So many of us admire the courage of Malala Yousafzi and the miracle of her recovery. Here we see a young lady who wants the education that is her right to have as a citizen. I am confused about those who claim that Muslim women should have limited education. Islam is often presented as one of the earliest feminist religions for some of the earliest Islamic jurisprudence guaranteed women the right to full education if for no other reason than to prepare them to be the first teachers of men. Then there is the example of Khadijah, wife of the Prophet Mohammed. She is known for her international trading business. I am not sure how one justifies confining women when that practice seems to be the opposite of the lifestyle led by the first convert to Islam. However, I am still reading and searching for an answer. Until then, I do not understand why Malala Yousafzi should be limited in her education.
In Mali, approximately two years ago, a debate over changing women’s legal rights moved from discourse to legislation.
In patriarchal international political discourse, one discusses weapons and monopolies in Christian and Islamic nations.
When we gender the political frontier, as I illustrate in Matriarchy, Patriarchy and Imperial Security in Africa, we see an outbreak of patria impotestas in Malala’s neighborhood and in Mali. In both regions, ordinary men see prosperity all around them yet they are unable to feed their wives who are nursing babies and more men are unable to marry at all due to insufficient financial resources.
In Mali, Ansar al-Din claims to bring a solution for such desperate men. What they are doing is duplicating Ibn Tumart’s Almohad invasion of Almoravid territory. In this model, one claims that Islam demands that men usurp the education and wealth of women. This gendered revolution works like a proletariat uprising but it occurs at such a micro-level that it escapes the notice of many Western political analysts who just shrug it off to domestic violence. The ideology for Ibn Tumart’s revolution was inspired by intellectuals from Baghdad. While I may not be able to trace Ansar al-Dine’s ideology, I do wonder where the weapons are produced and if those weapons are purchased with newly liquid capital from rural Mali.
Malala Yousafzi’s neighborhood and rural Malian insurgencies are indeed connected. They are peripheral outposts in an 1300 year old form of imperial expansion that occurs at a micro-level beyond the lens of drones.
profmrobinson 