De l’expérience du sentiment religieux à la haine du féminin : conversion à l’Islam et départ pour le djihad d’adolescents non musulmans

Objectives

Many studies have looked at the phenomena of radicalization and then departure for jihad of French adolescents. A specific question concerns the conversion to Islam followed by a radicalization and departure for jihad of non-Muslim adolescents. This article aims to show the subjective consequences of a conversion to Islam in a context where the environment is saturated by the totalitarian discourse of political Islam and then fails to allow secondary identifications with the desirable feminine. The relationship between mothers and teenagers is at the heart of this work.

Methods

The method used is that of an analysis, based on psychaoanalytical theory, of non-directive interviews with mothers concerned by the conversion to Islam in adolescence of their children and their departure for jihad in Syria and Iraq starting in the second decade of the 21st century. The specific context of the interviews (recent announcement of death or announcement of detention in the camps) required an adaptation of the research interview frame in order to create and maintain a transferential link.

Results

The results obtained through the analysis of the interviews and of the research transference, oriented by psychoanalytic theory, made it possible to confirm the subjective importance of conversion to Islam as a major psychic event equivalent to the discovery of the feminine through the massive presence of matricidal fantasies. These fantasies take the form of the anachronistic practice of taqîya, of the departure for jihad, and remain in the links maintained after the adolescents’ departure.

Discussion

The discussion focuses on the place of fathers and siblings, which could not be explored in the context of this article, thus presenting an opening for further research. Fathers seem to occupy a specific place linked to the need to contact the authorities, the NGOs; they are often the ones to take action. Siblings are very affected by the departure of a brother or a sister, but their reactions are very diverse and merit further exploration.

Conclusion

Adolescence is a time when questions of the feminine and of the religious can be concordant, and can be reversed into their opposite in the hatred of the feminine. It is indeed the foundation on which all totalitarian political ideologies or religious-politico ideologies are built.