Why Muslims Don't Like Us
Imagine, for just a moment, that you grew up in a world where everyone believes in God and respects His laws. Your culture, society and traditions are based entirely on God's holy directives, and the lives of all citizens are dedicated to following His path.
In your society the fallen nature of man is well understood, in particular with reference to his carnal desires, and so your society protects men from themselves (and women from men) by putting in place strict rules and laws. Sex outside marriage is illegal. Women are protected from leers and lasciviousness by a protective barrier of fabric which they wear whenever they are among men. This "safety barrier" covers them from their glossy and alluring hair down to their fine ankles, so that no man can look upon them with lust. Maybe they are accompanied by a husband, father or brother, or some other man who can protect them whenever they venture out. Women know that their bodies are sacred and to be enjoyed, visually and physically, only by their husbands. This most holy and important truth is written into the laws of the land in which you live.
Now imagine that you are forced to leave that world for some reason, and you move to England (or the US, or almost any Western nation.). There you switch on the television and see someone performing on a prime-time television show, in front of millions of men, women and children, dressed like this:
The next day you go shopping. On the way you pass women, including teenage girls, wearing tiny shorts or very short skirts, tops which are cut low to expose their breasts, or high to bare their midriffs. They wear bright and garish make-up to emphasise their beauty, and their hair is often styled to be particularly eye-catching and attractive. They laugh loudly and interact confidently and brashly with the men around them.
In the newsagent you see a shelf full of crude magazines for men, a newspaper which has a topless woman on only the third page, and a daily newspaper called "The Sport" which seems to contain little more than pictures of women wearing next to nothing and posing provocatively. Even the magazines for women shout from the cover that they include articles like "Fifty ways to spice up your sex life" or "Get a bikini body".
On billboards you see pictures like this:
Imagine, for a moment, what a debauched and sunken society this seems. How ashamed and embarrassed you must feel on behalf of the women who allow themselves to be paraded before men like that. How angry you must feel towards men who not only allow their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to be used in this way, but buy those magazines and newspapers and thus perpetuate this offensive parading of women to titillate men. How sick you must feel as you live your life amidst all this disrespect and disgusting salaciousness that somehow passes for "normal" in this Godless place.
Is it a Godless place, though? You have been told, and the churches dotted around your town would seem to attest, that it is a Christian country. This, then, is how Christians behave. How happy you must feel to be an enlightened Muslim.
Then you realise that the western world, including Christian countries like the UK and the USA, is putting pressure on Muslim countries to reform, to allow new "freedoms", to become more "modern". Like a pernicious and unstoppable cancer, Western ideologies are slowly polluting your home country.
Is it any wonder that some Muslims choose to fight back?
I don't condone for a moment the extremist and shocking acts of terrorism and murder we have seen recently--and neither does Islam--but when viewed from the perspective of faithful and honourable Muslims decrying what our debased culture and society appears to stand for it become easier to understand why these things happen.
But I would like to say two things to my honoured Muslim friends:
1) I am a Christian, and this society you see around you is NOT. Only 15% of people in the UK attend church with any regularity so we are vastly outnumbered by the non-believers. My church teaches me to dress modestly (which it defines as being covered from the shoulders to the knees) and to shun alcohol. Sex outside marriage is considered a heinous sin, and we try to be discerning in terms of what we read and watch. The wider society in which I live pokes scorn at the moral standards I live by.
2) The "modern ideology" which Western Society appears to be trying to force on Muslim nations is not our sexualisation of everything from advertising to clothing, our loose morals, or our love of alcohol. It's things like democracy, freedom of speech and communication, equality, fair treatment, education. Things which can run alongside Islam in building harmonious, happy and honourable societies where God is respected and so are the people He created, and where everyone is enabled to achieve their potential, to play a part in shaping their community for the better, and to live without fear.
Muslims, I apologise for Jennifer Lopez and for our "anything goes" society. I understand why you fear it encroaching on lands holier than ours. But I would ask you not to take extreme measures, but rather to help us understand and move towards a society where there is a deeper respect for self, and for others.
In your society the fallen nature of man is well understood, in particular with reference to his carnal desires, and so your society protects men from themselves (and women from men) by putting in place strict rules and laws. Sex outside marriage is illegal. Women are protected from leers and lasciviousness by a protective barrier of fabric which they wear whenever they are among men. This "safety barrier" covers them from their glossy and alluring hair down to their fine ankles, so that no man can look upon them with lust. Maybe they are accompanied by a husband, father or brother, or some other man who can protect them whenever they venture out. Women know that their bodies are sacred and to be enjoyed, visually and physically, only by their husbands. This most holy and important truth is written into the laws of the land in which you live.
Now imagine that you are forced to leave that world for some reason, and you move to England (or the US, or almost any Western nation.). There you switch on the television and see someone performing on a prime-time television show, in front of millions of men, women and children, dressed like this:
The next day you go shopping. On the way you pass women, including teenage girls, wearing tiny shorts or very short skirts, tops which are cut low to expose their breasts, or high to bare their midriffs. They wear bright and garish make-up to emphasise their beauty, and their hair is often styled to be particularly eye-catching and attractive. They laugh loudly and interact confidently and brashly with the men around them.
