Category Archives: Women

The Crusader: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It makes me cringe when I hear references to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. An ex-Muslim, a former Dutch parliamentarian, and a feminist, Hirsi Ali is often trotted out as some sort of spokeswoman for moderate Islam. A few years back, she wrote a book (‘Infidel’) and produced a movie ‘Submission’) that condemn harsh treatment associated with Islam; since then, she’s been a celebrity. As blogger Shadi Hamid notes, ‘people seem intent on treating her as some kind of anointed spokeswoman for oppressed Muslim women, a reformer from within the faith or, worse, a kind of pseudo-Muslim Martin Luther’.

“But Hirsi Ali is no Martin Luther. She’s condescending, elitist, and inspires no respect amongst Muslims. Hamid points out that he has ‘yet to meet even one Muslim on the planet, secular or conservative, liberal or illiberal, who actually thinks that Hirsi Ali is helping the cause of internal Muslim reform’.”

Jeb Koogler at The Moderate Voice, 24 October 2007

‘Every street in Britain could look like this in 50 years time’, warns Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Every street could look like thisIn an article headed “Britain will be scarcely recognisable in 50 years if the immigration deluge continues”, Stephen Glover writes:

“The only question that interests me is whether a country that is recognisably British will survive in 50 or 100 years. British culture, whatever it represents, is evidently not worth preserving in the view of some on the Left.

“It is a curious paradox that some of its adherents believe that foreign cultures are worth safeguarding, but … when our own indigenous culture is threatened, we are told that it is parochial and small-minded to think about trying to defend it….

“Preserving one’s own culture is at least as important as preserving one’s infrastructure. Actually, it is even more important, because new hospitals, houses and roads can, with a struggle, be built – but culture, once it has been undermined, cannot be recovered.”

Daily Mail, 25 October 2007

And note the photograph chosen to illustrate Glover’s piece (reproduced above). It prominently features a Muslim woman wearing the niqab and is captioned: “Every street in Britain could look like this in 50 years time.”

Another right-wing attempt to harness women’s rights to anti-Muslim bigotry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The new video from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam, is a graphic, nightmarish, and profoundly unsettling glance into the darkest recesses of our fellow man. Narrated by Nonie Darwish, this film accurately depicts the dehumanizing theology, brutal abuse, and degredation that comprise the daily lives of millions of women in the fascist portions of the Islamic world – arcing like a crescent from sub-Saharan Africa, through Iran, to north-central Asia and reaching into hidden pockets of the United States.”

Front Page Magazine, 22 October 2007

Update:  For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 23 October 2007

Young U.S. Muslims struggle against prejudice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Speaking with kids from high schools and youth organizations in the Dearborn area, Y-Press learned about some of the stereotypes many Americans hold about Arab-Americans and Muslims. The issues affecting Arab teens range from everyday high school challenges to discrimination.

The Abusalah family, natives of Palestine, ordered their meals at a restaurant and watched as the white family next to them got more attention from the waiter: Their order was taken first, the food arrived faster, and the waiter was simply friendlier. He barely smiled at the Arab-American family.

“It’s all the time,” said Reema Abusalah, 15. “We always get the dirty looks and stares. It’s not around Dearborn usually, but when we leave Dearborn, we see people who are not Arab stare at us, give us dirty looks and look funny at us.”

Reema feels that people who don’t live in diverse communities such as Dearborn rely on biased opinions to generate a picture of Arab-Americans.

For example, a lot of movies cast Arabs as villains, and the news media reports more negative stories about Arabs than positive ones. Yusef Saad, 16, saw a documentary called “Real Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People.” Arabs come out looking bad in such films as “Back to the Future” and even the Disney movie, “Aladdin,” Yusef said.

For Muslim teenage girls wearing the traditional Islamic hijab, or headscarf, stereotypes are sometimes intensified. “They think that all Muslim girls are oppressed and forced to put on the hijab. Well, it’s actually the other way around,” said Nour Hijazi, 17. “We want people to look at us and not evaluate how we look, but actually how we are and the way we treat people.”

Indianapolis Star, 21 October 2007

Ref benches teen soccer player because of headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Iman KhalilFor six years, Iman Khalil has worn a headscarf with her soccer uniform. It wasn’t a problem until this past weekend, when a referee decided before a tournament match on Saturday that the headscarf violated league rules.

“The referee looked at me and said, ‘You can’t play in that,'” the 15-year-old told The Tampa Tribune. “This isn’t headgear or anything. It’s part of the faith. I don’t think it should be a problem that I wear it.”

A league official overruled referee Steve Richardson during half-time, but he still refused to let the Muslim girl play in the second half of the game.

“At first I was extremely upset,” she said. “I got very emotional. I kept my cool. I wiped my face because I was crying. But then everyone rallied around us. All the team. All the parents. Even the other team. It was just phenomenal.”

The league later apologized to Iman and reminded referees that players are allowed to wear religious articles as long they don’t pose a threat of injury.

