Many Muslims denounce the violence, homophobia, misogyny etc in their religion and choose to cherry pick those parts out. And that’s great. But the uncomfortable reality remains that ppl who want to engage in those acts have religious justification to support them.
This preamble from Bari before a talk w her and Ayaan is poignant. Apparently only some “women of color” speaking about our “authentic experiences” matter.
Zero. The answer is zero. There are no female Imams in the UK. Just answer the question. Such a cringe and transparent commitment to dishonesty and obfuscation
Hopefully there are Muslim women willing to push back against the misogynistic edicts that prohibit women from the role
“I can't just leave my house and go shopping. If it wasn't for police protection I wouldn't be able to do my work at all. Without police protection you can't even voice your opinion, not even in #Germany."
Examples of slut-shaming: the hijab perpetuates the toxic myth that women who wear it are good and clean and pure and women who do not are filthy whores.
Growing up steeped in fear taught me a very valuable lesson: don’t.
Take precautions, prepare for contingencies, be careful, be smart, but don’t live in fear. Live in power. If you’re not happy w your life, then change your life. Decide what you want, and then make it happen.
Sorry if that sounds trite-but it’s important to remember. We got bombarded w those msgs as GenX. It was in our movies and music and after school specials. The idea of grit and fight has been replaced w victimhood. One is active and powerful, the other is passive and powerless.
And here’s where the mob comes for me...I include this pandemic. Don’t live in fear of this virus. Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands-but go out and feed squirrels in your local park. Have a snowman competition w your neighbors. Stop waiting to live again. Live now.
Islam teaches:
-gay ppl should be killed
-ppl who leave Islam should be killed
-Muslims shouldn’t befriend nonMuslims
-Muslims should strive to spread Islam across the globe
-women are less intelligent than men
Also fact:
-many Muslims choose to ignore some of those edicts
When a Muslim tells you they’ve chosen to ignore one and you respond w Taqiyya! Liar! That’s not helpful. What would be helpful is to encourage and support them in their aim to reconcile their religious identity w living in 2020. It’s not perfect. But it’s still a positive step.
When Saudi Arabia denounces the terrorism in France (even though they are tyrants to their own ppl) I am happy about that. It’s a step. It’s a better step than the one chosen by Iran, Turkey, or Pakistan. I know there are still many steps to go.
This is worth watching. Though I have a major criticism. There’s no such thing as Saudi Islam. It’s true that Mosques and schools funded by Saudi are more fundamentalist, but that’s because the books and scholars from SA are more direct and literal Islam. dailymotion.com/video/x5m0n45
I’m definitely no fan of Saudi, but this documentary was totally unfair. They’re painting Saudis as these villains trying to spread some ideology w nefarious intent. No. They are simply funding the spread of Islam. Everything they were teaching is clearly taken from the religion.
As I outline in my book, our Mosque and Islamic school was run by an Imam from India. Things changed significantly when we got funding from Saudi. The Indian Imam was replaced w an Egyptian Imam w a wife in niqab. But it was not ‘Saudi’ ideology. It was just a more literal Islam.
French police have raided the homes of dozens of suspected Islamic radicals following the beheading of a teacher who showed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his pupils.