6.5 Entirevillage borders covered withShiʿigraffitipainted
over bythe government (Bahrain 2015) 204
6.6 Shiʿigraffitiand postersofmartyrs are painted over
(Bahrain 2015) 206
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Preface
“She is a Shiʿi in her heart,” said a mullāya once to another woman at a
religiousgathering(majlis,pl.majālis)inLondonwhoaskedmewhether
I am a Shiʿi. Those of us who spend a lot of time doing research in the
field know exactly what challenges we might face, on the one hand in
presentingourselves,andontheotherinhowweareperceived.Thiswas
also true when I was interrogated for hours at the airport during one of
my research trips in the Gulf. Various officers insisted that I was a
Lebanese Shiʿi despite my numerous explanations that I am not.
Whetheramong officials conducting countries’ border checks or among
Shiʿi communities I visited,I was always seen in the way people wanted
to see me.
There is, however, no doubt that my Palestinian background contrib-
utedtothewaypeopleperceivedandtreatedme.WhetherinEuropeor
in the Middle East, Shiʿis I talked to very often made a comparison
between the Shiʿi and the Palestinian political struggle, self-sacrifices,
and displacement. As a second-generation migrant who grew up in
Europe,itwasverydifficultformetoimaginewhatitisreallyliketolive
under threat, violence, and oppression. When I started to conduct
research among Muslim women’s communities in the Republic of
Ireland, I was initially interested in what I thought were the challenges
oflivingasMuslimsinEurope.Ithereforepreparedmysemi-structured
interviews around issues I thought were important for Muslim women,
such as discrimination and restrictions on religious expression in the
public sphere. Once I had visited the Shiʿi community in Dublin in
2009, however, I realized that these women had different challenges. It
was during the research I conducted among this community that
IdevelopedmyinterestinthetransnationalmobilizationofShiʿiwomen
through religious practices, ideas,materials,and images.
The more I participated in Shiʿi religious ritual practices, the better
I was ableto understand theirpainof loss and displacement. Still at the
heart of militant sectarian conflict in Iraq, Shiʿi women I met in Dublin
werelessconcernedaboutwhethertheymightfacediscriminationinthe
ix
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030335.001 Published online by Cambridge University Press