A Muslim perspective: Religion as intersecting risk in violence against women and girls

This chapter explores how Islam, as an intersecting risk factor, can influence experiences of violence against women and girls, using the conceptual framework of religious ideas, religious practices, religious experiences and religious organisation. First, religious ideas, encapsulated in the Qur’an and hadiths, and actually condemning violence, are explored and showed how they can be ambiguously interpreted by survivors increasing their vulnerability and shaping their attitudes to violence. Second, religiously implicated practices are explored – such as privacy, piety and honour – that may violently silence victims and indirectly and directly harm women and girls. Also, cases of early and forced marriages and FGM/C are discussed, as practices erroneously linked with Islam. Third, attention is paid to religious experience and how it can shape endurance, deterring survivors from seeking help and spiritual violence with spiritual struggles in the context of war. Finally, the religious organisation of religious communities is explored, where power imbalances can dictate patriarchal (dis)order at the intersection of gender, culture and religion, pointing to the importance of working with religious communities and enhancing religious literacy.