Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Murabitat al-Aqsa: the new virgins of Palestinian resistance

  • Published:
Contemporary Islam Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the fall of 2015, Israel outlawed the Murabitat, a group of Palestinian Muslim women using their voices and bodies to protect al-Aqsa Mosque from right-wing Jewish incursions into the sacred site. Israel placed blame on the Islamic Movement of Israel, but this explanation lacks substantially. I argue, instead, that the better way to interpret the Murabitat is by focusing on the Murabitat themselves—how they understood their actions and how those actions related to broader social, political, and religious currents within Palestinian society and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Murabitat demonstrated both continuity and innovation within the field of Palestinian women’s political participation in resistance toward the Israeli occupation. They framed their resistance in well-established, domestic and non-violent terms. But they also innovated by mobilizing these themes for the specific purpose of protecting the Haram al-Sharif. Drawing together the latent, symbolic resonance of ribat language within the discursive tradition of Islam, articulating their attachment to the sacred space through domestic metaphors, and using the phrase “Allahu Akbar” as a ritual of protest, the Murabitat forged new possibilities for women’s participation in political struggle in Palestine. In short, they became the new virgins of the Palestinian resistance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Since this article is primarily concerned with Palestinian Muslims, I refer to the sacred site in their terms throughout the article. They often refer to the sacred compound as either the Haram al-Sharif or the al-Aqsa Mosque. While in the vernacular, the terms are often used interchangeably, they technically refer to different things: the Haram al-Sharif is comprised of the 144 dunum open area that includes the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and other physical structures; the al-Aqsa Mosque is the building at the south end of the Haram al-Sharif. For details, see (International Crisis Group (ICG) 2015).

  2. For details on the Islamic Movement of Israel, see (Nasasra 2018; Larkin and Dumper 2012).

  3. In a few cases, women ran as candidates in local elections. Hamas in the Gaza strip also elected two women ministers.

  4. The Jordanian role at the site is rooted in historical precedent. Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca (1908–1924) granted custodianship over this religious function in 1924 to the Hashemite clan of Jordan. The Jordanians have maintained that presence—despite volatile political dynamics—to this today. For further details, see (International Crisis Group (ICG) 2015). This status quo should not be confused with the Status Quo established by Ottoman authorities in the nineteenth century to coordinate the administration and custodianship of Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. For details on that Status Quo, see (Eordegian 2003).

  5. The Qur’anic instance with a similar connotation is found in Al -‘Imran 3:200. Three additional verses use the term in related ways: al-Anfal 8:11, al-Kahif 18:14, and al-Qasas 28:10. In al-Anfal 8:60, the term means to tie up a horse. For a detailed exposition of the Hadith literature concerning ribat from al-Aqsa Mosque, see (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa 2016).

  6. Mishal and Aharoni published approximately one-third of the pamphlets produced during the first Intifada. Of the 25 leaflets published and accredited to Hamas, 15 include the terms ribat or Murabitun. A cursory examination revealed that the frequency of occurrence decreased with time. For details, see (Mishal and Aharoni 1994; Hamas 1988)

  7. Personal Communication September 2015, May 2015, February 2016

  8. Personal Communication, February 2016.

  9. Personal Communication, February 2016

  10. Personal Communication, February 2016

  11. Personal Communication, February 2016.

  12. Personal Communication, February 2016

  13. Personal Communication, January 2016

  14. Personal Communication, February 2016

  15. Personal Communication, February 2016

  16. Personal Communication, January 2016.

  17. Personal Communication, February 2016

  18. Israel often creates gender-specific age restrictions during times of heightened political tension. These restrictions are generally made public through the press, although tracking precise number and implementation are difficult. See also (Maan News Agency 2015).

