Mehdi Hasan | Islam Is A Peaceful Religion

I found this an excellent analysis and deconstruction of Islamophobia. Kudos to Mehdi Hasan he is an asset to the UK Muslim community.

RIP Mohammad Saleem

FEMEN - Saving Muslim women one bra strap at a time

I Am Not Oppressed!

Muslim helpline reveals majority of faith attacks on women

The majority of Muslims physically attacked, harassed or intimidated because of their faith are women, according to the first results from the UK's official helpline for victims of Islamophobia.

More than 630 incidents were logged during the first 12 months of the helpline, launched in an attempt to quantify the scale and nature of anti-Muslim violence in Britain.

Some of the most egregious attacks recorded include a family being forced from their Nottinghamshire home, a five-year-old girl knocked over by a hit-and-run driver and a Somali lady who had dog faeces placed on her head by a white man while shopping in south London.

The attacks, collated by the helpline, Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), show that Muslim women were targeted in 58% of all incidents.

The majority of physical assaults committed in the street were on women wearing Islamic clothing, with most victims describing the nature of the attacks as seemingly "random".

High-profile female targets have included communities minister Lady Warsi who was threatened online by an English Defence League (EDL) member and journalist Jemima Khan, whose 14-year-old son received anti-Muslim comments on Twitter.

Of the perpetrators, the majority were subsequently found to have had links to recognised far-right groups such as the British National Party (BNP) or the EDL. So far, information provided to the helpline has led to the arrests of 21 far-right EDL supporters, with more than 40 incidents reported against EDL leader Tommy Robinson alone.

Members of the BNP or EDL were involved in 54% of all incidents, of which three-quarters were committed by men. The average age of perpetrators were between 21 and 30.

The results follow a report by think-tank Chatham House which identified a considerable Islamophobic sentiment in the UK, detecting a "wide reservoir of public sympathy for claims that Islam and the growth of settled, Muslim communities pose a fundamental threat to the native group and nation."

The majority of incidents received by the helpline related to what it described as "abusive behaviour" with 74% of recorded incidents occurring online. However, experts agree that even non-violent incidents have a profound adverse impact on peoples' lives.

Fiyaz Mughal, co-ordinator of Tell MAMA and director of non-profit group Faith Matters said he was "shocked" by the amount of racial hatred they had detected in their first year of monitoring, particularly online.

Mughal, a former advisor to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, added: "We are calling on police and politicians to do more to tackle this shameful wave of fear and prejudice. From the internet, to the workplace, the street and even houses of worship, too often Muslim women and men are becoming the target of vicious, sometimes violent, abuse.

He added: "Recent history shows us what happens if we allow our fears to run unchecked. Demonisation of 'the other', misguided beliefs that Muslims are somehow a monolithic block, unchecked lies that Islam is a violent religion or that British Muslims wish to abuse white girls must be challenged."

He is now calling on police forces to drastically improve their recording of Islamophobic crimes. At the moment just two forces, the Metropolitan police and City of London police, currently record anti-Muslim crimes separately. Mughal also wants the Home Office to take over monitoring of online hate and far-right groups from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Other areas that the Muslim community believe could be improved include more prosecutions against online-based hatred.

"The police frequently fail to take victim statements, fail to appreciate the terrifying effects of these incidents upon women and vulnerable children. Few police forces even bother to record Islamophobia as part of their reporting systems. More training is needed at a time when police are facing budget cuts; we need more leadership too from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which, unhelpfully, has talked about fewer rather than more social media prosecutions," added Mughal.

During 2011 2,000 hate crimes were recorded against different faiths in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by police with officers at the time admitting that they were unclear how many were against Muslims because separate figures were not recorded.

