The fearless Muslim women of West Virginia, from whom we have heard positive things in the past, are standing up for their rights. While the mistreatment of Muslim women is distinct from the mistreatment of non-Muslim dhimmis in Islamic law, this is a positive example of the Sharia being confronted by universal ideas of human rights -- a welcome development for dhimmis and prospective dhimmis everywhere. From IANS:
Seven prominent Muslim women in the US are launching a national organisation and campaign in Morristown, West Virginia, Friday to ensure that women are not deprived of the right to pray inside mosques.The group is first holding a conference titled 'The Daughters of Hajar: A New Generation of American Muslim Women Speak,' sponsored by the West Virginia University Centre for Women's Studies. ...
They will then walk peacefully to a local mosque, enter through the front door and pray in the main hall, the organisers said.
"This conference of Muslim women will have a historic impact and help us re-script the current history and face of Islam," said Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hajar, known as Hagar in the Bible, was the historical mother of Islam and a symbol of a woman's strength, the organisers said.
"The Daughters of Hajar is bravely tackling traditions and taboos that deny women rights that Islam gives them," Sajida Nomani, one of seven the organisers, said.
"Their work will make the world a better place," said Nomani, a retired entrepreneur and president of rights group Morgantown Muslims and Friends.
The other participants are activist-poet Nabeelah Abdul-Ghafur, author Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, novelist Samina Ali, author-activist Sarah Eltantawi, Arkansas professor Mohja Kahf and author-journalist Asra Q. Nomani.
Six months ago, Morgantown became a powerful symbol of Muslim women's rights in the US when Sajida Naomi and other women walked through the front door of the local mosque.
They prayed in the main hall of the mosque, saying they were reclaiming the rights Islam gave women in the 7th century.
Mosque leaders had asked the women to enter through a back door and pray in a balcony - a position that was subsequently reversed by the board.
How is this good? Now the women can be taught how to be jihadis. What an advance!!!
Although, the sooner they all die, the sooner the world will have no war.
Ibn Rushd:
I was going to say, "Oh great! Now the women will be able to pray to the same god of death as the men!", but you beat me to it!
Please contact me.
Ethylred
No -- I do see it as good. Generally speaking, this could make the mosque less extremist, and more moderate. The inclusion of women in the main hall of a mosque would be totally unacceptable to all jihadis (I don't think this is a big assumption). The more women receive their equal rights in mosques in this country, fight for them, the more likely that the jihadis will be marginalized.
Muslim women have the potential to help fight the extremism in mosques. The women who have created this organization really do so at their own peril, whether in the US or not. This could be the first step in kicking the extremists out of US mosques, and helping to foster equality for women in Muslim homes. As a woman, I see it as a positive step. My glass is half full, I guess. I am trying to be hopeful.
I believe that they already pray to Allah, but not in the main hall. Heck, if women are now jihadists and homicide bombers as are men, they should be able to pray side-by-side.
Although they seem peaceful and hope to make the world a better place, they are all one fatwa away from becoming violent as long as radical, violent clerics can issue death sentences and send out bombers and expect to be obeyed.
I have seen Sarah Eltantawi on Fox News, defending the Muslim point-of-view and debating issues involving Muslims vs. non-Muslims. She is an articulate young woman...I always supposed that she was put on to represent a "kinder, gentler"version of Islam for public relations purposes. I don't remember what Muslim organization that she represented while appearing on the talk shows but I bet that her contract is up and will not be renewed by whatever Muslim organization employed her.
She's with MPAC...articulate, yes, moderate...most definitely not.
I'm so glad this injustice is being exposed
by those tired of the "Big Lie" that Islam protects the rights of women.
When CAIR Canada reported a hate-crime against a Mosque they failed to see the irony in screaming
"Racism" and "Islamophobia" ,claiming to be the victim of intolerant bigots that don't understand
the Peaceful and Just tenets of Islam,the article
stated vandals firebomb the "Womens" enterance
to the Mosque.
So many times I hear the bearded Nabobs insist
that the segregation is misunderstood because
Islam exhalts the Females and gives them their own
worship area.
Yeah,right,and Black-Only washrooms were there
to make ex-slaves feel the new freedom in
America and show how special they are.
Hey,why don't we tell criminal they're geting
a free extended tour of the Federal Prison
system which include meals,showers,gym and cable TV.
