In this somewhat confused article, Sentletse Diakanyo claims that “the Taliban had imposed strict rules on the people of Afghanistan based on their incorrect interpretation of the religious prescriptions contained in the Qur’an as well as the Hadith (set of teachings by the Prophet which are not contained in the Qur’an).” He doesn’t, however, explain in what way the Taliban got these teachings wrong, and his chief objection to a woman wearing the burka seems to be that it “rob[s] us of the inalienable right to admire her ravishing beauty.”
But on one point he hits the nail squarely on the head: the furious reaction to Sarkozy’s statement that the burka was not welcome in France. Sarkozy should have been a good dhimmi, known his place, and shut up.
An update on this story. “Burka violates women’s right to dignity,” by Sentletse Diakanyo in the Mail & Guardian Online, July 1 (thanks to James):
The question that arises out of the overwhelmingly angry reaction to Sarkozy”s view is whether anything associated with the religion of Islam is beyond intense scrutiny and interrogation. There already exists a trend that suggests that those of us who do not follow the religion of Islam are prohibited from examining certain practices widely embraced by faithful Muslims and expressing a view on them. If the issue is the manner in which Sarkozy expressed his view, so be it, but nothing in his view suggests he was intent on promoting Islamophobia and many other things that Dr Drabu accuses him of. The MCB attempts to bury public discourse on the issue of Muslim women’s rights being subjugated.
Yep.