Source

Baroness Warsi: Fewer than one in four people believe Islam is compatible with British way of life

Fewer than one in four people now believe that following Islam is compatible with a British way of life, Britain's most senior Muslim minister will warn today. Highlighting unpublished research showing that a majority of the country now believes that Islam is a threat to Western civilisation Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will say that “underlying, unfounded mistrust” of Muslims is in itself fuelling extremism. And she will cite new figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers showing that between 50 to 60 per cent of all religious hate crimes reported to police in Britain are now perpetrated against Muslims.

 “My fear is that seeing one community as the ‘other’ is a slippery slope that will enable extremists to advance their twisted interests unchecked,” she will say. “I don’t have to remind anyone what happens when an unfounded suspicion of one people can escalate into unspeakable horror.” Two years ago Baroness Warsi, who has responsibility in Government for faith and communities, was criticised claiming that Islamophobia in Britain “had passed the dinner table test”.

 But in her speech to a support service for those who have suffered anti-Muslim attacks Baroness Warsi will say new data supports the evidence of widespread anti-Muslim feeling in the UK. She will cite new research by academics that shows that just 23 per cent of a representative sample questioned said that Islam was not a threat to Western civilisation. Just 24 per cent thought Muslims were compatible with the British way of life – with nearly half of people disagreeing that Muslims were compatible. This compares with research among Muslims that showed 83 per were proud to be British, compared to 79 per cent of Britons overall. “When I said that Islamophobia had ‘passed the dinner table test’ I got a fair amount of stick,” she will say. “There were those who denied the problem existed. There were those who said talking about it was dangerous. But let me tell you what’s really dangerous: It’s when a country turns a blind eye towards that discrimination.”

She said preliminary figures from the Association of Chief Police officers found that between 50 to 60 per cent of religious hate crimes were now perpetrated against Muslims - amounting to hundreds of attacks a year. But Baroness Warsi will warn that not enough leadership is being given by politicians to tackling Islamaphobia and misconceptions about Islam in the UK. “Anti-Muslim hatred is a form of prejudice and there should be no place in Britain for this prejudice,” she will say. “It would be a more powerful message from a non-Muslim, someone for whom this is not personally painful. ”The fact is that everyone should have an interest in this issue. “It’s not just a matter for Muslims or a matter for people of faith. It’s a matter for everyone who cares about Britain being the modern, equal, fair society that we want it to be.”

 Baroness Warsi said more work needed to be done highlighting Muslim role models such as Mo Farah. “To those who say that there is a conflict of being loyal to Britain and a Muslim, you have to look no further than Mohamed Farah,” she will say. “Our national hero is a practising Muslim. The double gold medallist saw no conflict between crossing the finish line in the Union Flag and dropping to the ground in prayer. ”In fact, he showed how seamlessly religion and patriotism can go together.“ She will also cite Muslim like her own family - who fought alongside British soldiers in both world wars.

”Thousands of Muslims from the Commonwealth fought alongside the Allies in both the world wars. These patriots fought and died for the freedoms we all enjoy today. “People like my two grandfathers who fought for this country long before my parents came to its shores. And you will therefore understand why I will not take lessons on loyalty from those on the extreme right who demonstrate the ideology of intolerance – the very fascism that my grandparents fought all those years ago.” It’s a matter for everyone who cares about Britain being the modern, equal, fair society that we want it to be."

 Baroness Warsi will pledge further Government support for combatting all types of Muslim discrimination and restore Britain's reputation for tolerance. ”Let’s prove that we once again can rise to the challenge and stamp out this new and rising form of prejudice. There should be no place in Britain for this prejudice.“ Source

Death by brown skin

Sunando Sen, a 46-year-old Indian immigrant, recently opened a small copying and printing business in New York City’s Upper West Side with his hard-earned savings. Described by friends as “very educated” and “so quiet, so gentle, so nice,” Sen’s American dream ended in tragedy last Thursday when Erika Menendez fatally pushed him in front of an oncoming subway train.

Menendez admitted the hate crime, explaining she “pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.”

Never mind that Sen was raised Hindu and the 9-11 terrorist attacks were coordinated by 19 foreign hijackers primarily from Saudi Arabia.