USA Today, 15 October 2007

Islamic scarfs face ban in Australia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Howard Government is considering banning Islamic scarfs at Australian airports, senior government sources have revealed. The security measure would see even the most inoffensive Muslim scarf, the hijab, which covers the hair and neck, banned, along with several other types.

Security officials were especially concerned by two other types of scarf, the niqab and burka. The niqab covers the face, but leaves the eyes exposed, while the burka covers the entire face, with only a mesh screen for the eyes.

The scarf policy is under active consideration in Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews’ office, which is consulting airport security officials over the policy.

Herald Sun, 14 October 2007

Update:  The Sydney Morning Herald quotes a spokeswoman for Andrews as saying: “I can say that the minister’s office is absolutely not considering any such plan.”

‘Burqa’ allowed in Italy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rome, October 9 – The decision by a northern Italian city official to allow Muslim women to wear the burqa has sparked consternation in the country, even though at least one minister supported the move. “We have already said several times, and we reiterate it now, that the use of the burqa is unacceptable,” said a spokesman for Interior Minister Giulio Amato.

A 1975 law, introduced amid concern over homegrown terrorism in the country’s cities, forbids Italians from appearing in public wearing anything which covers their faces. Apart from this law, which appears to apply to the burqa, many politicians on both sides of parliament said the garment was also a humiliating imposition. “I am indignant. Covering up women’s faces is an offence to their dignity,” said Equal Opportunities Minister Barbara Pollastrini.

Vittorio Capocelli, the prefect of Treviso in the Veneto region, decided on October 5 that it was acceptable for Muslim women in the city to wear the garment as long as they were ready to remove it and identify themselves to police when required. A day later Family Minister Rosy Bindi, a prominent Catholic politician, indicated her agreement, saying that it was right to be “respectful of the veil” as long as women wore it of their own free will.

The apparent green light for the burqa drew a stinging editorial from Egyptian-born writer and journalist Magdi Allam in Tuesday’s edition of Corriere della Sera, Italy’s best-selling daily. “If the prefect’s decision sets a legal and administrative precedent on a national level, Islamic women could soon be going to school completely covered, be getting hired in workplaces and circulating freely all over Italy,” he wrote.

Muslim News, 10 October 2007

Bakersfield mosque attack investigated as hate crime

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Kern County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a mosque attack as a possible hate crime. Authorities say Saturday’s incident left windows broken, cars smashed and worshippers frightened.

Witnesses reported that two men entered the women’s section of the mosque early Saturday morning. When the women called for help, the suspects left, allegedly yelling slurs such as “Arab terrorists” and “terrorists go home” as they ran out.

Later that night, witnesses said about 10 people returned to the mosque. They allegedly smashed the windows and damaged the cars that remained in the parking lot.

A spokesman with the sheriff’s department says when deputies arrived, they saw some people throwing rocks at the mosque. No arrests have been made in the case.

Associated Press, 9 October 2007

Jon Gaunt rallies to the defence of ‘our tolerant society’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yes, I know. It’s a bit like the Ku Klux Klan speaking out in support of equality.

Fanatical docs make me sick

By Jon Gaunt

Sun, 9 October 2007

LAST week Muslim zealots were refusing to sell alcohol in Sainsbury’s but this week the lunatics have really taken over the asylum. We now learn that some Muslim trainee doctors are refusing to treat people with drink or sexual problems.

These pious prats won’t be allowed to qualify as doctors if they refuse these aspects of their training, so instead of dithering and wasting our taxes on any more education for these fanatics we should simply tell them to fit in or ship out.

We should also not fall into the trap of thinking this is just an isolated incident, especially after the capitulation of Sainsbury’s over alcohol and now the news that Boots are allowing Muslim pharmacists the right to refuse to dispense the morning-after pill.

All of these zealots think they can get away with these outrages because we have singularly failed to tell people who want to live in this great country that they have to fit in with our way of life.

Even after 7/7 this Government still has the backbone of a blancmange when it comes to dealing with Muslims. Forget concerns about Islamophobia – we should be more concerned with how Muslims seem to be treated with kid gloves.

While the rest of the majority population are told to understand and tolerate their religion, certain members of the Muslim community seem to have carte blanche to walk all over our customs and traditions.

This week the amoebas in Government failed to ban outright the full veil in classrooms, leaving the decision with individual head teachers rather than laying down the law as they have done in France.

Some say we should ban all religious symbols in school but I disagree. This is a Christian country and 72 per cent of us in the last census professed to being Christian and there is a world of difference between a crucifix, a turban, a skullcap and the veil.

This face covering is not a religious symbol but is clearly a sign of repression and oppression. A woman can look modest without resorting to looking like a Dalek and almost becoming invisible in our modern liberal, tolerant society.

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‘Army forks out for 95 hijabs’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Politically correct MoD officials are to issue free hijabs to female Muslim troops – while front line soldiers are having to buy their own kit. Under new service dress regulations, six of the Islamic hijabs will be given to each Muslim servicewoman wanting them. But it has sparked fury amid an MoD cash crisis. Squaddies also claim the hand-out is unfair as they pay out of their own pockets to observe strict military dress rules.”

Sun, 8 October 2007