Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya as Changing Salafi Icons 473
topics, such as ritual purity, allows her to convey the implicit and, in
fact, central message of the existence of indispensable first-hand female
knowledge. Also her habitus of empowerment, self-fashioning tech-
niques, and the challenging attitude of always demanding convincing
indicators from the holy sources for each and every situation in human
life would very much astonish a resurrected – and throughout his life-
time reportedly misogynous – Ibn Taymiyya.
1.3. Female Approach to Salafi Religious AuthoritiesUmm ʿAbd Allāh imagines herself as belonging to an existing female
scholarly tradition within Salafi Islam, of which she heard some
rumours. According to this discourse, the former Saudi Arabian state
mufti Ibn Bāz graduated a female scholar with a license to teach stu-
dents of her own (ijāza). She is said to have established her own teach-
ing institution for female Salafis in Saudi Arabia.^46 For Umm ʿAbd
Allāh, this is just one example of a nascent female Salafi teaching tra-
dition in the heartland of Islam, Saudi Arabia, of which nothing is
known outside. She interprets this as a natural historic continuation
of the strong role women fulfilled in transmitting reliable information
about the Prophet, foremost his own wife ʿĀʾisha. Umm ʿAbd Allāh
says this tradition has to be rediscovered and revived. Searching for it
and collecting books written by female Salafi scholars has therefore
become one of her passions.^47 However, this conviction of hers seems
to be more an individual attitude than to be accompanied by a serious
in-depth search, comparable to her quest for specific Hadith informa-
tion, since she does not mention (and might not even be aware of)
the strong female Salafi tradition in northern Yemen. Nevertheless,
references to the Prophet’s wife ʿĀʾisha, and her jurisprudential input
are quite frequent among Salafi males and females in Germany. Such
allusions greatly help to attract the attention of female adepts. Umm
ʿAbd Allāh, for her part, even has a distinctly female approach when
it comes to challenging the male leadership in her community. Dur-
ing her husband’s frequent absences, she replaces him, even though
it has been very difficult for her husband’s male followers to accept
46 Informal conversation with Umm ʿAbd Allāh on May 29, 2004 in al-Nūr
Mosque in Berlin.
47 Informal conversation with Umm ʿAbd Allāh on May 29, 2004 in al-Nūr
Mosque in Berlin.
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