An unbalanced, paranoid mind marinated in our oversaturated Islamophobic environment is numb to such cultural specifics and susceptible to conflate anyone appearing “Muslimy” as the “enemy.”

Although Islamophobes did not cause the NYC murder, they contaminate civil society with their toxic ideological fuel and remain a beacon for bigots, hate-mongers, and the mentally unhinged, all of whom emerge from the same diseased infrastructure.

Citizens of this dangerous, fringe minority include Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 individuals last summer to punish Europe’s alleged leniency towards Muslims and multiculturalism. Upon reviewing Breivik’s 1,500 page anti-Muslim manifesto, which frequently cites notable American Islamophobes, counter-terrorism expert Marc Sagemen concluded thisIslamophobic  rhetoric is “not cost free.”

The cost of such hate is mostly borne by members of the AMEMSA (Arab Middle Eastern Muslim South Asian) communities, however the tainted profit is collected by bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, co-founders of the “hate group” Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), part of the lucrative  “Islamophobia network” subsidized by inciting fear-mongering and misinformation against Muslims.

SIOA claims that it is a “human rights organization dedicated to freedom of speech, religious liberty, and individual rights; no special rights for special classes.” However, the Anti Defamation League reviewed SIOA’s activities and concluded SIOA “promotes a conspiratorial anti-Muslim agenda under the guise of fighting radical Islam. The group seeks to rouse public fears by consistently vilifying the Islamic faith and asserting the existence of an Islamic conspiracy to destroy ‘American’ values.”

In the fall, SIOA purchased inflammatory anti-Muslim ads that continue to appear in New York City and Washington D.C. metro stations and buses.  One ad reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel, Defeat jihad,” suggesting all Muslims are savages. Another ad features a picture of the World Trade Center towers burning next to two Quran quotes.

In light of SIOA’s recent propaganda in NYC subway stations, it is not far-fetched to wonder if Menendez’s hate toward Sen was in some way influenced by these ads.

After news broke of Sen’s murder, Robert Spencer tweeted what sounded like a justification for senseless, anti-Muslim hate crimes: “If Muslims would stop doing evil in name of Islam and jihad, no one would respond with evil to them.”

This is typical rhetoric from Spencer, a hack whose writings are so toxic they reverberate globally and damage both national security and our relationship with Muslim communities abroad. Before her death, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazhir Bhutto name-checkedSpencer in her biography as an individual who “uses the Internet to spread misinformation and hatred of Islam…he presents a skewed, one-sided, and inflammatory story that only helps sow the seeds of civilizational conflict.”

Spencer’s blog “Jihad Watch” was cited more than 162 times in mass murderer Breivik’s manifesto.  Spencer has published the writings of Serge Trifovic, one of the leaders of the Bosnian Serbs during the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims. Spencer believes the neo-Nazi group English Defense League “deserves the support of all free people.”

Spencer’s colleague in hate, Pam Geller, who never met an anti-Muslim conspiracy theory she didn’t immediately publish as fact, believes “devout Muslims should be prohibited from military service. Would Patton have recruited Nazis into his army?” She also thinks President Obama is a Muslim, illegitimate son of Malcolm X who once went to Pakistan for drugs and jihad, and that the Arabic language is a spearhead for anti-Americanism. She believes stealth jihadists have infiltrated Disneyland because employees wear headscarves to work. Like Spencer, Pamela Geller once strongly endorsed the English Defense League writing, “I share the EDL’s goals… We need to encourage rational, reasonable groups that oppose the Islamisation of the West.”

In a perfect world, these rantings would be amusing fodder for an amateur comic.  However, when over 60% of Americans say they do not know a Muslim and Islam has its lowest favorability rating ever, extremists like Geller and Spencer disproportionately inform and influence the nation’s conversation and perceptions about Islam and Muslims.