Since it is estimated that 80% of all American mosques are nothing but Saudi-funded wahhabi daw'ah centres, let's look to the Umdat al-Salik for guidance re. women and group prayers:
f12.4 Group Prayer:
It is better for women to pray at home than at the mosque (AQ: whether they are young or old). It is offensive fo an attractive or young woman to come to the mosque to pray (O: or for her husband to permit her), though not offensive for women who are not young or attractive when this is unlikely to cause temptation. (N: the author's words here must be interpreted in light of the following details: If a woman's going to group prayer or elsewhere will definitely lead to temptation between the sexes, it is unlawful for her to go. If such temptation can be definitley prevented, her going to attend group prayer remains sunna, as is attested to by the hadiths that have reached us on the subject. If temptation is feared but not certain to occur, her going becomes offensive. Whether such temptation is likely to occur something that differs with different times, places and people...."
This sexist, misogynistic gibberish goes on for another few paragraphs, but here's the Reader's Digest version: hotties stay home, crones welcome. And, no, I'm not making this up...
(Of course, when a woman is enmeshed in a burqua, who can tell what she looks like?!)
Time for planting some informants. Actually, the mosks should all be bugged by now anyway. Bugged and equipped with hidden cameras all over these terror/extremist breeding grounds.
Frankly, I am at a loss as to why any woman would want to convert to Islam.....being forced to wear niqab and hijab, can't go out in public on your own...
To the Canadian Muslim women
The pain of the ages is in the blood
passed down for thousands of years
bequeathed by sorrowing mothers
through a bitter stream of tears.
Don't be a mindless slave,
your body enclosed by a robe,
tight chains that softly bind,
your hair covered, eyes lowered,
your face molded into a mask,
deceit of the most cruel kind.
Now is a chance,
Awake and dance,
sing your freedom song,
voices blending, an unending harmony
for you are woman and lack for nothing.
So says the poetess of the Free.
It's basically a good move. It is a crack in the monolithic rigid structure of Islam. Women will play a large role in reforming islam and rescuing it from the insane apocalyptic death cult that is hijacking it.
The next step will be for these women to bravely speak out against terror jihad.
Mike H
Abad, I tried sending you an email last week, but it said your email doesn't exist. I like your comments and think you're an ex too.
I'm sorry, but I strongly dissent about the West Virginia mosque case, and see Sarah Eltantawi and her friends in the UWVa Women's Center as just another bunch of bullying, provincial, American feminazis who need to be told where to get off.
Should the WVa mosque file a counter-suit saying that these West Vrigina ladies are threatening its Free Exercise rights, I might just--at this point--file an Amicus Curiae brief on their behalf. If the Cuban Santeria-based Church of Lukumi Babaly Aye is allowed to sacrifice animals in quiet Florida suburbs, a mosque ought to be allowed to practice sexual segregation.
The First Amendment speaks of how the government must not interfere with the free exercise of religion; not about forcing those who are not secular liberals into the secualr liberal mold.
If it's against the rules of Islam for a woman to enter a masjid by the same door as the men, then Sarah Eltantawi and her friends in the UWVa Women's Study Center are in the wrong. If there are Muslims who don't like what they see in their own religion, they have the right to form their own liberal mosques, or convert to another religion. In the good ole US of A, there are a whole slew of them to choose from. If there are ethnic considerations, well, there's been an attrition of Muslims into Evangelical Protestant churches, to the end that some such congregations use Arabic or Farsi.
Although I'm a conservative Republican, one point where I strongly disagree with the approach of a lot of American media, academic, and governmental circles in the current troubles is the way they try to police the Muslim conscience from the outside. This WVa case simply reeks of this stupid attitude. If Islam is indeed an ugly and irreparable religion, we Christians have the responsibility to use a loving witness and ethical example to show that there is an alternative--and that the Gospel is a door Muslims may enter rather than a club over their heads. We have no business at all pretending that we can chop Qu'ranic and hadith texts along with the best at al-Azhar and Qom.
To EARL
I have yet to see an attractive Muslim woman,the pale skin and depressed look of hopelessness isn't exactly a selling feature
for Islam.
Somehow Allah missed the part about Vitamin D
be made under the skin when exposed to moderate
levels of sunlight,enemia and depression are
signs of a lack of the Vitamin.
Forcing people to deprive their need for sunlight is cruel and medically dangerous,yes
even Nuns need sunlight,but it's not the law
to wear the habit 24/7 and they can go out in
public without needing permission.
KNOW ISLAM - NO PEACE
Kepha - Muslims do have the right to the internal organization of their religion as long as it does no harm to the members and to the rest of society.
I am thinking about the Southern Protestant religions that use live rattlesnakes in their religion. Handling these snakes causes harm. Over the years, many people have been bitten, some died, prompting government intervention.
Would you want the government to interfere with Islam if, for instance, a particular sect of Islam required that little girls go through female circumsicison? What about that practice on adult women? What if the sect demanded that husbands beat their wives or that parents kill or maim their errant daughters?
I object to Islam on the grounds that it harms its members at poses the threat of the same physical harm to non-Muslims, as well a the threat of dhimmitude. We do have a right to question WHY they have these practices and the ORIGIN of these practices, the Koran and A-Hadiths in that these believes and practices are a threat to us all.
