The Fundamental and Applied Studies of the Islamic World

Abstract The research article meticulously examines the function, objectives, and institutional mechanisms of systematic sexual violence and enslavement perpetrated by the terrorist organization ISIS (Islamic State) across territories under its control in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2019. This period, encompassing the rise, consolidation, and eventual territorial collapse of the self-proclaimed Caliphate, was marked by widespread crimes against humanity. Among these atrocities, systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and the enslavement of women and girls—particularly from the Yazidi, Shia, and Christian communities—constituted a central pillar of ISIS's governance and military strategy. Rather than being incidental consequences of armed conflict, these practices were deliberately organized, bureaucratically regulated, and ideologically justified, making them an integral component of ISIS's state-building project and its broader strategy of domination over conquered populations.
The central problem motivating this study is the proposition that these grave sexual crimes were not opportunistic acts committed by undisciplined fighters or spontaneous manifestations of wartime violence. Instead, they represented a calculated, institutionalized, and multifunctional policy designed to advance ISIS's political, ideological, military, demographic, and economic objectives. Consequently, the primary research question asks: What strategic objectives did ISIS seek to achieve through the systematic perpetration of rape and sexual enslavement in territories under its control, and how did these practices contribute to the establishment, consolidation, and maintenance of the Caliphate's system of governance and domination?
The article advances the hypothesis that sexual violence functioned as a multidimensional strategic instrument simultaneously employed to: (1) propagate terror and intimidation among local populations; (2) engineer demographic transformation through the control of women's reproductive capacity, thereby facilitating ethnic and religious cleansing; (3) strengthen internal cohesion by providing sexual access as a material and symbolic reward for fighters; and (4) humiliate, fragment, and ultimately destroy the collective social, cultural, and religious identity of targeted minority communities, especially the Yazidis, through the systematic degradation of women. Beyond these functions, sexual slavery also generated financial resources through the commodification and trafficking of enslaved women, further embedding sexual violence within the political economy of the ISIS Caliphate. The systematic character of these crimes is demonstrated by concrete historical evidence, including the assault on Sinjar on 3 August 2014, during which approximately 6,800 Yazidi women and girls were abducted, catalogued, transported, distributed, and traded in organized slave markets operating under standardized pricing mechanisms, illustrating both the bureaucratic sophistication and economic rationality underlying ISIS's system of sexual exploitation.
The research employs an explanatory qualitative methodology based on documentary analysis and qualitative content analysis of authoritative secondary sources. The principal empirical materials consist of reports produced by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, investigations conducted by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and a broad body of peer-reviewed academic scholarship addressing conflict-related sexual violence, genocide, terrorism, and gendered violence. To demonstrate the institutionalized nature of these crimes, the analysis examines recurring behavioral patterns, including official religious fatwas legitimizing sexual slavery, formal administrative directives issued by senior ISIS authorities, organizational regulations governing the ownership and transfer of captives, and the establishment of regulated slave markets in urban centers such as Mosul and Raqqa. Collectively, these sources reveal a high degree of organizational planning rather than isolated criminal conduct.
The theoretical framework integrates the concepts of Sexual Property, Hegemonic Masculinity, and Sexual Objectification with broader perspectives drawn from structural inequality theory, feminist security studies, genocide studies, and the political economy of armed conflict. This interdisciplinary framework enables the study to situate ISIS's sexual violence within wider historical patterns of patriarchal domination while simultaneously explaining how extremist ideology transformed pre-existing gender hierarchies into an institutionalized system of governance. The article further develops previous scholarship by demonstrating that sexual violence operated not merely as an expression of misogyny but as a strategic mechanism linking ideological control, military coercion, demographic engineering, economic extraction, and symbolic domination.
The findings demonstrate unequivocally that sexual violence occupied a central position within ISIS's overall strategy rather than representing conventional criminality or undisciplined battlefield behavior. First, it functioned as a weapon of terror and social destruction. Sexual assault deliberately targeted women as symbolic bearers of communal honor, enabling ISIS to terrorize entire populations, accelerate forced displacement, and dismantle the social cohesion of conquered communities. The destruction of family structures and communal trust significantly facilitated territorial conquest and long-term political control.
Second, sexual violence served as an instrument of genocide and demographic engineering. By exercising control over women's reproductive capacity and imposing the ideological identity of ISIS upon future generations through patrilineal descent, the organization sought to eradicate minority identities while permanently transforming the demographic composition of occupied territories. The deliberate targeting of Yazidi women, recognized internationally as constituting genocidal conduct, exemplifies the strategic relationship between sexual violence and ethnic cleansing.
Third, sexual violence reinforced hegemonic masculinity and organizational cohesion. Participation in sexual enslavement symbolized military success, masculine dominance, and ideological commitment. Access to enslaved women functioned as a powerful incentive for recruitment, rewarded battlefield participation, strengthened loyalty to commanders, and fostered solidarity among fighters. Sexual domination therefore became an important mechanism through which ISIS reproduced internal discipline and reinforced collective identity.
