The Right’s attitude to radical Islam is as bad as the Left’s » Spectator Blogs

2013/11/21 Leave a comment

A few pieces from the UK on Islam, starting with an opinion piece in The Spectator by Nick Cohen, noting how many on the right are weakening the voice of Muslim moderates:

Consider the title [Silent Conquest]. Muslims and by extension ex-Muslims are not a part of the West. They are outsiders, ‘silent conquerors’, who have sneaked in and torn up our rights. Nowhere can the filmmakers acknowledge that many Muslims, who have come to the West or indeed been born in the West, hope to enjoy the same rights as everyone else. More seriously, they display an ignorance of totalitarian movements, which would embarrass a first-year history student. They ought to know that, just as the first victims of communism were the Russian working class, which the Bolsheviks regimented and all but destroyed, and the first victims of Nazism were Hitler’s German opponents, so the first victims of radical Islam are the Muslims it claims to ‘own’. If they were to acknowledge that elementary truth, however, they would have to abandon their gratifyingly horrific story of a white West under attacks from dark barbarians, and that they will never do.

The right, or at least the most vocal part of it, are as willing as the most vocal elements on the liberal-left to ignore liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims. Like the left it is leaving them to fight unequal battles without help from mainstream society. As I said earlier, their behaviour is one of most glaring and depressing treacheries of our age.

The Right’s attitude to radical Islam is as bad as the Left’s » Spectator Blogs.

And UK Faith Minister Baroness Warsi being quoted in a Pakistani site, reiterating her standard message on Islam, and arguing strongly against the xenophobic views of UK Independence Party:

 “To be an adherent, one must also be a historian. This is a point that the late Benazir Bhutto, the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country, once put particularly well when speaking of teachings in the Quran. She said: “In an age when no country, no system, no community gave women any rights, in a society where the birth of a baby girl was regarded as a curse, where women were considered chattel, Islam treated women as individuals.” …

“Deep, entrenched anti-Muslim bigotry goes against everything this great nation stands for,” she said. “I am concerned that the deeper Islamophobia seeps into our culture, the easier becomes the task of extremists recruiting.”

Sayeeda Warsi defends Islam in British parliament – thenews.com.pk

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Libre opinion – Le racisme masqué | Le Devoir

2013/11/21 Leave a comment

A nuanced opinion piece on the questions related to more rigid or more flexible approaches to laicisme by Marie Darrieussecq, including the difficulties in communication with women wearing the niqab (full face covering), and the links to racism and fear of the “other”:

Je précise que je suis aussi peu pour le port du voile ou du foulard que pour l’exposition de femmes nues dans tous les kiosques à journaux de France et de Navarre (ou du Québec). Pourtant, si je suis contre le voile intégral — cet effacement du corps féminin du domaine public comme un objet sale ou « trop » attractif —, je suis beaucoup plus mesurée sur le foulard. Car ce que masque ce débat obsessionnel en France, c’est surtout un racisme vivace. Frantz Fanon repérait dès les années 50 comment l’idéologie raciste isole des éléments coutumiers chez l’autre pour les ridiculiser ou les monter en objets de menaces, en phobies. Mettre en exergue sans aucune nuance le port du voile — ou l’abattage halal —, c’est non seulement réduire les Arabes de France à un rite religieux, mais c’est une des stratégies pérennes du racisme.

Dans le contexte colonial, il s’agissait en effet, pour mieux asservir la culture de l’autre, d’en garder des bouts folklorisés, comme un rappel constant de ce qu’étaient les colonisés et dont les civilisateurs allaient les « sauver ». La même logique continue aujourd’hui : les anciens colonisés menacent, selon le fantasme, de nous envahir. Pour faire consister cette peur irrationnelle, on isole quelques éléments chez l’autre pour discréditer globalement le « barbare » en lui : regardez comment il voile son cheptel de femmes, comment il abat sa viande ! Et c’est bien pratique aussi de laisser croire que la menace sur les femmes vient surtout de l’extérieur…

Libre opinion – Le racisme masqué | Le Devoir.

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WHEN DOES CRITICISM OF ISLAM BECOME ISLAMOPHOBIA? | Pandaemonium

2013/11/18 Leave a comment

Good opinion piece by Kenan Malik on trying to provide some criteria for distinguishing between legitimate public debate and discussion and when this crosses over into islamophobia. Similar discussions and criteria take place with respect to criticism of Israeli policies and antisemitism:

Much of the problem arises from the way that the debate about Islam is filtered through the lens of the ‘clash of civilizations’, the claim that there is a fundamental civilizational difference between Islam and the West that will, in the words of Samuel Huntingdon, the American political scientist who popularized the term, set the ‘battle lines of the future’, unleashing a war ‘far more fundamental’ than any ignited by ‘differences among political ideologies and political regimes’. The ‘clash of civilizations’ is a threadbare argument, but it is part of a genuine academic debate. It is also the frame through which the ‘otherness’ of Muslims is established, a frame within which both popular discussion and the arguments of the bigots, including tellingly those of Islamists, have developed.