  19. Saba Mahmood explains that “The term ‘aura, used to describe women here, is complex and has a variety of meanings, including “weakness,” “faultiness,” “unseemliness,” “imperfection,” “disfigurement,” “and “genitalia.” ... The English term pudendum best captures the meaning of ‘aura used in this Hadith because it refers not only to the genital organs of men and women, but also to that “of which one ought to be ashamed (OED 1999) ... According to this view, all those parts of a woman’s body that may cause embarrassment and shame should therefore be covered, which, in the majority view of Muslim jurists, includes everything except a woman’s hands, feet, and face.” (Mahmood 2005, 106–7)

  20. Personal Communication, February 2016

  21. Personal Communication, February 2016

  22. Personal Communication, February 2016

References

  • ‘Ayn al-‘Alim (2015). “‘ayn al-‘alim—Latiyfa ‘Abd al-Latiyf Murabita Maqdasiyya Muba’da.” YouTube. February 6, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvFIVMz3RiM.

  • Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (2016). “dars al-thulatha’ min al-masjid al-aqsa al-mubarak lil-shaykh khalid al-maghrabi—03/18/2014m—17 jimadi al-‘ula: ba’d ahadiyth al-ribat,” YouTube. March 18, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLffJ8nzsSw&feature=em-%20upload_owner.

  • Alcock, S. E., & Osborne, R. (1994). Placing the gods: Sanctuaries and sacred space in ancient Greece. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allabadi, F. (2008). Controversy: Secular and Islamist women in Palestinian society. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 15(3), 181–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506808091503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alyateema AlqsaLion (2012). “In Sitters Outside Alaqsa | Murabitat Kharij Al-Aqsa.” YouTube. December 21, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovdXVY2Yvg.

  • Arafat, Y. (2017). “Abu ‘Ammar Yassir ‘Arafat (Wa Hum Fi Ribat Ila Yawm al-Dyn).” YouTube. March 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0JTaxDJECs.

  • Asad, T. (1993). Genealogies of religion: Discipline and reasons of power in Islam and Christianity. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • B’Tselem (2018). “Statistics on Palestinians in the custody of the Israeli security forces.” B’Tselem. 2018. http://www.btselem.org/statistics/detainees_and_prisoners.

  • Bacchetta, P. (2000). Sacred space in conflict in India: The Babri masjid affair. Growth and Change, 31(2), 255–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldez, L. (2002). Why women protest: Women’s movements in Chile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bearman, P. (2015). “Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition Online.” In Encyclopedia of Islam, edited by P. Bearman, Th Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. The Netherlands: Brill.

  • Beinin, J. (2010). “Confronting settlement expansion in East Jerusalem.” Middle East Report Online.

  • Ben Shitrit, L. (2013). Women, freedom, and agency in religious political movements. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 9(3), 81–107.

  • Ben Shitrit, L. (2015). Righteous transgressions Women’s activism on the Israeli and Palestinian religious right. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  • Ben Shitrit, L. (2017). Gender and the (in)divisibility of contested sacred places: The case of women for the temple. Politics and Religion, 10(04), 812–83.

  • Bowman, G. (2012). Sharing the sacra: The politics and pragmatics of Intercommunal relations around holy places. New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breger, M. J., Reiter, Y., & Hammer, L. M. (2012). Sacred space in Israel and Palestine: Religion and politics. New York: Routledge.

  • Bruton, B., & Jabari, L. (2018). Ahed Tamimi: Teenager becomes symbol of Palestinian resistance. NBC News, 10, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/slap-heard-round-world-ahed-tamimi-becomes-symbol-palestinian-resistance-n854501.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burge, S. R. (2009). Angels, ritual and sacred space in Islam. Comparative Islamic Studies, 5(2), 221–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campo, J. E. (1991). The other sides of paradise: Explorations into the religious meanings of domestic space in Islam. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chabbi, J. (1997). Ribat. In P. Bearman, B. Th, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, & W. P. Heinrichs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Islam 2, VIII (pp. 493–506). The Netherlands: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chidester, D., & Linenthal, E. T. (1995). American sacred space. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cieraad, I. (1999). At home: An anthropology of domestic space. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

  • CITpax, Toledo International Center for Peace (2015). Options for Jerusalem and the holy sites. November, 20, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, G. (2015). Israel bans two Muslim activist groups from Temple mount. Haaretz, 16, 2015. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-bans-two-muslim-activist-groups-from-temple-mount-1.5397166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, H. (2017). “The Temple Mount/al-Aqsa in Zionist and Palestinian National Consciousness.” Israel Studies Review, 32(1), 1–19.