In the newsagent you see a shelf full of crude magazines for men, a newspaper which has a topless woman on only the third page, and a daily newspaper called "The Sport" which seems to contain little more than pictures of women wearing next to nothing and posing provocatively. Even the magazines for women shout from the cover that they include articles like "Fifty ways to spice up your sex life" or "Get a bikini body".
On billboards you see pictures like this:
Imagine, for a moment, what a debauched and sunken society this seems. How ashamed and embarrassed you must feel on behalf of the women who allow themselves to be paraded before men like that. How angry you must feel towards men who not only allow their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to be used in this way, but buy those magazines and newspapers and thus perpetuate this offensive parading of women to titillate men. How sick you must feel as you live your life amidst all this disrespect and disgusting salaciousness that somehow passes for "normal" in this Godless place.
Is it a Godless place, though? You have been told, and the churches dotted around your town would seem to attest, that it is a Christian country. This, then, is how Christians behave. How happy you must feel to be an enlightened Muslim.
Then you realise that the western world, including Christian countries like the UK and the USA, is putting pressure on Muslim countries to reform, to allow new "freedoms", to become more "modern". Like a pernicious and unstoppable cancer, Western ideologies are slowly polluting your home country.
Is it any wonder that some Muslims choose to fight back?
I don't condone for a moment the extremist and shocking acts of terrorism and murder we have seen recently--and neither does Islam--but when viewed from the perspective of faithful and honourable Muslims decrying what our debased culture and society appears to stand for it become easier to understand why these things happen.
But I would like to say two things to my honoured Muslim friends:
1) I am a Christian, and this society you see around you is NOT. Only 15% of people in the UK attend church with any regularity so we are vastly outnumbered by the non-believers. My church teaches me to dress modestly (which it defines as being covered from the shoulders to the knees) and to shun alcohol. Sex outside marriage is considered a heinous sin, and we try to be discerning in terms of what we read and watch. The wider society in which I live pokes scorn at the moral standards I live by.
2) The "modern ideology" which Western Society appears to be trying to force on Muslim nations is not our sexualisation of everything from advertising to clothing, our loose morals, or our love of alcohol. It's things like democracy, freedom of speech and communication, equality, fair treatment, education. Things which can run alongside Islam in building harmonious, happy and honourable societies where God is respected and so are the people He created, and where everyone is enabled to achieve their potential, to play a part in shaping their community for the better, and to live without fear.
Muslims, I apologise for Jennifer Lopez and for our "anything goes" society. I understand why you fear it encroaching on lands holier than ours. But I would ask you not to take extreme measures, but rather to help us understand and move towards a society where there is a deeper respect for self, and for others.
I would find it hard to disagree with much of that. However, I have gave concerns about Islam and its teachings - it may be because what I read is by the extremists, but women are apparently the "property" of their husbands and have no rights of their own - they are effectively bought and sold.
ReplyDeleteThe good Moslem has to despise the infidel, and fight ("jihad") to impose Islam (which means "obedience") on us all. I have heard it said that "Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam or choose to stop being Muslim should be executed."
I don't know if that's correct, but when I've asked, no Muslim has denied it. I don't seek to compel anyone to Christianity - it's their free choice - but nor would I want to see anyone compelled to Islam, or spaghetti, or being teetotal, or...
Doh ... "grave" not "gave" concerns :(
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how a Western woman who suddenly had to move to a Muslim nation would feel when she can no longer make choices for herself, cannot vote, cannot send their daughters to school.... would feel about this new land. Morally enlightened? Likely not. The magazines, ads etc... account for the tiniest part of our population. Are you suggesting that the morals nations are higher than ours? Then explain the high rape scales in these nations compared to other countries. http://womanstats.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/the-high-rape-scale-in-saudi-arabia/ Here is one example. I don't feel the need to apologize for my equality. Regardless of how it is dressed.
ReplyDeleteI think the point is that preventing women from voting, going out in public or being educated is unacceptable and needs to change. That's why the Western world is bringing pressure to bear on some Muslim countries (not all of them sustain these standards). But having semi-naked women in national newspapers is no more acceptable. The Western world also treats women with disrespect.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I attended a presentation at the local Women's Conference, given by three Middle Eastern women, one of whom was the daughter of a (Pakistani?) diplomat. She is the one I remember the most. Her representation of her beliefs and circumstances closely mirrored your introductory remarks. She was a lovely, intelligent woman.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I have also heard Betty Mahmoody, the author of Not Without My Daughter, give a presentation on her experience. Both were with the same religion but with far different experiences.
I believe that world is the same as ours in this one respect--it VARIES ACCORDING TO THE PEOPLE AND CIRCUMSTANCES INVOLVED. Given a choice, I would prefer the world I live in.