It is said by the pundits of PC, that it is wrong to denounce Islam for what is being done in it's name.
Yes, and no.
I understand those who denounce any perceived prejudice, or bad-mouthing of the religion of Islam. It is a noble aim to want to encourage diversity and inclusiveness. The problem is that the religion you are essentially apologizing for, is in itself acting as an agent of divisiveness and exclusion. A differentiation must be made between the dogma of the religion and how it is used by governments or heretical movements within the religion, and the so-called "true faith". However we cannot turn a blind eye to the realities of what is occurring in the name of Islam either, or indeed we do a disservice to the faith itself.
In our zeal to appear politically correct, we have forgotten to be ethically correct.
The fact of the matter is that Islam, or more accurately the perversion of it, IS being used to hurt people. Period. And frankly this simple fact MUST be confronted head-on or to be perfectly honest, any redeeming value the "true faith" might have had, will be lost forever.
This is NOT a statement of prejudice. I did not
come to view Islam and it's use with a set of preconceived notions (the definition of
prejudice) and hold to them in spite of evidence to the contrary. Rather, I came to Islam
with an open heart, and was shocked to find a religion used by some to perform and justify the
most horrific abuses of my fellow men and women, and I was outraged by the injustice of
it.
Lest you think this is an anger I would solely direct at Islam, let me state unequivocally that it is NOT. If we were to be talking about Christianity during the Inquisition or the Crusades, or the violent statements of other so-called religious "leaders" you would hear the same sense of outrage towards that religion's application. And fundamentalism - whether we find it either in Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism is to be viewed with equal disdain, because it infantilizes the believer. It desperately clings to the word, and ignores the spirit, while violently opposing any whose questions might shatter it's fragile worldview. But faith, REAL faith, can only be arrived at through doubt. On the other side of questioning lies deep faith, because you have been willing to risk loss.
It is the DUTY of the faithful to object most strenuously to a perversion of the faith. This is not what has happened in the Islamic world however. Rather the "faith" has been used to reinforce hatred, and to entrench inequality because subjugating a portion of the populous (women) was convenient for another portion of the populous (men) to retain a perception of superiority. That idea of superiority is entirely unwarranted, untrue, and in fact diametrically opposed to any modern tenet of faith that might be called just, or worthy of reverence.
Muslims themselves should be the ones MOST offended by how their faith is being used, but rather than deriding those who use the religion as a tool of oppression (not just in government but in the daily lives of individuals), more often than not, you'll hear many Muslims defending the faith and saying, "Well but that's not true Islam. True Islam is peaceful and just."
I'm sorry if this hurts, but where is it applied in such a manner? Where is Islam just? Where is it inclusive? Where is it honorable and kind?
We are condemning the abhorrent policies of the Taliban, but the use of Islam as a tool of oppression extends over the length and breadth of the Muslim world.
In Iran, women are forbidden to travel overseas without the permission of their husband or father. How is this just or honorable?
In Pakistan, for a woman to be able to prove she was raped, four adult males of "impeccable" character must have actually witnessed the penetration, virtually insuring that no male will ever be punished for this hideous crime. How is this just or honorable?
In Islam, women are only permitted one spouse, while men are permitted four. How is this just or honorable?
Under Muslim law, daughters can only inherit half as much as sons, a woman's testimony in court on financial matters in particular is worth half that of a man's, and most abhorrently, the compensation for murdering a woman is half that for murdering a man. Their lives are literally considered half as valuable. How is this just or honorable?
For a woman in most Islamic countries it is next to impossible to petition for divorce, yet a man can divorce a woman simply by saying "I divorce you" three times. In Pakistan and India, he is also only required to pay alimony for three months - just long enough to ensure that the woman isn't pregnant. Fear of poverty keeps many women locked in loveless often abusive marriages, and typically the father will be awarded custody of the children, so to leave her husband also means losing her children. How is this just or honorable?
The Koran itself in sura
4:34 says that men have "pre-eminence" and are "overseers" of women,
and goes on to say that an insubordinate wife should first be admonished, then left to
sleep alone, then beaten. Battering women in Egypt is so prevalent, that social workers
actually have to spend time convincing an abused woman that their husband's violence is
unacceptable. How is this just or honorable?
In Kuwait, the Emir Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah decreed in 1999, that women should be given the right to vote. The Kuwaiti Parliament (who wouldn't even exist had it not been for the willingness of women in the American military to fight for it's freedom) shot it down. The Kuwaiti Parliament also voted to segregate the sexes at Kuwait University. How is this just or honorable? It's downright ungrateful to the women who fought on their behalf in the Gulf.
In Morocco, the government is trying to give women more marriage and property rights, but Muslims are consistently resisting every effort at equality. How is this just or honorable?
In Saudi Arabia, our supposed allies, women are not allowed to drive a car, they are not permitted to hold any government job outside of giving medical care to other women, cannot fly anywhere without permission, and are forbidden any education in advanced fields such as engineering or law. This in spite of the fact that Mohammed stated that the education of girls was a sacred duty. How is this just or honorable? It doesn't even adhere to the faith itself!
Even more abhorrent, female genital mutilation is not only approved of in most of sub-Saharan Africa, as a way of supposedly "controlling women's sexual desires" that the World Health Organization estimates that as many as 140 million girls have been subjected to the hideous procedure. How in Heaven or Hell can you claim that this is just or honorable? Mohammed decreed that sexual satisfaction was a woman's entitlement. Again, the faith is allowed to be contradicted. How can Muslims allow this?
Muslims in the Indian province of Kashmir demanded that women start wearing veils, and when the call was ignored, they threw acid on the faces of any unveiled woman they came across. How is this just or honorable?
Unless Muslims themselves begin to dismantle this perversion of their faith by standing up in their mosques and objecting to the inequities, unless every Muslim male begins treating the women in his life as true equals under the sight of Allah, your words in defense of your faith are shallow and worthless. You must be willing to nail your objections to the abuse of your faith to the doors of your mosques, or in truth, your faith will collapse under the weight of your adherence to mindless dogma made by men, not Allah.
Seven hundred years ago, Islam was a beacon of intelligence, scientific achievement, and enlightenment, while the medieval European world buried in the ignorance and darkness of another faith, Christianity, which was bound at the time by mindless dogma. Now Islam has become a model of narrow-mindedness, hatred, ignorance, and fanaticism. This is a real tragedy of history. Islam has begun to mimic all the worst aspects of medieval Christianity.
It is said that if you take one step toward Allah, He will take two steps toward you. I submit that by tolerating injustice, the Islamic world has been walking away from Allah for decades. And Muslims above all else should be most angered by this, yet they are the ones who most frequently act as apologists for it's abusers.
I ask you to reclaim your faith, bring it into the new millennium, upright, open, honest, and equitable.
Islam means "to submit". Well there is more to life than submission, and many Muslims, in their silence have submitted not to Allah, but to the evil of small-minded men. Muslims must do more than merely denounce terrorism such as that committed on September 11th, they must denounce the daily terrorism being committed against it's own women worldwide. The West isn't forcing Muslims to act this way towards their women, Muslims are doing it to themselves, and are using Islam as their excuse. There is a cancer eating at the heart of the Islamic faith, and only Muslims can put it right.
