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The Saudi author Badriyya Al-Bishr, who is nothing if not courageous, writes this in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. From MEMRI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
"Imagine you're a woman. You always need your guardian's approval, not only regarding your first marriage, as maintained by the Islamic legal scholars, but regarding each and every matter. You cannot study without your guardian's approval, even if you reach a doctorate level. You cannot get a job and earn a living without your guardian's approval. Moreover, there are people who are not ashamed to say that a woman must have permission to work even in the private sector."Imagine you're a woman, and the guardian who must accompany you wherever [you go] is your 15-year-old son or your brother, who scratches his chin before giving his approval, saying: 'What do you think, guys, should I give her my permission?' Sometimes he asks for... a bribe [in return], heaven forbid! [But] your brother avoids taking such a bribe in 'cash' because his self-respect prevents him from touching a woman's money. So he prefers the bribe to be a car, a fridge, or an assurance of money that you will pay in installments [for him], until Allah gets him out of his financial straits...
"Imagine you're a woman, and you are subject to assault, beatings, or murder. When the press publishes your photo [together with] the photo of the criminals and [descriptions] of their brutality, there are people who ask: 'Was the victim covered [by a veil] or not?' If she was covered up, [the question arises:] 'Who let her go out of the house at such an hour?' In the event that your husband is the one who broke your ribs, [people will say] that no doubt there was good reason for it.
"Imagine you're a woman whose husband breaks her nose, arm, or leg, and you go to the Qadi to lodge a complaint. When the Qadi asks you about your complaint, and you say, 'He beat me,' he responds reproachfully 'That's all?!' In other words, [for the Qadi], beating is a technical situation that exists among all couples and lovers, [as the saying goes]: 'Beating the beloved is like eating raisins.'
In accord with Qur'an 4:34. Read it all.
Posted by Robert at October 23, 2005 6:31 PM
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If something like this could ever resonate among Muslims, I'd have more hope that they could be receptive to "Imagine you're a non-Muslim..."
But I for one am not willing to wait patiently by until they begin to respect us, waiting for them to wade through 500 years of reformations and enlightenments -- all of which have never happened in Islam, and show no sign of beginning now -- It is too much to ask members of the First World to stand by while primitives who make the 3rd world look like an advanced culture from 1000 years in the future continue to make us suffer with their ludicrous notions of their superiority and right to one day reign supreme.
It won't be through feeble posits like this one from this "brave" Saudi to break the back of their 1400 year old system of repression, terror, and hatred.
You know how I know? Islam works fine just the way it is! Why should it change or "reform?" It has done a splendid job of gobbling up great civilzations and cultures for a millenium and a half --
I have listed them elsewhere -- Persia -- India -- Spain -- Egypt -- Assyria -- Byzantium -- and many many more...
Why would an ideology, a political system, a "religion" reform itself when it has such a stellar record of promoting itself and slaughtering and destroying with such success the targets of its predations?
Islam WORKS!
The terrorism of Islam WORKS!
The mysogeny of Islam WORKS!
The oppression of the "infidel" in Islam WORKS!
Why in the world would they consider changing this nice state of affairs?
Muslims show little sign that they wish for their religion to be any different -- if they did, surely they would have had their reformations, their enlightenments?
There is no evidence of it. Anyone who hold out hope that THEY will reform is aiding the Great Jihad. In fact, one of Islamic Jihad's greatest assets is the assurance that more sophisticated, mild kind and advanced civilizations will ALWAYS vainly hope that what the Muslims are up to -- isn't what they're up to --
The thought of a bunch of backward rubes coming to your lands intent on destroying you in the guise of all they pretend to be -- It's something the mind just can't quite bring itself to believe --
They trade on this confusion and incredulity on the part of the superior citizen and, like everything else, the Muslim uses the infidels traits of trust, technology, and wealth against him.
Terrorist jujitsu -- The skycraper becomes the weapon of mass destruction -- the plane becomes the weapon of mass destruction -- the cell phone becomes the instrument of the Jihad. -- the rights and freedoms of the infidel become the instruments of Jihad -- the secular institutions become the instruments of Jihad -- the trust of the infidel becomes the instument of his destruction...
