Bassam jarrar biography of martin

1Conflict over the construction of gender and the ideal woman is neither a neutral nor a primarily religious concern. Islamists, just like nationalists, seek to establish an ideal society which depends upon a particular conception of the ideal woman (Papanek 1994 ; Kandiyoti 1991, 1996 ; Moghadam 1994). The ‘traditional’ Islamist ideal woman has come to be represented as opposed to the ‘modern’ ideal woman constructed in nationalist secularist discourse (ibid : 30 ; White 2002). Indeed, in the eyes of those who do not share this vision, the ideal society that Islamists strive to build is reactionary and anti-modern (Roy 1999 ; Al-Azmeh 1996 ; Zubaida 1997). The ongoing debate between secularists and Islamists in the Middle East reinforces the dichotomy. Secularism, for Islamists, is a colonial imposition, a world view that gives precedence to the material over the spiritual and results in a culture of alienation and unrestrained hedonism. Secularism, for secularists, is central to universal humanism, a rational principle that calls for the suppression, or at least the restraint, of religious passion so that a dangerous source of intolerance and delusion can be controlled, and political unity, peace and

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