Faith in Islam & Faith in Women: Why Gender Justice is Key to an Islam Without Extremes By Zainab Bangura - ARTICLE of INTEREST

October 30, 2015
by Zainab Bangura, Special Representative of the UNSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict

     "Women’s rights and freedoms are central to that struggle. The wars wrought by extremist groups in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, and elsewhere are being fought on the bodies of women and girls who are subjected to horrendous, systematic abuse. Furthermore, these battles are, to a large extent, being fought over the bodies of women and girls, which are treated as contested male terrain.

For instance, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) notorious Mount Sinjar offensive of August 2014 has been considered as much a sexual conquest to enslave women as it was a territorial advance. Similarly, Boko Haram has abducted girls from their schools in north-east Nigeria pursuant to a campaign of forced imprisonment and forced impregnation. It is profoundly disturbing to me, as a Muslim, that these atrocities are committed — and perceived to be committed — in the name of Islam, a religion which literally means “peace.”"

Click here for ENTIRE ARTICLE.