Kepha - Muslims do have the right to the internal organization of their religion as long as it does no harm to the members and to the rest of society.
EPG, Exactly!
As one who quotes the text "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" against the Snake Handlers (a small group, by the way, and not likely to become dominant in American Evangelicalism), I stick by my post. If Ms. Nomani, the protagonist in the Morgantown mosque story finds her place of worship uncongenial, she and like-minded folk can leave and start their own mosque. As for clitorodectomy, I've heard people who wanted to jump on the Jews over male circumcision on the 8th day after birth as well.
I have problems with Islam, too, as ought to be clear by now. But I don't like the nanny state, either. Asking women to enter by a different door of the local mosque neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket--to quote the secular saint Thomas Jefferson. Roger Williams had conscience pangs over Puritan persecution of Quakers and became a seeker back when the wilderness and the Indians weren't all that welcoming. The ladies in Morgantown, whom I would by now means desire deported or physically harmed, have a lot more choices.
Re the W VA muslim women: "They prayed in the main hall of the mosque, saying they were reclaiming the rights Islam gave women in the 7th century."
I'm sorry, 'reclaiming the rights islam gave women in the 7th century'? Was that before or after that fearless pedophile warrior 'prophet' of islam, mohammud,(cbuh) proclaimed that women were 'walking vaginas' and pronounced the need for them to be covered from head to toe? Clarifications welcome.
epg, you said: "I am thinking about the Southern Protestant religions that use live rattlesnakes in their religion. Handling these snakes causes harm. Over the years, many people have been bitten, some died, prompting government intervention."
Of course that practice is nuts. There are certainly nuts in the charismatic holy roller type sects in Christianity, but they make the choice to handle those snakes, duh, and if they get bit, it's their fault. They don't, however, take those snakes and toss them at buildings where innocent and uninvolved people would get bit, and they don't force other Christians to handle snakes. If these people themselves, having made the choice THEMSELVES, get bit for religious reasons, then why should it be on the gov't to intervene?
You (epg) also said: "Would you want the government to interfere with Islam if, for instance, a particular sect of Islam required that little girls go through female circumsicison? What about that practice on adult women? What if the sect demanded that husbands beat their wives or that parents kill or maim their errant daughters?"
Genital mutilation of females is an accepted practice in islam. I won't go into the lurid details of the procedure, the info on this is available. If an adult muslim woman is truly stupid enough to submit to this procedure in America, that's her choice. If the attempt is made to do it on a little girl, then the American gov't clearly has the right to step in and intervene because we do not practice genital mutilation of children in America, and don't come back with the circumcision of baby boys because that's done hygiene reasons in the Jewish culture. Gentiles have this done on their infant sons, too. Adult males also willingly undergo circumcision for various reasons. Islamic female genital mutilation is for one purpose- to destroy the female's ability to have pleasure during intercourse.
Husbands do beat their wives in islam to keep them in chronic submission. In America we call it domestic violence/spousal abuse and it is prosecuted. And, dtrs are routinely killed and/or maimed for the sake of upholding the 'family honor' even if the dtr was forcibly raped.
What a truly sick religion islam is.
epg:
Excellent post! If I could write that good, I could turn Catherine into a liberal!
chris:
We don't let children enter into binding contracts for a good reason: they may make unwise decisions that they will regret later. So if grownups want to handle snakes, mutilate their genitals, smoke cigarettes, etc. its no one's business. They are consensual crimes, in other words, committed with the CONSENT of everyone involved.
BUT
We also don't let insane people enter into legally binding contracts, for obvious reasons. For a rational person looking in from outside the church, mosque, or asylum, it is hard to differentiate between someone who is crazy and seeks to harm themselves and someone who is religious and seeks to harm themselves.
That is why over at bartcop he's coined the phrase "religiously insane."
Recall the recent case wherein a religiously-insane couple wouldn't let their child receive a simple shot to combat an allergic reaction to bee stings. The child died. If a rational, sane person decides that they don't want to live, that's fine with me. If a nut wants the same thing, I think we should consider that an unwise urge. And if someone wants to make a child suffer and/or DIE to please their so-called God, that IS my business.
Read up on history... these religious nuts have fought against rights and democracy every step of the way. They fought against the right for women to vote and not be legally beaten by their husbands. They fought for the "right" to beat their employees. They fought for the "right" to own slaves. They fought for the "right" to abuse animals. They fought for the "right" to brainwash their children into a crazy religion.
Now, let's see these so-called "feminist" muslims women go do the same thing in a REAL muslim mosque. Go do it in Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or Pakistan. THEN I'll be impressed.
