“Islamophobia is a disease”- claims Sherene Hassan in Melbourne, brought on by none other than Ayaan Ali Hirsi. No doubt the cure for this disease lies in more Islam. Sherene Hassan is ‘oppressed’- the usual Islamo-victim-speak, because as long as infidels rule with ‘man-made laws’ there can be only ‘injustice’- because only Islam and sharia, Allah’s law, can bring justice and free the Muhammedans among us from oppression, got it you Islamophobe?
From the Herald Sun with thanks to Rosie
EACH morning, when I cover my head with a pastel-coloured silk scarf and step out into suburbia, I am transformed from being a middle-class, educated mother of four.
My colourful hijab makes me a symbol of oppression.
I have already heard the latest negative news story on the radio involving Muslims.
I resist the urge to retreat to the safety of my doona. I go on to face a day when awkward smiles at passers-by are so often met with looks of disdain or pity.
Things were looking up for Muslims. I noticed with some relief that we had managed to avoid the headlines for four consecutive weeks.
“Its all her fault”: Ali Hirsi
This dramatically changed in the aftermath of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s scathing attack on Islam’s treatment of women two weeks ago.
Now more than ever, Islam has become inextricably linked with misogyny.
Hmmm. Wonder why that is?
Ali’s chilling account of the mutilation she was forced to endure as a child rang alarm bells across the nation, and rightly so.
This deplorable act warrants nothing less than unequivocal condemnation.
But the Islamophobic onslaught by talkback callers after her visit was disturbing.
You may have missed Ali noting that female genital mutilation predated Islam because this was almost never emphasised. This, however, does not make it any less true.
Evidence from mummies suggests that female circumcision originated in the Nile valley 4000 years ago.
To this day, it is practised in parts of Africa by some Muslims and Christians and animist tribes.
Nevertheless, Ali’s broader message especially as popularly understood, remains clear.
Islam is responsible for perpetuating this vicious practice as evidenced by the Somali imams in her village.
They insisted on it, she said, to “keep girls pure”. Ali is far less forthcoming about the Christian and animist tribes who do the same.
But it seems we are only comfortable thinking of female genital mutilation as an “Islamic practice.”
* Better ask your imam or your mufti, Sherene, because they think so too.
The same might be said of so-called honour killings, which as fate would have it, also found their way into the headlines last week.
The Daily Telegraph in Britain revealed that 20-year-old Kurd Banaz Mahmod was murdered and buried in a back garden because her parents disapproved of her relationship with an Iranian man.
The report drew a link between honour killings and Islam. It said some Muslim communities in Britain practised sharia law and there was an increase in observance of sharia law partly because of “the rise of Islamic fundamentalism”.
But, here again, we are talking about a pre-Islamic multi-faith phenomenon.
* Not at all, Sherene. Not pre-historic at all. About 130 cases in England alone. More than thousand every year in Jordan. Uncounted others all over Islamistan from Turkey to Timbuktu. Why deny it, Sherene?
Honour killings have their roots in ancient Hammurabi and Assyrian law.
In the UK, officials state that Italian and Greek migrant families have committed similar atrocities.
* BS !
Are we to believe that they too are adhering to Islamic sharia? I think not.
The existence of such a barbaric practice in the 21st century is utterly appalling.
* Why don’t you tell your co-religionists, Sherene?
But while those like Ali claim to champion the cause of Muslim women, in reality their actions are counterproductive.
All they achieve by lambasting the faith that has enriched the lives of millions is to alienate the very people they purport to serve.
I am not averse to robust discussion to attempt to find solutions to the problems plaguing some Muslim nations, but it is vital that any discourse involves discussion with mainstream Muslims.
Clearly a more nuanced approach is needed to deal with such issues rather than placing Islam and Muslims in the dock.
* We are waiting for your ‘nuanced’ approach, Sherene! With baited breath!
SHERENE HASSAN is an executive committee member of the Islamic Council of Victoria
* You know something Sherene: Why should we infidels take the word of some Islamic female if her witness is only worth half of a man’s? Besides, the cat is out of the bag. We have eyes and ears, and every day there are less of us who would have twits like you pull the wool over our eyes and ears…
*
Here is another take on this from Jihad Watch
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
“But the Islamophobic onslaught by talkback callers after her visit was disturbing.”
Disturbing to her perhaps because the message is getting out. Yes, some will fall for this for quite a while, but that is going to have to change.
You are right, Sheik.
Her witness is only half, and some of us know it is even less than that.
I’d believe Hirsi Ali over her any time!