The academic arguments need challenging. So do popular perceptions, and the arguments of the bigots, too. The academic debate is clearly distinct from the popular discourse which in turn is separate from the claims of the bigots. Yet not only does each shade into the other, but the academic debate also provides the intellectual foundation for both the popular discussion and for the arguments of the bigots.

WHEN DOES CRITICISM OF ISLAM BECOME ISLAMOPHOBIA? | Pandaemonium.

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Why Muslims should love secularism

2013/11/09 1 Comment

A good piece by Hussein Ibish on secularism and Islam, and how false definitions of secularism have been misappropriated, and that secularism offers, given the diversity within Islam and other religions, “religious freedom, religious authenticity, and religious meaning”:

What devout Muslims need to understand is that real secularism alone offers them something most of them seem to badly want: freedom. If there really is no compulsion in religion, only a secular society can provide that. Only in a secular system can Muslims be free to practice Islam exactly as they see fit. Any \”Islamic\” polity will of necessity be imposing a particular version or interpretation of Islam, which is an extremely heterodox set of traditions.

The claim that secularism is really just Christianity in disguise is manifestly false. The language is European, inherited from the Enlightenment. But both Western chauvinists and anti-Western demagogues badly misread the fact that although the specific language of modern human rights and freedoms is, for historical reasons, currently packaged in Western terms, this hardly means that they lack non-Western cognates, origins, or bases.

Since at least the 10th century, most Muslim societies have distinguished between political and religious authority, and it\’s absurd to claim that religious freedom originates only or even mainly as a concept from the Protestant Reformation. There are deep roots in both traditional and modern interpretations of Islam that lend themselves to political secularism.

Why Muslims should love secularism.

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Canadian Muslims: The Highlight of A Mosaic

2013/11/01 Leave a comment

Imam Delic provides a good demographic overview of Muslim Canadians, as well as some general thoughts on what it means to be a Muslim in Canada. A bit overly general as, like with all religions, the challenge arises when one’s beliefs are in conflict with society:

To be a Canadian Muslim is to act according to the teachings of Islam within the adopted society.

By exploring core Islamic sources regarding the notion of Muslim identity and at the same time considering the texture and Canadian lifestyle, we can see that there is no contradiction for Muslims in taking up full citizenship and embracing Canada as their own country.

This is what is meant by the path of constructive integration of Muslims, as compared to the less constructive choices of assimilation and exclusion.

This is the path that will take Canadian Muslims towards new horizons of opportunities and help them express their beliefs openly while enjoying Canada’s democratic standards.  Only as such they will be able to claim the Qur’anic title of honour — UmmatanWasata (A community of enlightened moderation).

Being part of Canadian society means facing reality, with all its challenges, head on. It means reforming themselves individually and collectively within the positive contexts of their adopted liberal democratic pluralist culture, while remaining faithful to the basic religious principles that define their core religious identity as Muslims.

Thus, when they settle suitably and reconcile effectively, they can productively live in harmony amid new environments and contribute to the well-being of all. This is a responsibility of both — Canadian Muslims as well as policy makers in Canada.

Canadian Muslims: The Highlight of A Mosaic – Americas – Politics – OnIslam.net.

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France slides right on immigration

2013/10/10 Leave a comment

The continuing slide to the right in France’s immigration and integration policies, likely to be counterproductive in a country that has largely failed in integration.

What seems lost on the republicans, however, is that as coercion takes the place of persuasion, young Muslims are showing even greater fervour for their faith than their parents. But with a population of five million Muslims expected to near seven million in a decade or so, few politicians appear willing to defy public opinion by abandoning the stick for the carrot….

As Dominique Reynié, director of the Foundation for Political Innovation, observed in Le Monde: “Twenty years ago, Valls’s remarks on the Roma would have come from [Front National founder] Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 2010, president Sarkozy’s remarks were shocking. In 2013, worse language emanates from the Socialist Interior Minister. Almost 80 per cent of French voters agree with him. President Hollande shows his de facto support. It is a testimony to the rightward slide of the [political] landscape. All of France is hardening.”

France slides right on immigration – The Globe and Mail.

