The Growth of an International Muslim Women’S Revivalist Movement from Syria (1960–2008)

CHAPTER 1.6

THE QUBAYSĪYYĀT: THE GROWTH OF AN INTERNATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN’S REVIVALIST MOVEMENT FROM SYRIA (1960–2008)

Introduction

The Qubaysī movement is one of the largest Sunni Muslim women’s revivalist and pietist movements in the world. Originating under the guidance of Munīrah al-Qubaysī, the movement is estimated to have several hundred thousand adherents within Syria,1 and sources con- firm their presence in at least twelve other countries.2 Their publica- tions, which include writings for the general public on religious topics of popular concern, as well as multi-volume scholarly commentaries and works on sīrah, fiqh, Qurʾānic sciences, and ḥadīth, have reached an audience of millions in the Middle East and beyond.3

1 See Ibrāhīm Ḥamīdī, “Al-Ānisāt al-Qubaysīyyāt yubāsharna fī-yhām inkhirāt ̣ al-nisāʾa fī-al-daʿwah al-Islāmīyyah bī-muwāffaqat al-sultah,”̣ Al-Ḥ ayāt Daily, March 5, 2006. Also see “Al-Qubaysīyyāt . . . ḥarakah Islāmīyyah nisāʾīyyah ghāmiḍah ʿaḍawātuha yazidna ʿan 70 alfan,” Al-Wataṇ , March 5, 2006; “Badaʾna min Sūriya wa yatamay- yizna bī-al-ḥijāb al-kuḥlī . . . al-Qubaysīyyāt ḥarakah Islāmīyyah ghāmiḍah ʿaḍawātuha yazidna ʿan 70 alfan,” Al-ʿArabīyyah, March 5, 2006. 2 See fatwá issued by Shaykh Muḥammad al-Amīn (student of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Arnāʾūt),̣ “Fatwa munsifaḥ tafsīlīyyah ḥawl jamāʿah al-Qubaysīyyāt,” http://www .ibnamin.com/rad_qubaisi.htm, accessed May 2, 2009. Also see Joshua Landis, “Islamic Education in Syria: Undoing Secularisms” (paper prepared for the conference Con- structs of Inclusion and Exclusion: Religion and Identity Formation in Middle East- ern School Curricula), available at http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/ Islamic%20Education%20in%20Syria.htm, accessed June 1, 2009. 3 Ṭāriq al-Sūwaydān, email message to author, April 24, 2009; corroborated by Ṭāriq al-Sūwaydān, comment on weblog: www.suwaidan.com/vb1/showthread.php?t=5326, accessed April 1, 2009. As for viewership, see: http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/ Page29.asp, accessed April 1, 2009. Al-Sūwaydān is one of the leaders and ideologues of the Islamic Reform Society in Kuwait which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. He is also the general manager of al-Resalah TV Channel owned by Saudi billionaire Prince HRH al-Walīd ibn Ṭalāl. He is most well known as one of the Middle East’s most popular televangelists; his programs are consistently among the highest ranking on Middle East television, and appear on MBC, Abu Dhabi TV, Orbit Dream, Iqra, and al-Resalah TV. 162 sarah islam

The religious authority of the leaders of the Qubaysī movement in Syria is based on three factors: their mastery of different fields of religious knowledge as traditionally trained female ʿulamāʾ, their strict religious practice, and their possession of successful professional careers. Many revivalist and pietist movements prescribe attainment of the spiritual and sacred by an abandonment or rejection of the material and secular. In contrast, Qubaysī religious activities have largely promoted women’s upward socioeconomic mobility and participation in Syrian civil society through their emphasis on pursuing all forms of useful knowledge, both sacred and secular, and through their strong religious networks which provide significant mutual support for mem- bers in pursuing both spiritual and material goals. The success of the movement in Syria can also be attributed to the greater level of religious freedom they enjoy in comparison to poten- tial religious competitors such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafī groups. Facing little religious competition due to state crackdowns on movements which appear to be more politically threatening, the female-led apolitical Qubaysī movement has been able to enjoy a monopoly over female religious education. In addition, the fact that the movement invests in producing Arabic teaching texts which target multiple audiences among both the lay and elite populations has con- tributed to their unmatched popularity. Their local impact is apparent in Damascus by the fact that they cur- rently manage—according to the 2006 Survey of Islamic Education in Syria published by the pan-Arab daily Al-Ḥ ayāt—fifty percent of the city’s female madrasah provision with a total local student population of 75,000; they also organize public sermons in major mosques with a total lay audience of an estimated 25,000, and run numerous charity projects, state-condoned secondary schools, and a publishing house, using their own financial resources.4 Their controversial nature is evident by the variety of public fig- ures who have commented on them, including Shaykh Nāsiṛ al-Dīn al-Albānī (d. 1999), the Saudi Permanent Committee on Fatāwa and Research, Usāmah al-Sayyid from the Aḥbash of Lebanon, and the late muftī of Syria Aḥmad Kuftārū (d. 2004).5 The impact of their texts is

4 See Katherine Zoepf, “Islamic Revival Led by Women,” New York Times, August 29, 2006. 5 An audio lecture of al-Albānī on the Qubaysīyyāt has been in distribution in Damascus and is discussed in Muḥammad al-Amīn’s statement on the Qubaysīyyāt.