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"There are two ways to think. The first is to trust to your ancestors, your religious leaders, or your charismatic professors. The second is to question, to challenge, to explore history for meanings, and to analyze issues. This latter is called Critical Thinking, and it is this that is the mission of my web site. "

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman  

March 2016

With Women Like These?..

For all the vaunted "sisterhood" among women, we need to be aware that some are not always our friends. On January 17, a woman professor at Egypt's al-Azhar University, opined that "Allah allows Muslims to rape non-Muslim women." One would think that for a Muslim university to admit a woman professor at all is amazingly liberated; however, it is apparent that this woman is in no way a feminist.

Another "champion for women," a female Kuwaiti politician, Salwa al-Mutairi, promoted this same Islamic practice of sexually enslaving non-Muslim women, emphasizing that the practice accorded with Islamic law and morality. Both women are correct that there is plenty of Koranic defense for this practice.

Professor Suad Saleh spoke on Al-Hayat TV, criticizing the purchase of slaves from Asian countries for sexual purposes (a dirty little secret, apparently). Instead, she said, Allah has given the Muslim men a way to have sexual relations with slave women that is "legitimate" and a way to humiliate them. She scolds that the only time it is acceptable for Muslim men to enslave a woman for sexual purposes is during a "legitimate war" between Muslims and their enemies such as that with Israel. Therefore, the female Islamic professor says that enslaving Israeli women and raping them would be entirely acceptable and encouraged. (www.inquisitr.com/2713829.

The good professor must then approve the rape by ISIS of Yazidis, Kurds, and Christians, from girl children to old ladies. This horror is justified, she says:

"The seizure of Infidel girls and their use as sex slaves is sanctioned in the Qur'an. According to Islamic law, Muslim men can take "captives of the right hand" (Qur'an 4:3, 4:24, 33:50). The Qur'an says: "O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war" (33:50). 4:3 and 4:24 extend this privilege to Muslim men in general. The Qur'an says that a man may have sex with his wives and with these slave girls, purchased at slave markets."
It is also in Islamic law: "When a child or a woman is taken captive, they become slaves by the fact of capture, and the woman's previous marriage is immediately annulled." (Umdat al-Salik O9.13) Men who use them are free from blame.

Lest we think that only benighted Muslim women are bad feminists, some women in the West who think of themselves as feminists have no sympathy for the plight of their Muslim sisters. In Britain, Labor party feminists were silent when it came to public attention that Labor politicians regularly attended gender-segregated meetings. Apparently seeking immigrant Bangladehshi Muslim votes is more important than principle.

Labor Party feminists were silent when the scandal erupted in a Pakistani immigrant community. Girls, 1,400 or them (some as young as 12) were raped and molested and trafficked as sex slaves. Labor party women have been silent about polygamy, forced marriage, the burqa, female genital mutilation, and the notorious New Year's Eve sexual attacks in Cologne and all over Europe. I fear for their daughters.

American feminists are no better, unfortunately. When one's focus is on racial prejudice, the evils of Western Civilization, and the passionate belief that all "underdogs" need protection, these issues trump misogyny if it is practiced by their beloved "underdogs."

It is monstrous that most outrage against horrific practices against women is expressed by the political right rather than the political left. I am waiting for German feminists to rise up in outrage over comments by a Muslim cleric in Cologne: "Girls were raped because they were half naked and wore perfume. It is not surprising the men wanted to attack them."

Finally, an American woman professor who adopts a headscarf "in fellowship with her Muslim sisters" is failing to recognize the misogyny behind hijab. Women are to be covered up so that men will not sin. Why not just blindfold the men? "Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out" (G. K. Chesterton).

677 words
Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.

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