The Christian Science Monitor has a large feature about American Latinas converting to Islam: "US Latinas seek answers in Islam." (Thanks to all who sent this in.) It's easy to see why Jasmine Pinet would find "Hello, Sister" more appealing than "Hey, mami," and not want to be regarded as a sex object. But the idea that the Taliban originated the features of Islam that discriminate against women, and that a return to the Qur'an will help women assert their rights, is laughable.
The Qur'an, after all:
1. Likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used by a man as he wills: "Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will" (2:223);
2. Declares that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man: "Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her" (2:282);
3. Allows men to marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls also: "If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice" (4:3);
4. Rules that a son's inheritance should be twice the size of that of a daughter: "Allah (thus) directs you as regards your children's (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females" (4:11);
5. Tells husbands to beat their disobedient wives: "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them" (4:34).
UNION CITY, N.J. – Jasmine Pinet sits on the steps outside a mosque here, tucking in strands of her burgundy hair beneath a white head scarf, and explaining why she, a young Latina, feels that she has found greater respect as a woman by converting to Islam."They're not gonna say, 'Hey mami, how are you?' " Ms. Pinet says of Muslim men. "Usually they say, 'Hello, sister.' And they don't look at you like a sex object."
While some Latinas her age try to emulate the tight clothes and wiggling hips of stars like Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, Ms. Pinet and others are adopting a more conservative lifestyle and converting to Islam. At this Union City, N.J., mosque, women account for more than half of the Latino Muslims who attend services here. Nationwide, there are about 40,000 Latino Muslims in the United States, according to the Islamic Society of North America.Many of the Latina converts say that their belief that women are treated better in Islam was a significant factor in converting. Critics may protest that wearing the veil marks a woman as property, but some Latina converts say they welcome the fact that they are no longer whistled at walking down a street. "People have an innate response that I'm a religious person, and they give [me] more respect," says Jenny Yanez, another Latina Muslim. "You're not judged if you're in fashion or out of fashion."
Other Latina Muslims say they also like the religion's emphasis on fidelity to one's spouse and family.
But for many family members and friends, these conversions come as a surprise - often an unwelcome one. They may know little of Islam other than what they have heard of the Taliban and other extremist groups.
That creates an inaccurate image, insists Leila Ahmed, a professor of women's studies and religion at Harvard University. "It astounds me, the extent to which people think Afghanistan and the Taliban represent women and Islam." What's really going on, she says, is a reshaping of the relationship between women and Islam. "We're in the early stages of a major rethinking of Islam that will open Islam for women. [Muslim scholars] are rereading the core texts of Islam - from the Koran to legal texts - in every possible way."
New views of women and Islam may be more prevalent in countries like the US, where women read the Koran themselves and rely less on patriarchal interpretations.
"I think the women here are asserting more their rights and their privileges," says Zahid Bukhari, director of the American-Muslim Studies Program at George- town University. "
Some Latina Muslims say they harbored stereotypes about Muslim women before deciding to convert, but changed their minds once becoming close friends with a Muslim.
"I always thought, geez, I feel sorry for women who have to wear those veils," says Pinet. Then she met her Muslim boyfriend and began studying the Koran with a group of Muslim women. She says she was impressed with the respect they received.
"A women is respected because she is the mother, she takes care of the children, and she's the one that enforces the rules," Pinet says. "They're the ones who are sacred."
Critics of the decisions of Latinas to convert to Islam say they are adopting a religion just as patriarchical as the Roman Catholic faith that many are leaving behind.
"While it's true the Latino culture tends to be more male-dominated, and there's a tendency toward more machismo, I would venture to say it exists [in Islam] as well," says Edwin Hernandez, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Religion at the University of Notre Dame....
Within the Islamic community, Latina Muslims report being warmly received, although language barriers sometimes exist for Latinas who only speak Spanish. There are few Spanish services at mosques and a limited number of Islamic texts in Spanish.
Spanish services? Doesn't the Monitor know that Muslims must pray in Arabic? And as for there being a limited number of texts in Spanish, that may be so -- but I myself studied under Julio Cortes, who translated the Qur'an into Spanish, and I know his translation exists. I wonder what the women in the article would say about the verses I quoted above. (Although I just participated in a FrontPage Magazine Symposium about Islam and women's rights, so I actually have a fairly good idea of what they would say about them at this point. That Symposium should be out this week sometime.)
....That creates an inaccurate image, insists Leila Ahmed, a professor of women's studies and religion at Harvard University. "It astounds me, the extent to which people think Afghanistan and the Taliban represent women and Islam."
Yes, coming from a member of the elite, Egyptian upper-class, this comment should surprise no one. How to reconcile the fact that the bulk of Muslim women exist for the pleasure of their king (their husbands), when there is really no disputing their serious repression everywhere, can only be explained by multiculturism. The multicultural ideology demands that no distinctions be made between cultures or peoples and above all else, we in the west must modify our standards of societal behavior to accept the most blatantly intolerant doctrines at the expense of our own cultural survival.