  • Cook, D. (2005). Understanding Jihad. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daoud, S. A. O. (2016). Women and Islamism in Israel. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 37(3), 21–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deeb, L. (2006). An enchanted modern: Gender and public piety in Shi’i Lebanon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  • Deeb, L. (2009). Emulating and/or embodying the ideal: The gendering of temporal frameworks and Islamic role models in Shi‘i Lebanon. American Ethnologist, 36(2), 242–257. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2009.01133.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. K. (1978). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc..

    Google Scholar 

  • Desai, M. (2017). Banaras reconstructed: Architecture and sacred space in a Hindu Holy City. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, M. (1991). The idea of a home: A kind of space. Social Research, 58(1), 287–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doumato, E. A. (2000). Getting God’s ear: Women, Islam and healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumper, M. (2002). The politics of sacred space: The Old City of Jerusalem in the Middle East conflict. Boulder, CO: L. Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldar, S. (2015). Who are the Temple Mount’s Mourabitoun? Al-Monitor, 10, 2015. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/israel-mourabitun-temple-mount-compound-settlers-islamists.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eordegian, M. (2003). British and Israeli maintenance of the status quo in the holy places of Christendom. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 35(2), 307–328. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743803000138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferree, M. M., & C. M. Mueller. (2004). “Feminism and the Women’s Movement: A Global Perspective.” In The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, by David A. Snow, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Sarah A. Soule. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

  • Friedland, R. (2001). Religious nationalism and the problem of collective representation. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 125–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goddard, S. (2009). Indivisible territory and the politics of legitimacy: Jerusalem and Northern Ireland. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haeri, N. (2013). The private performance of Salat prayers: Repetition, time and meaning. Anthropological Quarterly, 86(1), 5–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamas (1988). “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

  • Hammami, R. (1990). Women, the Hijab and the Intifada. Middle East Report, 164/165, 24–28, 71.

  • Hammami, R., & Johnson, P. (1999). Equality with a difference: Gender and citizenship in transitional Palestine. Social Politics, 6(3), 314–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassner, R. E. (2003). ‘To halve and to hold’: Conflicts over sacred space and the problem of indivisibility. Security Studies, 12(4), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/09636410390447617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschkind, C. (2006). The ethical soundscape: Cassette sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Crisis Group (ICG). (2015). “The Status of the Status Quo at Jerusalem’s Holy Esplanade.” 159. Middle East Report. International Crisis Group.

  • IslamOnline (2014). Darab Al-Nisa’ Wa Niza’ al-Hijab ‘An al-Ikhawat Fi al-Masjid al-Aqsa al-Mubarak Ba’d Mani’him Min al-Dukhul. YouTube, 8, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiYYaLRkizM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jad, H. I. (2004). Women at the cross-roads: The Palestinian Women’s movement between nationalism, secularism and Islamism. University of London.

