Vincent J. Curtis
31 Aug 15
The New York Times
news service circulated a news report from Rukmini Callimachi that was picked
up and published by my hometown newspaper on 29 Aug 15. The article was entitled, “ISIS and the
theology of rape.”
The subheadline read, "The Islamic State claims the Qur'an allows them to sexually assault those who do not believe, and have enshrined the practice of rape in its core tenets."
Below are some
extracts:
“In the moments before he raped a 12-year-old girl, the
Islamic State fighter took time to explain that what he was about to do was not
a sin. Because the teenaged girl
practiced a religion other than Islam, the Qur’an not only gave him the right
to rape her, it condoned it, he insisted.”
“He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape
an unbeliever. He said that by raping
me he is drawing closer to God.”
“He kept telling me this is ibadah,” she said, using a term from Islamic scripture meaning
worship. He said that raping me is his
prayer to God. I said to him, ‘what you
are doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.’ And he said, ‘No, it’s allowed. It’s halal.’”
“For two months, F was held inside the Galaxy hall. ‘They laughed and jeered at us, saying, “You
are our sabaya.” I didn’t know what that word meant’, she
said. Later on, the local Islamic State
leader explained it meant slave.”
“[Cole Bunzel, a scholar of Islamic theology at Princeton
University] points to the corpus of Islamic jurisprudence, which continues into
the modern era and which he says includes detailed rules for the treatment of
slaves. “There is a great deal of
scripture that sanctions slavery….You can argue that it is no longer relevant
and has fallen into abeyance. ISIS would
argue that these institutions need to be revived, because that is what the Prophet
and his companions did.”
-30-
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