According to a new quantitive analysis published by the American Sociological Review, sociologist Christopher Bail mentions Stop Islamization of America as one of the “angry and fearful fringe organizations” that “not only exerted powerful influence on media discourse about Muslims in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, but ultimately became some of the most influential mainstream groups in the field. By 2008, these fringe organizations not only permeated the mainstream but also forged vast social networks that consolidated their capacity to create cultural change.”

These Islamophobic memes do not exist in a victimless vacuum. There is a cost to such dissemination of hate.

In 2012, The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reported a 300 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate groups. In 2010, the FBI reported unprecedented 50 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes, with 160 reported cases. In 2011, the number dipped slightly to 157.

SPLC mentions the 2010 Ground Zero Mosque debate as the key driver for the recent surge in anti-Muslim sentiment. The controversy and subsequent protests against the Park 51 community center, which is neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero, was directly manufactured and orchestrated by Pamela Geller and SIOA. Now, there are over 50 ongoing nationwide movements against allowing Muslims to build their constitutionally protected houses of worship.

Recently, a man convicted of setting fire to an Ohio mosque said Fox News convinced him all Muslims are “terrorists.”

Last August, recently defeated Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) told a town hall in Chicago that Muslims in America are “trying to kill Americans every week.” A few days later, air rifle shots were fired at a mosque in north suburban Morton Grove, Illinois. Soon after, someone hurled a 7-Up bottle filled with acid and other unspecified materials at an Islamic school in Chicago during nighttime Ramadan prayers.

Nearly 31 states have introduced an anti-sharia bill, which is about as necessary as a bill banning big-foot or unicorns.  Yet, 6 states have passed it (Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee, Kansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma.)  The author of the bill is attorney David Yerushalmi, who serves as counsel to none other than Pamela Geller.

Islamophobia is not just a “Muslim” issue. It never was. Sadly, it is a cancer affecting all our communities.

Sen’s horrific death was yet another episode in which an innocent individual’s brown skin tragically caused him to be mistaken as an anti-American threat. Last August, White supremacist Wade Michael Page murdered six Sikh Americans at their Wisconsin temple. The first post 9-11 hate crime murder was of Arizona gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh American specifically chosen by the murderer because he was “dark-skinned, bearded and wore a turban.”

A senseless tragedy like this affords an opportunity, requires necessity and demands urgency for diverse American communities, especially Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, to unite in solidarity against hate and intolerance. In America, there exists space for legitimate criticism, debate, and discussion about  religion, race, and ethnicity. But we must finally confront ourselves and ask how do we, as a society, benefit from hysteria, fear and scapegoating? What do these Islamophobes inspire except division and lucrative, personal paychecks?

Yes, we give the KKK a freedom to speak their nonsense, but we as citizens and as a nation have disempowered them, denied them a mainstream platform and silenced their megaphone.

The question now at hand is how many Sens and Sodhis will it take to expose these fringe Islamophobic voices, marginalize them, and move onward, together, as they slither in shame and eventually drown in their own irrelevance. 

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Ohio mosque arsonist says he was under influence of Fox News

 

An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to an Ohio mosque attributed his crime to the influence of Fox News, which he says convinced him that "most Muslims are terrorists."

 

Randolph Linn, 52, of St. Joe, Indiana pleaded guilty to arson for burning the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. His plea will result in a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a 40-year sentence.Linn told the court that on September 30 he had gotten "riled up" as a result of watching Fox News and drinking beer.

 

 Linn claims to have drank 45 beers in seven hours before heading to the mosque and setting a fire in the prayer room. He was also reportedly armed with a revolver at the time.During the court proceedings, Judge Jack Zouhary asked Linn if he knew any Muslims or knew what Islam was about."No, I only know what I hear on Fox news and what I hear on [right-wing talk] radio," Linn replied."Muslims are killing Americans and trying to blow stuff up," Linn told the judge. "Most Muslims are terrorists and don't believe in Jesus Christ," Linn falsely stated, ignorant of the fact that Jesus is revered as a prophet in Islam.