  • Jean-Klein, I. (2000). Mothercraft, statecraft, and subjectivity in the Palestinian intifada. American Ethnologist, 27(1), 100–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanaaneh, R. A. (2002). Birthing the nation: Strategies of Palestinian women in Israel. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kertzer, D. (1989). Ritual, politics, and power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalilieh, H. S. (2008). The Ribat of Arsuf and the coastal Defence system in early Islamic Palestine. Journal of Islamic Studies, 19(2), 159–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khoury-Machool, M. (2007). Palestinian youth and political activism: The emerging internet culture and new modes of resistance. Policy Futures in Education, 5(1), 17–36. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2007.5.1.17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, L. (1993). Negotiating conceptions of ‘sacred space’: A cast study of religious buildings in Singapore. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 18(3), 342–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkin, C., & Dumper, M. (2012). In defense of Al-Aqsa: The Islamic movement inside Israel and the Battle for Jerusalem. The Middle East Journal, 66(1), 30–51. https://doi.org/10.3751/66.1.12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lybarger, L. D. (2007). Identity and religion in Palestine: The struggle between Islamism and secularism in the occupied territories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maan News Agency (2015). Israel imposes severe Aqsa entry restrictions ahead of Jewish festival. Maan News Agency, 27, 2015. http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=767835.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahmood, S. (2005). Politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mall, F. (2014). Niza’ al-Hijab Wa al-‘I’tida’ Bi-al-Darab ‘Ala al-Maqdasiyya ‘Aber Ziyad 2. YouTube, 9, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTHnzR2Ddvk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallett, S. (2004). Understanding home: A critical review of the literature. The Sociological Review, 52(1), 62–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mir-Hosseini, Z. (1999). Islam and gender the religious debate in contemporary Iran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishal, S., & Aharoni, R. (1994). Speaking stones: Communiques from the intifada underground. New York: Syracuse University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moallem, M. (2005). Between warrior brother and veiled sister: Islamic fundamentalism and the politics of patriarchy in Iran. Berkely, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • AlJazeera Mubasher (2015). “Shuhud: Junud al-Ihtilal Hawalu Niza’ Hijab Fataa Fi al-Masjid al-Aqsa.” YouTube. April 8, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBzMkc5HJAw.

  • Mubashir, K. (2016). Kelam Mubasir AydeSidava—Murabitat Maqdasiyyat Fi al-Masjid al-Aqsa. YouTube. November 12, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAe_-AQbwfU.

  • Nasasra, M. (2018). The politics of claiming and representation: The Islamic movement in Israel. Journal of Islamic Studies, 29(1), 48–78. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etx078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxford English Dictionary (OED). (1999). 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

  • Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (2019). “Current status of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.” Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Detainees_in_Israeli.pdf.

  • Peshkova, S. (2009). Bringing the mosque home and talking politics: Women, domestic space, and the state in the Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan). Contemporary Islam, 3(3), 251–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peteet, J. (1991). Gender in crisis: Women and the Palestinian resistance movement. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rassam, A. (1980). Women and domestic power in Morocco. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 12, 171–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiter, Y. (2002). “Jewish-Muslim Modus Vivendi at the Temple Mount/Al-Haram al-Sharif Since 1967.” In Jerusalem: A City and Its Future, edited by Marshall J. Breger and Ora Ahimeir. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

  • Reiter, Y. (2008). Jerusalem and its role in Islamic solidarity. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiter, Y. (2013). Narratives of Jerusalem and its sacred compound. Israel Studies, 18(2), 115–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richter-Devroe, S. (2012). Defending their land, protecting their men. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 14(2), 181–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2012.659856.

  • Roy, S. (2011). Hamas and civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist social sector. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salem, F. (2016). The emergence of early Sufi piety and Sunni scholasticism. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, K. (2017). Ribat in Palestine: The growth of a religious discourse alongside politicized religious practice. Jerusalem Quarterly, 72, 26–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2005). Counter-spaces as resistance in conflict zones. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 17(3–4), 109–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2015). Security theology, surveillance and the politics of fear. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharoni, S. (1995). Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The politics of Women’s resistance. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobler, J. (2000). ‘Home is where the heart is?’: Gendered sacred space in South Africa. Journal for the Study of Religion, 13(1/2), 69–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehr, H. (1994). Rabata. In In The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. al-Quds Bard College, Box 51000, Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, Palestine

    Kenny Schmitt

Authors
  1. Kenny Schmitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenny Schmitt.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schmitt, K. Murabitat al-Aqsa: the new virgins of Palestinian resistance. Cont Islam 14, 289–308 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-020-00450-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-020-00450-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation