Metal, Women and Militants - Ideologies of the People Living Under an Oppressive Regime

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The biggest threat, however, remains the Muslim Brotherhood. Until recently, the government could count on playing these two poles of Egyptian society, secular and seemingly westernized versus religious and traditionally conservative, against each other in order to deflect any challenges to its power. Today, however, a new generation of Brotherhood members—the peers, and occasionally family members of the metalheads (and in some cases it turns out, former metalheads themselves)—have become far more interested in pushing the boundaries of political expression for their members than in limiting the expression of metalheads or other non-mainstream groups within Egyptian society.

Mark LeVine. “Heavy Metal Islam. 2008 Pg. 64

The members of the Militant Islamist groups have a similar end in mind as he metal heads, but where the metal heads lean towards a more Western modernism, the militants believe in a religious modernism. The militants believe that a righteous Muslim cannot thrive on their own, but can thrive in a community of the righteous (Ibrahim 1980 Pg. 430). Ibraham did a study on the most prominent militant groups in the 1970s, where he interviewed the imprisoned secondary leaders of all of the causes that were incarcerated due to their affiliation with the groups that were advocating against the current regime. In his explanation of the beliefs of the Militants he points out, “ it is the militants belief that it is their religious duty to see to it that a truly Muslim social order comes about” (Ibraham 1980 Pg. 430). This ultimatum that is presented to the government causes inevitable clashes as the government attempts to silence people rallying against it. The militants view the government as internally corrupt, and weak as it has made concessions to rival religious communities like the Christians and the Jewish. The leaders themselves are not acting as role models of the Islamic lifestyle, rather adopting more Western values that are seen to be foreign in the eyes of the militants. Though the militants, metal heads and women are all looking for the same deposition of the corrupt government they all have different ideals for the replacement regime. The Militants have a very extreme government plan that essentially removes all western influences and runs the government based completely off the teachings of the Qur’an. The RHF, one of the more extreme militant groups that was interviewed believes that all of politics springs from society, and that a corrupt government could only come from a corrupt society, so all of society is already beyond repair. When asked about the role of women in society and women’s rights the militants conceded, “that men have neglected women’s rights and have been excessive in extracting obligations. But this is due to the overall corruption and irreligiosity of the present social order.” (Ibraham 1980 Pg. 431). They do however insist that women’s place is at home taking are of the children and serving her husband. These sentiments are a bit more extreme than those of the modern brotherhood, though they may still believe that women have a duty to their husbands their views seem to fit more in the modern era. The Brotherhood in Egypt came up on multiple occasions through Heavy Metal Islam, on one occasion Levine went to get coffee with one of the higher members of the group, when talking about the oppressiveness of the government the member of the brotherhood said, “What we need to combat people like them are more freedom of speech, more trained judges, more human rights.” (LeVine 2008 Pg. 92) which seems to be a more modern example of the feelings of the militant groups. It has been more than 35 years since the original interviews of the militant Islamist groups by Ibraham and it is possible that their views have become more progressive with the ages.

The oppression of the current regime has created countless groups that are at odds with everything the regime stands for Women, Metal heads, and Militants are a few of the groups that are pushing the hardest against the regime, all with a similar end goal. The women of the Middle East live in a society where they are required to wear their headscarves at all times, and are required to conform to the societal pressures that are constantly on them. Recently women have been advocating for their own rights such as divorce, education and life out of he home. Metal heads have been persecuted on numerous occasions as Satanists and degenerates while they are only youths who are taking their displeasure with the oppression of the regime out through their music with pointedly anti-government lyrics. The militant Islamists, most notably the Arab Brotherhood, have re-banded and are building up their members numbers, attracting a large number of important members of society to their cause against the current government that they see as too corrupt to function. In Heavy Metal Islam when LeVine is interviewing “Omar” he puts it like this, “The regime goes after everyone who tries to be political. The kids are scared; there’s so much fear, censorship, and then self-censorship.” (Levine 2008 Pg. 91). The Brotherhood is possibly the best bet, or at least the most organized, against the current political situation. These are not the only groups fighting for their rights right now in the Middle East, thousands have gathered together to stand up for their rights in the hopes of a better future for their peers and their children.

Works cited

Ibraham, Saad

1980 Anatomy of Egypts Millitant Islamic groups International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol 12, No. 4, 423-453

Levine, Mark

2008 Heavy Metal Islam: rock, resistance, and the struggle for the soul of Isla.m New York: Three Rivers Press

Osanloo, Arzoo

2004 Doing the "Rights" Thing: Methods and Chalienges of Fieldwork in Iran Iranian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 4, Ethnographic Fieldwork in Iran (Dec., 2004), pp. 675- 684