Finally, sexual violence became deeply embedded within the political economy of the Caliphate through the commodification of women as transferable property. Female captives were systematically registered, classified, priced, exchanged, inherited, and sold, transforming human bodies into economic assets capable of generating financial revenue while simultaneously reinforcing ideological claims regarding ownership, hierarchy, and domination. This institutionalization of sexual exploitation reflected the practical implementation of the concepts of Sexual Property and Sexual Objectification, whereby women were reduced to movable capital subject to bureaucratic administration and market exchange.
Analytically, these findings indicate that ISIS successfully integrated long-standing gender inequalities, sectarian discrimination, and extremist religious interpretations into a coherent institutional framework capable of simultaneously producing political authority, economic resources, military cohesion, demographic transformation, and ideological legitimacy. Sexual violence thus became a foundational instrument of governance rather than a peripheral consequence of armed conflict.
The research concludes that systematic sexual violence within the ISIS Caliphate constituted a deliberate and highly organized weapon of war employed to consolidate territorial control, ensure ideological reproduction, generate economic resources, reshape demographic realities, and eliminate the collective identities of targeted minority populations. These crimes were legitimized through extremist jurisprudence, administered through bureaucratic institutions, and implemented according to formal organizational procedures, demonstrating that sexual violence represented an essential component of ISIS's governance model rather than an exceptional or incidental phenomenon. The findings therefore contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between terrorism, gender-based violence, genocide, and institutionalized systems of domination, while emphasizing the necessity of recognizing systematic sexual violence as a core mechanism of political power in extremist organizations.

Abstract  The Middle East is one of the most important, sensitive and complex regions in the world. What makes this region stand out in all its dimensions and areas is its unique political, economic, cultural-social, geographical and geopolitical features. These conditions have somehow overshadowed the structural equations of the region under the dialectical influence of the interaction of political, economic, cultural-social and security components and power in relation to other actors in the region, so that the increase of cooperation of these governments in this interaction space, eventually led to the formation of an organization called the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981 in the Persian Gulf regional system. The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council is one of the most important regional organizations in the regional environment of Iran, and Iran's policies have always played an important role in the orientations and goals of the council. In this regard, the members of the Council considered the developments in the Middle East, especially the establishment of a democratic and Shiite government in Iraq and the developments of the Islamic Awakening as a shift in the balance of power in favor of Iran and increasing power and influence in the regions of Iran. Movements in the regions of Iran see their lives and survival in danger.  This has caused them to use all their facilities and tools to counter the growing power of the regions of Iran. Understanding the real tensions between Iran and the Saudi-led PGCC countries along the Shiite-Sunni lines in the PGCC has been shaped most regionally and internationally. These differences also undermine Iran's efforts to improve relations with council governments in recent years. Since Hassan Rouhani came to power, he has repeatedly proposed peace initiatives for Saudi-led PGCC member states. Not only has this pragmatic policy not been very successful, but Iran-Saudi Arabia relations have become much colder than before. Relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council have worsened since the Barjam nuclear deal. Iran's regional expansion and the siege of Qatar, while changing the power structure in the Persian Gulf region, created more tension and insecurity in the region and increased the scope of confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, especially after Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the UN Security Council and the announcement of "maximum pressure policy." He turned against Iran. Although several smaller Gulf states have taken a more balanced approach to their relations with Iran, the main policy of the council is by Saudi Arabia with a new configuration of Middle East policy that sees a rare tripartite convergence of interests was regulated against Iran between Saudi Arabia and Israel. and the United States under Trump. According to the actions of the Cooperation Council and foreign interventionist powers, Iran's policy towards the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council is mainly based on three considerations: First, it hopes to turn enemies into friends, improves Iran's isolated position, and resolves the security-geopolitical dilemma in the Persian Gulf region. Second, Tehran's goal is to develop trade relations with its Persian Gulf neighbors and promote Iran's economic development, and third, to cooperate with Iran to reduce US influence in the Persian Gulf and weaken its hostility to Iran. Therefore, this article uses a method of analytical research to review the regional and international policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran from a historical perspective to explain the relations with the neighbors of the Cooperation Council in the post-Iran-Iraq period. The question that arises is what has been the main component and axis of Iran's policy after the Holy Defense, especially during the presidency of Mr. Rouhani towards the PGCC? . This study shows that during Mr. Rouhani's administration, improving relations with the PGCC has been the main focus of Iran's efforts to improve security in the Persian Gulf region. However, a number of structural obstacles, historical distrust, and Iran's movements in the region have severely hostile Tehran's relations with the Cooperation Council and have further increased insecurity in the region as Iran's growing influence in the Arab region coincides with its anti-hegemonic policy. This means that Iran's peace initiatives with the Cooperation Council have faced major obstacles, and Iran's success in reducing tensions and promoting peace plans with the PGCC has not been useful.