Meet Harvard Divinity (dhimmi) School's Leila Ahmed, she thinks we have the wrong impression of the Muslim world's treatment of women and is paid handsomely by Harvard to promote this view:
http://www.hds.harvard.edu/faculty/ahmed.html
With such views acceptable at Harvard, what are we to make of the Ivy League institutions which are backing a school of thought that is so outside the realm of reality?
Yes it happens here in Australia as well, people in jail, people from minority groups who feel persecuted.
Law targets militant Muslims in NSW jails Sunday, October 31, 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1231456.htm
Aborigines turn to Islam, By Phil Mercer BBC, Sydney, Monday, 31 March, 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2902315.stm
ISLAM and the WEST Confrontation, comprehension & Coordination, 1997
http://www.ifew.com/insight/v12i01/v12i01.html
A Proposal:
Development of Da'wah Efforts in Australia
Daud Batchelor
(ii) Australia is not a developing country so that the Malaysian concepts presented cannot necessarily be applied directly (without modification) to Australian conditions - except in the case of the Aboriginal Community which is a "developing" community.
History of Islam in Australia Brief history of the Muslim Community in Australia
Islamic Council of New South Wales http://www.icnsw.org.au/content.cfm?nav=History%20of%20Islam%20in%20Australia
"Critics of the decisions of Latinas to convert to Islam say they are adopting a religion just as patriarchical as the Roman Catholic faith that many are leaving behind."
Having grown up Roman Catholic in Latin America (American dad / Hispanic mom), even as a young girl, I could see that the "lack of respect" for women was a result of the machismo and sexism that permeates Latin American culture, and not Roman Catholicism.
That hootchy-mama look that Jennifer Lopez sports is considered attractive in that culture. While my mother would have objected to JLo attire, as a teenager, I caught a lot of grief from my mother's friends because I didn't wear dresses, didn't wear makeup, wore my hair only in a ponytail, and didn't want to go out on "group dates." My mother's friends accused her of trying to raise a nun!
I could never come out with the truth: I didn't want Latin men to find me attractive because I wanted no part of them. Growing up, I would hear stories of this or that married man fathering a child out of wedlock with some girlfriend. Or some married guy would make a pass. And there were always those whistles on the street to dread.
So I CHOSE to dress modestly (and be weird) to avoid the unwanted attention from undesirables.
How tragic that these Latina islamic converts cannot make the distinction between religion and culture. Obviously, they know nothing about the religion they are abandoning and know even less about the one they are diving into.
Being a convert to Islam in America gives a false impression. Ms. Pinet enjoys the protection afforded by a mostly Christian, Democratic society, but should she have to abide by Sharia law, I wonder how happy she would be to have chosen Islam. Tragically her conversion has moved America one step closer to a reality that I hope we will never face.
How tragic that these Latina islamic converts cannot make the distinction between religion and culture. Obviously, they know nothing about the religion they are abandoning and know even less about the one they are diving into.
Michelle 10:36 am. Good comment Michelle, I think you hit the nail right on the head. The noted responces in the article where very shallow as it plays to how they feel about their adventure into Islam. Hope they never make the mistake of going to the middle east or that they begin to experience the true fundamental Islam.
I don´t understand this people but well ignorance in many places is raising and we have religious freedom but only in west because in islamic land not, well I hope they will come back to catholicism like many blacks came back to protestantism from islam, greetings
OT
I just want to make a point. Lately several readers have objected to being referred to as "infidels". This is my take on it, anyhow.
Being an "infidel" does NOT mean that you do not believe in the One True God (who is NOT "allah"). It means that you are an "unbeliever" in the demonic moon-"god" "allah" of the satanic blood cult of islam. Therefore, you can wear your "Infidel" label with pride.
I do!
CGW
Michael,
You made a very good point in your post by distinguishing culture from religion. As a Spanish ex-catholic, I soon realized on my first visit to Mexico how impregnated that brand of catholicism is with the singular idiosyncrasy of the Mexican people. In some instances I wouldn't have call it catholicism at all, meaning by that how strong the cultural element is in the composite. Nevertheless, it doesn't detract from the sagacity of your analysis. If I had to add anything to it, that would be my opinion of how foolish it seems to swap the catholic faith (or Christianity, for that matter) for islam, the cross for the sword and love for hate and life for death. Cannot those converts women read? For it only takes a couple of hours of good reading to realize about that.
A trip to a Muslim country like Iran of Saudi Arabia would probalbly cure most of these fools.
I remember attending a meeting in Los Angeles County soon after 9-11 where the local Islamic leaders wanted to clarify to the local community and county and city fathers that their religion was a religion of peace. They passed out a tiny pocket pamphlet that was nearly 20 pages long and referenced only the most peaceful of tenets in Islam to all that attended that media event. The Islamic speaker claimed along with local dignataries there, that all one has to do is read this little pamphlet to understand how peaceful Islam is(what a sham). I have kept that pamphlet; and when I look at it today ; I always wonder how many of those dignitaries and those of the community never read beyond its handful of words that virtually reflect nothing of what is written in the Quran,and the hadith.
La Raza has been in support for years of the mussis??
This is why we have to stop the flow of Illegals across the borders and get the ones here out!!