 

After he was arrested on October 2, Linn told officers, "Fuck those Muslims... they would kill us if they got the chance."Linn will be formally sentenced on April 16. A 2010 University of Maryland study found that Fox News viewers are the most ignorant on key issues. And another study conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University determined that Fox News viewers know less than people who watch no news at all.

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Daily Show correspondent, Aasif Mandvi takes on Muslim stereotypes

Aasif Mandvi’s job title as a TV correspondent is both a complete joke and utterly realistic: Senior Muslim Correspondent.

He works for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the highly rated comedic news program that, at its best, can be even more influential than real American newscasts. And his work under that title, as well as countless others (“Senior Middle East Correspondent,” “Senior Asian Correspondent”) has propelled him to prominence.

But the comedian is no longer just going for laughs. In his new play, “Disgraced,” Mandvi takes a serious look at the tensions between Muslims, Jews and Christians that linger in post-9/11 United States.

The show breaks just about every taboo about the interface between East and West culture. Seated in an American living room, Muslim, Jewish, black and female characters discuss social issues like racial profiling and Islam in America.

“The identity of Islam and the way Islam is viewed by the West has changed after 9/11,” Mandvi said.

He was inspired to do the play by its writer, Ayad Akhtar, who sent Mandvi a draft two years ago.

“I read it and I thought, wow, this is an amazing play and very rare are there roles for brown actors and especially Muslim American actors that sort of deal with the identity issue in this way and in such a sophisticated, nuanced way as this play does,” Mandvi said.

The issues discussed in the play, Mandvi said, are universal – not unique to Muslims. “Jews, Christians and other people have come up to me and said, I identify with this Muslim character on stage and his own identification with his tribal identity. And the fact is that, you know, the way we were raised and the things we were taught shape us.”

Mandvi, who was born in India and raised in England and the United States, will continue his satirical reports for the The Daily Show.

Over the years he has made it clear on the show that he is not afraid to use his ethnicity to make a joke, and a point. But is there any line he will not cross?

“I’ll exploit the brownness as far as I can,” he joked with Amanpour. “Sometimes, through satire, I get to sit on that fence between cultures, between East and West and comment on it and just by virtue of the fact that I am ethnically who I am.”

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Child Sexual Exploitation is Not an Ethnic or Cultural Crime

In her oral evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, the deputy children's commissioner, Sue Berelowitz, said: "... What I am uncovering is that the sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country. As one police officer who was a lead in a very big investigation in a very lovely, leafy, rural part of the country said to me, there is not a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited."

It was therefore a welcome opportunity when parliamentarians were able to debate the very sensitive subject of 'Child Sexual Exploitation.' An opportunity to debate protecting children from becoming victims of the most abhorrent abuse.

I was dismayed when the focus of the debate was deflected away from this and entangled instead with issues of race and religion. Tory MP Kris Hopkins insisted that "Time and time again it's a white girl being raped by Muslim men".

It seems that Mr. Hopkins had completely disregarded evidence presented to the Home Affairs Select committee in which the deputy children's commissioner when questioned on this point had stated this was not an issue of race or religion, this was an issue of methodology and was simply 'one' type of sexual abuse taking place. A point made also by the assistant chief commissioner of Greater Manchester police and the judge presiding over the recent exploitation case in Derby.

Separately, and in a wider context it is equally important to emphasise methods to define this debate. There are many methods which Mr. Kris Hopkins and others neglect to mention when taking their misguided arguments on race and religion: the trafficking of vulnerable young girls who are forced in to prostitution by criminal gangs, more recently we see with Jimmy Savile and others who have used their position and power to satisfy their grotesque and perverse needs. We learned of the abuse taking place in care homes such as North Wales, or cases of affluent men travelling to the Far East to satisfy their perverse desires, then there are methods deployed by Internet groomers, or the cases of abuse carried out by Catholic priests.