Posted by: jsla![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 23, 2005 7:09 PM
Bingo, jsla! Muslims get everything they want by being muslim! And if they don't get what they want, then it's because they're being discriminated against for being muslim! It's win-win for them.
Actually, this article should read "Imagine you're a Saudi woman..." I do feel sorry for them. I remember an interview Barbara Walters did with some of these "oppressed" women. They told her straight out that they were quite satisfied with their way of life. They didn't want to live like American women or felt that they needed to be liberated. Not having the right to drive wasn't such a big thing.
In another newspaper article, I remember reading that Saudi women weren't particularly interested in democracy or having the right to vote. Who would they vote for or why would they bother to learn about the issues?
We've spent entirely too much time worrying about those muslim women who are perfectly satisfied with what islam holds for infidels but who complain when the worst of islam is directed at them.
Posted by: 3812Michelle at October 23, 2005 10:44 PM
A Saudi wrote this?
I could've sworn they were John Lennon lyrics!
Posted by: Shy Guy at October 24, 2005 5:31 AM
jsla is right. Terrorism and jihad work because so much of the Western Establishment is already on their side, no matter what atrocities they perpetrate against others or even against fellow Muslims [consider Algeria in the past 15 years].
Jsla is right again about destroying civilization. And on this, the slimy Edward Said was wrong --or deceitful. It is wrong to write as Said did, and as many others do, that Islam represents the East, the Orient. After all, the Arabs/Muslims destroyed the high cultures and civilizations of the ancient East. Alexander, the Lagids, Rome, Persia, the Byzantine Empire never destroyed the ancient Oriental civilizations the way the Arabs did. They submerged cultures, languages, ancient peoples. And then Said came along and defended Islam/Arabs as if they were the Orient. The Arabs were the wreckers of the ancient East, and the surviving remnants of the ancient East cannot be saved by obscuring the identity, originally independent of the Arabs, of the Jews, Copts, Maronites, Assyrians, Armenians, etc. Yet, so many in the Western academy today propagate the very lie that Said did. One of the prerequisites for peace in the Middle East is to educate people about the real history of the region before satisfying any Arab demands.
Posted by: Eliyahu at October 24, 2005 7:27 AM
So in islam beating your wife and extremely overt male oppression of all female family members is as common as "eating raisins".
This may well be the sickest thing I've read yet about islam. But this is what islam wants for us all. The freedom to be unfree.
But open your minds! All you have to gain is your chains.
Prophet Geoff
Beer Be Upon Me
at October 24, 2005 11:14 AM
I really have to wonder why so many of our women here in the US are tripping over themselves to become Muslim. I think it has to do with being "different" and wearing the "trendy" clothes.
I think it serves those liberal islamic apologists right when their foreign muslim men beat the crap out of them and skip country with their kids.
at October 24, 2005 12:09 PM
Constantinople, it's not merely a matter of "trendy". There is a crypto-racism going on here -- a reverse, self-hating racism on the part of Leftist whites in the West.
Posted by: Dr. Pepper at October 24, 2005 12:54 PM
Dr. Pepper:
"...There is a crypto-racism going on here -- a reverse, self-hating racism on the part of Leftist whites in the West..."
I totally agree with you there. It's sad how many in our populace practice a regimen of self-loathing and guilt for other's actions. I think they are the icon of the apologists.
Posted by: Constantinople at October 24, 2005 1:38 PM
Pepper and Constantinople:
Friday's frontpagemag.com featured a symposium of disaffected leftists, including Dr. Phylis Chesler, the noted feminist author. Not surprisingly, there were some very illuminating theories and observations on what makes some people decide to champion a perceived victim with such fanaticism that feminists were able to oppose the removal of the extremely myscogenistic Taliban regime. The term one of the participants came up with was "malignant narcissism."
Posted by: waterdragon52 at October 24, 2005 2:21 PM
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