Women's religious beliefs and the decision to join the Islamic State

The impact that religion plays on individuals’ decision to take up arms for a violent group has been strongly debated. On one side are those who argue that religious beliefs are not enough to lead to violence, and that other contextualising factors must be looked at (Schuurman, 2021). On the other are those who believe that religiosity is an essential motivator in some forms of political violence and must not be ignored (Dawson, 2018). In the case of the Islamic State, though factors such as socioeconomics (Bergema and van San, 2019) and social networks (Lyall, 2017) have been found to be relevant, their religion plays an important role in their decision-making process. Western men who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS’ state-building project were more likely to highlight positive sentiments they associated with Islam rather than negative sentiments around problems at home (Dawson and Amarasingam, 2017). Women IS members also cited problems with Islamophobic legislation in their home countries as a core motivator (Loken and Zelenz, 2017), a situation which the IS referenced in their propaganda (Ingram, 2021). There is still a lot in the gendered dimension to this debate that can be unpacked. Muslim women have for a long time been portrayed as victims of their religion (Hirschkind and Mahmood, 2002; Abu Lughod, 2013). They have been assumed to have no agency and to be in need of liberation by well-meaning external actors (Shepherd, 2006; De Feo, 2020). This assumption, which marries Islamophobia and misogyny, continued even in descriptions of the women who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS. Frequently referred to as "jihadi brides", they were treated simultaneously as brainwashed victims and inhuman monsters (Martini, 2018; Jackson, 2021). Research has shown that their motivations for joining were complex and rooted in important ideological beliefs (de Leede, 2018; Nuraniyah, 2018). Their religious beliefs and motivations, and how these interact with their gender, are yet to be fully explored. This paper uses cognitive mapping to explore how Western women IS members thought about Islam and how this impacted their decision to travel to Syria and Iraq to join the group. Several important themes emerge. Firstly, they were inspired by the visions of an Islamic utopia that the group promoted. They often described in gendered terms, perceiving the IS as not just a haven for Muslims, but for Muslim women specifically. Secondly, they felt increasingly alienated in their home countries, where they perceived themselves to be targeted for both their religious beliefs and their gender. For example, some said they were forced to leave countries where they were not allowed to wear niqab and practice their religion how they wanted. Finally, they demonstrated agency in how they engaged with their religion and their (future) membership of the group. Though common tropes portray them as passively being taken away by bad men, some women were praying for husbands who agreed with their beliefs and would go with them to Syria.