The common factors and themes which run through cases of child sexual exploitation are not race or religion but that the perpetrators are male and prey upon vulnerable young victims.

Arguments which point to Asian perpetrators seeing young white females as 'easy meat' do not take note that sadly such females are rarely from a happy, secure family life and are usually from the most vulnerable group in our society. A sexual predator does not consider the race and religion of their victims, those who are preyed upon are targeted because of their vulnerability.

The brutal exploitation of vulnerable young victims raises important and worrying questions which must be openly and honestly debated. We should be asking ourselves how these victims came to be in such exposed positions and why their families and local agencies were
unable to protect them.

The number of young girls in our society who lack a family structure which can protect them is increasing. Statistics show that a third of the victims are in care, while others are from poor backgrounds and lack self esteem or the empowerment to change their lives. Sadly it is these factors which make them more vulnerable on the radar of an exploitative sexual monster. Whether these young victims are white or of another ethnicity does not make them more or less vulnerable.

Kris Hopkins and the others in favour of his argument risk pandering to the whims of the BNP and other far right groups. This is not an ethnic or cultural crime. Child exploitation, grooming or child abuse of any other kind is not uniquely or predominantly carried out by one ethnic or religious group. Nine out of ten of those on the sex offenders register are white British.

Yesterday's debate should not have been about the ethnicity and religion of the abuser, nor should it be an opportunity to tarnish an entire community.

This is a debate about the vulnerability of victims, let's not forget about them.

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Truth about the Prophet's wife

 The Orientalist scholar W Montgomery Watt wrote of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam: "Of all the world's great men, none has been so much maligned."

His quote seems all the more poignant in light of the Islamophobic film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked riots from Yemen to Libya and which, among other slanders, depicts Muhammad as a paedophile. This claim is a recurring one among critics of Islam, so it deserves close scrutiny.

Critics allege that Aisha was just six years old when she was betrothed to Muhammad, himself in his 50s, and only nine when the marriage was consummated. They base this on a saying attributed to Aisha herself, and the debate on this issue is further complicated by the fact that some Muslims believe this to be a historically accurate account. Those who accept this saying argue that, because the Qur'an states that marriage is void unless entered into by consenting adults, Aisha must have begun puberty early.

They point out that, in seventh-century Arabia, adulthood was defined as the onset of puberty. (This much is true, and was also the case in Europe: five centuries after Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, 33-year-old King John of England married 12-year-old Isabella of Angouleme.) According to this perspective, Aisha may have been young, but she was not younger than the norm at the time. Other Muslims doubt the very idea that Aisha was six at the time of marriage, referring to historians who have questioned the reliability of Aisha's age as given in the saying. She had already been engaged to someone else before she married Muhammad, suggesting she had already been mature enough by the standards of her society to consider marriage for a while. It seems difficult to reconcile this with her being six.

In addition, some modern Muslim scholars have more recently cast doubt on the veracity of the saying, or Hadith. In Islam, the Hadith literature is considered secondary to the Qur'an. Hadiths were transmitted over time through a rigorous but not infallible methodology. Based on all known accounts, estimates of her age at marriage range from nine to 19.

Because of this, it is impossible to know how old Aisha was. What we do know is what the Qur'an says about marriage: that it is valid only between consenting adults, and that a woman has the right to choose her own spouse. As the living embodiment of Islam, Muhammad's actions reflect the Qur'an's teachings on marriage.

Sadly, in many countries the motivation for the marriage of young girls is economic. In others, motivations are political. The fact that Iran and Saudi Arabia have both sought to use the saying as a justification for lowering the legal age of marriage tells us much about the patriarchal and oppressive nature of those regimes, and nothing about Muhammad, or the essential nature of Islam.

Political function
In seventh-century Arabia (as in some parts of the world today), marriage typically served a social and political function – a way of uniting tribes, resolving feuds, caring for widows and orphans, and generally strengthening bonds in a highly unstable political environment. Of the women Muhammad married, the majority were widows. To consider the marriages of the prophet outside of these calculations is profoundly ahistorical.

