Islamic revival in the Middle East: the case of the Qubaisyate movement in Syria

Syria has prided itself throughout modern history of being a secular state, with no official religion, in the heart of the Islamic and Arab world. The reality however, is that the country is facing the same wave that is overcoming the whole region and battling the same issues as other Islamic and Arab states that are currently being overwhelmed with the phenomenon of religious revivalism. One of the major instruments of Islamic revivalism in Syria is an all-women grassroots social movement called the Qubaisyate, which was successful in becoming a substantial driving force behind the rise toward religious conservatism, not only in Syria, but also in other Arab and Muslim countries, reaching as far as Europe and the United States. This study argues that the emergence of the Qubaisyate Islamic movement in the heart of the capital of Ba’athist Syria since the early 1960s, and multiplying to hundreds of thousands of followers in the present day, is due to the rising influence of Islamic revivalism in the Middle East which had influenced the growth of the Islamic sector in Syria, including the Qubaisyate movement. This study will embark on the major theoretical approaches to studying social movements; by combining the concept of political opportunities that reflect the state-centered approach of Political Process theory, mobilizing structures that draw on the entrepreneurial-organizational version of Resource Mobilization theory, as well as the concept of cultural framing and identities in order to bring in ideas, meanings and cultural element. In addressing these three general areas, this research tries to answer how and why the Qubaisyate movement is rising as a significant socio-religious player in Syria despite the totalitarian and secular environment of Syrian politics, which was enforced by the Ba’ath regime for more than five decades.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Sana Mahmanda