I have a Friend who put her girls in a Catholic school on the border she took them out because of what they were teaching she who is Catholic said some things weird was going on something to do with holloween??
She said they were not right??
This story is not new they are doing this around the world!! They come in and convert and when they want to leave? Can't we have to CUT YOUR HEAD OFF YOU CAN'T CONVERT BACK??
THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE THEY ARE MONSTERS WHO FOLLOW PURE EVIL!!
WHEN THE TIME COMES WILL YOU STAND AND DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO PROTCET YOUR CHILDREN,GRANDCHILDREN???
PREPARE FOR THE STORM!!
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Sight,Wisdom, and Courage to Crush ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
This is taqiyya (deception), plain and simple. These muslims are NOT stupid. They see someone who has been mistreated, put down, and rejected by society and hone in for the kill. They approach these simpletons real nice using a lot of flowery talk and flattery. Then, by cherry-picking select scripture that will appeal to them, they finish them off. All cults use these exact same tactics including the likes of David Koresh who knew his Bible and chose to use it for his glory and not the glory of God. The church has not given their people a solid grasp of what the Word of God teaches so they fall prey rather easily to these religious hucksters who promise much and deliver little. One does not need to spend a great studying the false, but much devotion to the truth. That way, a person will know which questions to ask and will not be enticed away from the saving gospel of grace. The cultural aspect of this is not lost on you dear readers. Of course the surrounding culture will affect the type of religious instruction (good or bad). That is not the point. Only a solid foundation in God's word will cleanse the body and free the mind. This is done alone for the most part as I consider myself a self-taught Christian. These poor women have been duped and the only prescription is to devote time to the study of the Koran and the Holy Bible. Remember, both cannot be right, one is true and the other is false. Lastly, let us use the power of prayer to assist these women so that they see Jesus as the Light, the Truth, and the Way for all humanity.
So according to this convert, women have only two choices:
1. to be a Madonna/Christina/Britney hooker lookalike.
2. to be a male-obeying black-moving-object.
What an idiot.
"Other Latina Muslims say they also like the religion's emphasis on fidelity to one's spouse and family."
Wait until these little submissive Latinas find out that the punishment for NOT being fidel to one's spouse and family is death by stoning!
That will be worse than 150 HAIL MARY'S.
Fidelity? The man can marry up to four women! How is that for fidelity? So instead of screwing some 'mami' which you don't know about he's going to bring her and two others home and parade them in front of you. And if you don't like it he's going to first ignore you, then let you to sleep on the couch and finally when he's tired of your whining you're going to get smacked around the house. And then when you want a divorce either he or his family is going to come after you and kill you in front of your kids.
But at least they won't be calling you 'mami'.
"....And they don't look at you like a sex object."
Yeah, right. Wake up, dumb ass. You think a Muslim man wants four wives because he wants four house payments? Four sets of kids? Four car payments?
Do you think that a Muslim man wants four wives so he can eat four dinners every night?
Don't be so stupid. And if you must pretend to be that naive, please don't think that the rest of us will.
Remember, Mohamed says that Hell is full of stupid women.
Mohamed and Allah hate women and the feeling should be mutual.
R Dubya Bee,
You say the Bible or the Koran can't both be true.One is true and the other is false.
'fraid not.
Both are false and that's the truth.
So doc.D, you have the answer to the question asked by all the inhabitants of planet earth since time began. Don't you think maybe it is just your opinion?
Stupid people tend to be suckered into that kind of Islamic nonsense easier. Cultures where jail plays a big part of life also get suckered into a religion that helps them blame someone else!
"Many of the Latina converts say that their belief that women are treated better in Islam was a significant factor in converting."
SUCKERS.
Don't these people bother to inquire beyond the platitudes of some chicken-hawking imam to find out what they're getting themselves into?
When her oh so woman-respecting husband beats her, does she know that he will be justified in doing so? That she cannot go to the police? And that the veil that shields her from those horribly distressing wolf whistles will also shield the bruises from being revealed to others? I suppose she never heard of that Spanish imam who wrote a book on how to beat a wife without leaving incriminating marks. Has any Catholic priest or bishop written such a book recently? But then I suppose she really hasn't heard much about what Islam is really about or what goes on in the world beyond Gerry Springer or Latino Music Videos and gossip magazines, hence is completely gullible to all the smiling lies fed her.
And I wonder what goes on in a Koran-study session with women? Hard-hitting, critical analysis of the Koran and Islam? Or just mindless repetition of how wonderful Islam is because to admit anything else would be to admit that you live a bleak, pointless existence based on 7th Century tribal barbarity and that your culture is basically one huge backward failure that spends all its time hating and blaming everyone else for its miseries, poverty and lack of success.
Patricia,
I am so glad you admonished me about my perceived 'macho' attitude towards women. This article clearly shows how wrong I how was about quoting the Muslim phrase about 2 women are equal to on man when it comes to bearing witness etc. (2women=brainpower of one man)
Women in general, especially Latinas, must be superior human beings and of a higher intelligence, especially when they convert to Islam in droves.
I rest my case!
KJ,
You are a hoot! Keep on posting, my friend.