What the records are clear on is that Muhammad and Aisha had a loving and egalitarian relationship, which set the standard for reciprocity, tenderness and respect enjoined by the Qur'an. Insights into their relationship, such as the fact they liked to drink out of the same cup or race one another, are indicative of a deep connection that belies any misrepresentation of their relationship.

To paint Aisha as a victim is completely at odds with her persona. During a controversial battle in Muslim history, she emerged riding a camel to lead the troops. She was known for her assertive temperament. Muhammad established her authority by telling Muslims to consult her in his absence. After his death, she went on to be one of the most prolific and distinguished scholars of her time.

Those who manipulate her story to justify the abuse of young girls and those who manipulate it in order to depict Islam as a religion that legitimises such abuse have more in common than they think. Both demonstrate a disregard for what we know about the times in which Muhammad lived, and for the affirmation of female autonomy that her story embodies.

Source

Video: Islamophobia in America

Dutch-Muslim girl says faces daily assault over faith

Comment: I think these 'local boys' boys are quite possibly also Muslim and are attacking her because she is too and because she dares to pursue an education and not dress the 'way she should'....

AMSTERDAM: She can’t tell her parents. They would keep her at home and force her to marry. She has gone to the police, but they have refused to intervene. For Fatima, a Moroccan-Dutch 19-year-old university student, life has become terrible.

“I can’t walk to university any more and don’t have money to pay for a taxi. I have to brave it and suffer every day to get to class,” she told Bikyamasr.com at a cafe on the outskirts of Amsterdam. For her, life is a struggle.

“I can’t talk to my parents about it because they threatened me already to send me to Morocco for school and to find a husband. This is my home,” she said.

Her ordeal began last Spring, when she would walk the same route to the University of Amsterdam where she was taking her first round of coursework. She liked to dress up for school and had been wearing what other Dutch girls her age often do in the warmer months: a skirt and tanktop.

“I wanted to be noticed at school, and I was, but also on the streets,” she said.

She said that a group of local boys began harassing her on a daily basis, commenting on her body and propositioning her. “I didn’t give them notice and they didn’t ever touch me.”

It all changed one morning when her mother called and they overheard her speaking Arabic. Fatima said that is when they began to get even closer.

“It was a few days later when they jumped on me and started swearing at me and calling me horrible names like ‘Moroccan slut’, ‘prostitute’ and others,” she revealed. “The first time it happened, they grabbed my chest and behind, but nothing more. I thought it was a one-off thing and I yelled at them when they ran away.”

She didn’t call the police or report the incident, hoping, she said, it would not happen again.

But the following day, the boys attacked again. She said they tore at her clothes and “they inserted fingers … it was the worst experience of my life. I thought they would rape me.”

When she went to the police, in tatters, she said the officers on duty laughed when she tried to report the incident.

“They told me to wear better clothes and to hide being Arab. And they didn’t move to do anything. I was so shocked and hurt. I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

For the next few weeks, calm returned to her routine and the boys were not present, but then they returned and the assaults began again. After two more sexual assaults on her, she has since taken different routes.

“But they somehow find me. I have been attacked at least 10 times and each time they call me names about being an Arab and Muslim. The police say they would like to help, but they need some evidence. They think I am lying,” she said.

For her, being an Arab, a woman, and a Muslim in the lower class areas of Amsterdam has been a struggle. Fatima hopes that she can start finding a ride to university to end her turmoil.

“I can’t say anything to my parents because they would keep me at home and force me to marry someone in Morocco. I am Dutch and I will fight this no matter what,” she said, adding that she plans to go to the central police station to file a report against the boys for attacking her and the police officers who sat idly by.

The Netherlands has seen a rise in anti-Islam sentiments in recent years and Fatima is only one of numerous hate crimes erupting across the once tolerant society.

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