Berkeley Undergraduate Journal

The paper is inspired by Edward Said’s Orientalism, where it is emphasized that the Occident feels the need to liberate the Orient. The reasonings of why Islam is perceived as the Orient today will be discussed, which will lead to a discussion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS’) oppression of the Yezidi women in Iraq and Syria. In a New York Times article, “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape,” Rukmini Callimachi reports several accounts of Yezidi women who successfully escaped the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, where they were raped in the name of religion. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claim that sexual slavery is supported by the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Based on their claims of Quranic support, “the Islamic State [of Iraq and Syria] codifie[d] sex slavery in conquered regions of Iraq and Syria” (Callimachi, 2015). Therefore, ISIS’ claim that Islam allows such an inhumane behavior towards females will be questioned while exploring Islam’s actual stance on the subject of sexual slavery. First, the Islamic stance on sexual slavery will be explored, the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will be examined, followed by a thorough investigation of the perception of sexual slavery in Islam by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ending with a comparison and contrast among the two stances.