Engaging in critical gender analysis of religion proves challenging as there is often a double blindness at work. On the one hand, most contemporary gender studies, whether in the social sciences, humanities or natural sciences, are ‘religion blind’, while, on the other, many studies in religion continue to be ‘gender blind’ (King and Beattie 2004: 1). As international relations and the discipline of IR grapple with the ‘war on terror’ such blindness becomes untenable. It has been understood both in policy circles and in academia, as a war driven by ‘religious fanatics’, with no respect for women, who attack the rights and freedoms of secular, liberal, Western states that uphold gender equality (Razack 2008; see also Chapter 12).