(Renders 2003). The result of the Islamist initiative
in Senegal was that “traditional” Muslims, notably
the potent Sufi brotherhoods, followed their exam-
ple and started their own programs accessible to
both boys and girls. In Nigeria, the late 1970s saw
the start of the campaign for new Islamic education
of the Islamist organizationYan Izala. A major rea-
son for success of Yan Izala in Nigeria was their
efforts to start schools and to advocate women’s
education. The same phenomenon can be seen in
Eastern Africa (Loimeier 1997).
The most significant contribution of Islamism
in comparison to traditional Sufi Islam seems to be
the possibility for both Muslim men and Muslim
women to gather and master religious knowledge
independently. Women are enabled to participate
more actively in the public sphere as Muslims in
their own right. A woman submits herself directly
to God, as a Muslim individual. She does not need
an intermediary such as her father or her husband.
In principle, she is an independent, thinking human
being with direct access to religious knowledge.
Islamist organizations organize Arabic classes for
women, who will be able to study original sources
independently. Sometimes religious material is pro-
vided in the local language, written or on audio-
tape, which makes the effort easier for women
without formal schooling. Whereas in the tradi-
tional practice the Qur±ànic school laid the basis for
the women’s – very elementary – religious educa-
tion, which was completed by her husband, now
young girls can go to Islamic institutes before mar-
riage (Taguem Fah 2002). An Islamist woman is by
no means in all instances secluded – she is often able
to lead an active social life and become a member
of the Islamist associations. However, this does not
mean that women have an actual role in the deci-
sion-making process of Islamist movements, which
are invariably led by men. Women’s authority in
religious matters is also not valued equally with
men’s. Yet women’s access to Islamic knowledge
could potentially change the context in which
sociopolitical interaction takes place.
Islamist women often have their own subgroups
and associations, such as the Muslim Sisters Or-
ganization in Nigeria, the female branch of the
Muslim Students Society (MSS). The MSS also par-
ticipated in the formation of the Federation of
Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria (Barkindo
1993). In the northwest of the now imploded
Somali Republic, Islamist women have organized
religious study groups. The members come
together once a week, for example on Thursday
night at the beginning of the weekend, to listen to a
lecture by a shaykh, to watch a film or to read a612 political-social movements: islamist movements and discourses
book, and to discuss their findings and questions.
Participants in the sessions are well-to-do and well
educated, businesswomen, or even university grad-
uates who have had an international experience.
They are critical of traditional Somali Sufism, not
so much in the theological sense, but rather in its
social implications, notably the widespread male
consumption of qàt, a mild narcotic leaf imported
from Ethiopia. They argue that according to real
Islam one has to be useful to society and denounce
the men who sit down all day to chew qàtclaiming
it is “something religious” (Ali 2002).
In the process of political and social positioning
of Islamist organizations, moral issues are often
very prominent in the discourse. Women’s issues
are considered of paramount importance in the
proper exercise of Islamic morality. Therefore, the
Muslim woman and her perceived role and duties
as a daughter, spouse, and mother are hotly debated
issues. In fact, they have never before been so cen-
tral to the discussions and controversies between
different Islamic groups as well as between Islamist
groups and the secular state. Family planning in
particular is a bone of contention for Islamist move-
ments. The 1994 United Nations conference on
population and development held in Cairo pro-
voked passionate reactions. A number of Muslim
organizations chose at the instigation of the Sene-
galese government to participate in Réseau islam et
population, an organization working to promote
means of family planning – notably birth spacing –
acceptable to Islamic scholars and the religious
leaders of the Sufi brotherhoods. The Réseaucaused
a major stir-up, even within the organization itself,
when they took the initiative of promoting the use
of condoms in an AIDS awareness campaign. The
actions of the Réseau are abhorred by the Islamists.
To them, the only acceptable protection against
AIDS is abstinence. In the case of married couples,
birth control is not acceptable under any circum-
stance. The Islamist Jamaatu Ibadu Rahmane
accused the government and the Sufi Muslim or-
ganizations of immorality and of collaboration
with the vicious strategy of Western neo-Mal-
thusianism. The “satanic programme geared at the
depopulation of the planet” was attributed to
Western fears of “new barbarian invasions” and
“the pressure of feminist movements wanting to
cause women to revolt by allowing them to decide
by themselves about issues of procreation” (Le
Musulman1994, 4–5).
Yet, concerning other issues, the position of the
Islamists is progressive compared to the opinions of
other Muslim individuals and organizations. Female
genital mutilation (FGM) is a widely accepted prac-