OT, but just recived this via email:
>>Brian De Palma – Movie Director says: on former President Jimmy Carter’s book bashing Israel
“There are only two motives that audiences really buy: sex and money. That wise advice has stayed with me and served me well throughout my screen writing career.
Which brings us to former President Jimmy Carter. Everyone is running around trying to figure why he’s spending so much time bashing Israel. In a world filled with so much horror — the endless and brutal civil wars in Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the daily and quite casual slaughters in Somalia, Zimbabwe, Congo, Chad, Haiti, and the genocide in Sudan — let’s face it, the list of failed states and murderous African and Islamic dictators is endless, so , why pick on Israel?
Well, to clear up the confusion, just cruise on over to the web site of the Carter Center and take a look at the list of donors who have contributed more than a million dollars. W hat a shock, what a rogues gallery: Prince Alaweed bin Talal, the Sultanate of Oman, Sultan Quobos bin Said al Said, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bakir M binLadin for the Saudi Bin Ladin Group, the Saudi Fund for Development, and the Government of the United Arab Emirates.
These are the very same people and states who have been financing jihad all over the globe and fomenting some of the most vicious anti-Jewish hatred the world has ever seen. As Jimmy Carter makes the rounds of the various mainstream media news shows I’m waiting for one honest reporter to ask the former President this simple question: “Mr. President, are you a paid agent of Arab jihadist governments?”
“Your the disease, and I’m the currrre.” said Cobra.
That’s quite brave of Mr. De Palma…
Sherene sez Muslims have “managed to avoid the headlines for 4 consecutive weeks”… uh, what alternate universe does she live in. Half the daily papers are filled with one atrocity after another perpetrated by Muslims.
But, she does have a point. Stoning and female genital mutilation does predate Islam. The stoning, a while back, of that young Yezidi girl demonstrates it’s not just the Muslims who stone their own. However.. the fact that they even embrace those barbaric practices says nothing for their religion and is nothing to be proud of. A religion that hangs on to all of its centuries old doctrine needs to go the way of the dinosaur.
Incognito
I noticed this also:
“Sherene sez Muslims have “managed to avoid the headlines for 4 consecutive weeks”… ”
It’s rubbish of course. More likely to be 4 consecutive articles per day, each day of the week!
You simply can’t get away from it, even if you want to.
(I have tried “the safety of my doona”. Not much help!)
EACH morning, when I cover my head with a pastel-coloured silk scarf and step out into suburbia, I am transformed from being a middle-class, educated mother of four.
Transformed to what
All very easy to pratice her form of light Islam in Oz, she should try Afghanistan, or better still Gaza
“Things were looking up for Muslims. I noticed with some relief that we had managed to avoid the headlines for four consecutive weeks.”
What four consecutive weeks were these? I’d be happy if Islam avoided the headlines for four consecutive days.
Google News “islamic” …
Islamic outrage over knighthood for Rushdie
Gaza’s Christians under the Islamic gun
3 Lebanese soldiers die amid battle with Islamic militants
War on Islamic terrorism against more than Bin Laden
Prepare for Islamic rule, Gaza militants warn
… etc etc
Retreat to the safety of your doona, Sherene, and keep dreaming…
Turkey, 99% muslim, is sure worried about those headscarfs – islamophobes!. Surely Turkey, with intimate knowledge of Islam, would have the nuance this lady is looking for. And here it is:
Onur Oymen of the secularist Republican People’s Party recently denied that the secularist ralliers represented “moderate Islam.” He declared: “You can’t have democracy without secularism. The notion of moderate Islam to check radical Islam is nonsense. This idea being promoted by certain countries should be abandoned.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/05/22/can-turkey-resist-islamification/
EACH morning, when I cover my head with a pastel-coloured silk scarf and step out into suburbia, I am transformed from being a middle-class, educated mother of four.
Transformed to what
On a daytime patrol in central Baghdad just over than a week ago, a U.S. military advisory team and Iraqi soldiers happened to look over a wall and found something horrific.
Scroll down and look at this bitch in the white hijab
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2007/06/who-is-great-satan.html
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2007/06/who-is-great-satan.html
“Pardon the crude analogy, but what if someone handed you a revolver with one bullet and five empty chambers and asked you to put it to your temple and squeeze the trigger? Would you indulge them?
If you are a sane person, then you would naturally decline the offer, regardless of the number of empty chambers. Even a one in a hundred chance of doing harm is hardly a reason, in and of itself, for taking an unnecessary risk.
Consider the similarities to Muslim immigration:
1) In most cases, nothing bad will happen.
2) In some cases, it will.
3) The risk increases as the process continues.
4) There is an utter pointlessness to the whole affair.”
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=1072859