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Des limites de la notion de «choix», Fundamentalism

2013/10/09 Leave a comment

Commentary by Stéphanie Gaudet, sociologist, on the notion of choice, and the absence of imams in the discussion over religious obligation and choice, and some of the mixed messages that result. Messages either affirming choice or not from a faith perspective would be interesting to hear, and might flush out some of the more fundamentalist and less tolerant approaches to matters of faith.

Je pense que la Charte a été très malhabilement présentée et discutée. L’iconographie représentant l’interdiction des signes ostentatoires est grotesque et, disons-le, nous ridiculise en tant que société. Je pense toutefois qu’il faut faire une analyse critique de ce qui se passe sous nos yeux. Il y a un faux débat sur la notion de « choix » du port du voile. Les femmes laïques et musulmanes se jettent en pâture devant les médias, mais il faut se poser la question : qui est absent du débat ? À mon avis, les grands absents sont les hommes qui portent le discours musulman : les imams. Les leaders religieux qui, comme dans toutes religions à travers l’histoire, ont une emprise importante sur les discours et les modes de vies de leur communauté.

Voile, avortement, etc. – Des limites de la notion de «choix» | Le Devoir.

Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish on Christian fundamentalism, and how it can be equally sterile and limiting, who starts with a quote from the Pope on the importance of doubt:

If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good. For me, this is an important key. If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt.

And then continues with his personal reflections:

I discovered my faith as a joyful, wondrous, mysterious thing. When it came time for me to go to what Americans call high school, I was enrolled for a while at a Catholic Grammar school, until my parents took me for a visit. Its dourness, brutality, darkness and rigidity made me and my parents shudder and they mercifully placed me at a Protestant high school. I think I probably owe my faith to that decision. If I had been exposed more fully to the dark side of the Catholic church and its institutions – and you only have to look at the hideous history of the church in Ireland for how dark it truly was – then I almost certainly would have rebelled completely. I have authority issues, as some readers may have noticed.

The Brittle Certainty Of Fundamentalism

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I’m sorry, but we have to talk about the barbarism of modern Islamist terrorism – Telegraph Blogs

2013/10/07 Leave a comment

Hard to argue against this harsh critique of modern Islamic-inspired terrorism and the weakness of relativism in condemning it for what it is: senseless, aimless, barbaric violence.

What we have today, uniquely in human history, is a terrorism that seems myopically focused on killing as many people as possible and which has no clear political goals and no stated territorial aims. The question is, why? It is not moral masturbation to ask this question or to point out the peculiarity and perversity of modern Islamist violence. My penny’s worth is that this terrorism speaks to a profound crisis of politics and of morality. Where earlier terrorist groups were restrained both by their desire to appear as rational political actors with a clear goal in mind and by basic moral rules of human behaviour – meaning their violence was often bloody, yes, but rarely focused narrowly on committing mass murder – today’s Islamist terrorists appear to float free of normal political rules and moral compunctions. This is what is so infuriating about the BBC’s refusal to call these groups terrorists – because if anything, and historically speaking, even the term terrorist might be too good for them.

I’m sorry, but we have to talk about the barbarism of modern Islamist terrorism – Telegraph Blogs.

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Canadian anti-Muslim sentiment is rising, disturbing new poll reveals – Macleans.ca

2013/10/04 Leave a comment

Another in a series of polls that demonstrates discomfort with Islam, not entirely unexpected given the number of domestic and international stories on terror-related incidents, plus the normal discomfort with more recent waves of immigration.

And not surprisingly, while the hijab is largely accepted in English Canada (65%), in Quebec the figures are reversed (63% oppose allowing public servants to wear the hijab). But opinions converge less on the niqab than I would have thought; while 90% in Quebec would not allow the niqab in public sector workplaces,  only 62% shared that view in English Canada. I suspect should a co-worker show up in a niqab in English Canada, the reaction would be less tolerant.

Canadian anti-Muslim sentiment is rising, disturbing new poll reveals – Canada, Capital Read, Editor’s Picks – Macleans.ca.

http://www.angusreidglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Canadians-view-non-Christian-religions-with-uncertainty-dislike.pdf

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‘Wear hijabs in and out of class’: Pupils at state Islam school become the first to be forced to cover up with Muslim headscarf | Mail Online

2013/09/30 1 Comment

The debate in the UK on state schools with dress codes, in and out of school. Lacking in the article is a comparison with other faith-based state schools, and their dress codes (e.g., Catholic, Jewish, Sikh etc), and how they are applied.

Quebec, ironically, also provides state financing to faith-based schools, despite it ongoing focus on secularism.

A reminder that providing financing can reinforce parallel communities and reduce opportunities for integration.

‘Wear hijabs in and out of class’: Pupils at state Islam school become the first to be forced to cover up with Muslim headscarf | Mail Online.

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