Yes Roger Daly, that is true. I have read several articles about the Vitamin D. Unfortunately, the feminazis (whoever termed this gets a thumbs up) don't believe a word of it. They say that the women like to not get the sunlight, like to be at home, like not knowing what your kids look like. Makes me sick.
Aloow "unclean women, especialy during "menses"? LMOA never happen. Thats worse than letting a pig nest in the mosk. The Mullahs will faint, the men will go crazy. Thats pure blastphemey.
Does anyone remember when outed liberal back bencher Shiela Cops ran into a mosk in Toronto,or Ottawa, trying to drum up support for herself?
She basicly got shunned by the muslim community.
Nathan,I do remember it and there was another
case of Islam's tolerance.
There was a Islamic learning centre and Mosque
that was to be built just Northeast of Toronto.
The ceremony had several speakers and Copps
was one of them,sadly she was forced to ware
a Hijab and spew the party line about Islam
and Peace.
The irony here was that Elinor Caplin should
have been there but a Jew wasn't welcomed and
the Liberal's didn't want to hurt anybodies
feelings.
It's so insulting to trivialize someones faith
by putting on a symbolic piece of religion
costume as part of denying your faith.
Muslims have lots of rules for entering a
Mosque and Sikh temples force you to don a
mini-turban. Just try to get a Sikh to take
off their turban to enter your place of worship,this idolatry is all part of forcing
other to adjust to their faith.
France is right to ban religious headgear in
schools because it will avoid a Muslim
majority in a classroom from asking non-Muslims
girls to wear Hijabs out of respect to Islamic law.
Dan McTeague appeared in a Pickering Mosque
just after some vandalism to the building,the
video showed Cleric's denouncing Jesus as the
Messiah and the crowd sat silently knowing
several Christians were there to denounce
the attack on Muslims as intolerant and bigotted.
This cheap charade was pathetic and shameful
for the Muslims leaders to do this to guests in
you Mosque,just try inviting Muslims to a church
and see what happens when the preacher mocks
Mohammed or Islam.
Keith said:
"And if someone wants to make a child suffer and/or DIE to please their so-called God, that IS my business."
Because after all, Keith, you are the state, and you have every right to police matters of faith and individual parenting decisions, don't you? The state is all-powerful and must be placated at all costs, mustn't it? The belief here is that physical health, real or imagined, is more important than local control. This is the kind of foolishness that results in people being thrown in jail because of spanking, child protective services hauling away kids because the neighbors saw something, and all sorts of other Orwellian nightmares.
"Read up on history... these religious nuts have fought against rights and democracy every step of the way. They fought against the right for women to vote and not be legally beaten by their husbands. They fought for the "right" to beat their employees. They fought for the "right" to own slaves. They fought for the "right" to abuse animals. They fought for the "right" to brainwash their children into a crazy religion."
Keith, you need to consult your history book. What fundamental religious belief have all of the mass-murdering regimes of the 20th century shared? Atheism. That's right. It is foundational to communism, and that wonderful belief system ushered in the murder of roughly 80 million people, if the Black Book of Communism is accurate. The only religious system to come even close to that is Islam. Christianity is nowhere close to these two.
Christianity fought against the right to not beat wives? Sure, keep spreading your untruths. I suppose you think it makes you look knowledgable.
Christianity fought against giving women the right to vote? That wasn't purely a religious issue, as I'm sure you know.
A right to abuse animals? So you favor animal morality police too? Welcome to totalitarianism, Amerikan style. I wonder if kicking a dog will result in a few months in the slammer in Keith's Amerika. (I'm sure it would. After all, we know that punishing animal abusers is much more important than catching murderers and rapists. They can be "rehabilitated"...sure.)
Christians fought against rights every step of the way? And you call yourself knowledgable on history? Who in the heck do you think founded this country? What principles are behind the concepts of limited government? Did you know that states had their own state churches through the 1800's? You claim to be knowledgable, that much is obvious. Whether you are or not is a matter of much debate.
And I'm not even talking about Christianity on a global scale, but just here in America. Keith, if you can't get it right in one country, what makes you think you have any idea as regards religion in all countries? All you have is hate, not facts.
The truth is that Islam has no priesthood, no final authority as the hierarchical christian churches have. The definition of Islam is up for grabs in a way that is difficult for a Catholic, for example, to understand. The women are part of the community. They seem to be taking a reasonable approach in peacefully agitating for their right to become a mainstream part of the community. The fact that this is likely to drive the local jihadi brigade out is very much of interest to me as is the idea of reestablishing the legitimacy of the idea of islamic reform.
Muslims have an obligation to clean up their own house. I see this as a functional (if unconventional) step in that direction. That makes these women very good americans and, no doubt, good muslims as well.
12 people showed up for the protest:
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/06/05/bd/