The Socio-Political Role of Women from New Salafist Point of Views and Their Comparison with Old Salafist Perspectives

Almost all Islamic classical movements believe that the main task of women is motherhood and housekeeping. However, from the perspective of new Salafist groups, there have been transformations in women’s rights and duties. Studying the political and social role of women from the new Salafist point of views and comparing them with the views of old Salafists was because the issue was unexplored. This paper investigates differences between the perspective of the new and old Salafists regarding the role of women, through examining primary resources such as the works of old and new Salafist ideologues, as well as secondary sources susch as magazines, manifesto, tweets, and websites. Based on the critical discourse analysis, this paper concludes that both the new and old Salafist groups shared the same theological sources and references, but the old ones have a literal (and not a contextual or interpretative) reading of the holy book (the Qur’an) and the Sunna as their fundamental resource and reference. In the new Salafist discourse, women have the right to participate in all social and military activities. Therefore, the big shift created in terms of social and political participation of women through new Salafists is based on new circumstances, ambitions as well as their different understanding and interpretation of theology concerning the role and duty of women.