The Women of Islam

Woman Demands "Right" To Mask It

2012-02-02T11:45:00.000-08:00

A Muslim woman has sought the help of an attorney in hopes of a lawsuit against oil magnet, Chevron.

According to news sources, LaFleur Mauvette Mohamed is seeking damages relating to a claim that, back in October 2011, she was unable to purchase gas at a local Chevron station because she refused to remove her niqab for identification purposes at the request of the Chevron cashier.

Mohamed claims this was a violation of her religious rights.

In response to the complaint, Chevron supported the decision of the cashier:

“The incident occurred within a few days of Halloween, a time when retailers are prone to increased theft from persons wearing masks and facial coverings. In light of this concern, we acknowledge that our employee did ask Ms. Mohamed to remove her veil for security purposes.”

This was not Ms. Mohamed's first instance with her veil posing an issue. One month earlier, Ms. Mohamed was arrested on a domestic violence charge when her daughter, the complainant, claimed that Ms. Mohamed repeatedly wrestled with her over a cellphone and slapped her as well.

When Ms. Mohamed initially had her mug shot, she kept her niqab (veil) on. According to the Sheriff's department, the jail staffer “erred on the side of caution over concern about religious freedom” and Ms. Mohamed eventually had her mug shot retaken, this time showing her face, as per jail protocol.

When approached for comment as to whether or not she minded having to remove her veil, Ms. Mohamed offered no comment. Apparently it didn't bother her so much back then.

This isn't the first time a Muslim woman thought her “religious rights” trumped the safety of others.
And it doesn't only happen in America.

In 2010, Australia came face to face with a legal Catch-22 when Carnita Matthews was pulled over for a routine traffic stop. Ms. Matthews subsequently filed a complaint against the officer, claiming that he assaulted her by forcing her to remove her niqab. A claim that proved to be a lie when the officer produced the video recording taken during the encounter.

To be honest, after watching the video, it seems more like Ms. Matthews was abusing the officer rather than the other way around. Her sentence of 6 months was suspended, however, when her attorney successfully argued that there's no way of knowing if the woman in the video and the woman in the courtroom were actually the same person, since nobody could see the face of the woman in the video!

Over the years I've heard Muslim women argue that wearing the niqab or burka (two different things) is a basic fundamental right under the Constitution free exercise of religion clause. Some even go so far as to claim that denying women the “right” to wear the niqab or burka goes against “feminist principles”.

What these apologists for extremism seem to not realize is that in America (and most western countries) there's such a thing as “community standards” of dress. In the USA it's determined by States and then, individual counties or cities. And businesses are likewise granted leeway in attire standards as well. Most of us have gone to a restaurant with the sign “No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service” mounted on the door.

Where I live we simply call it common sense.

Should there be an “anything goes” when it comes to attire? Should religions get a pass when others, like groups or clubs, or sports enthusiasts, may not? If that's to be the case, then Wiccans (who like to go skyclad for ceremonial purposes) could make the same argument.

The law grants us rights under the Constitution but these rights are regulated rights. For example, a person has the right to vote, according to the Constitution. But a three-year-old isn't allowed to vote in any election. The second amendment allows citizens the right to own a fire arm, but municipalities regulate who may or may not purchase them and what kinds may or may not be purchased by citizens.

As a woman who, for religious reasons, wears a head-covering (a Christian covering), I don't have issues with a woman opting to cover her hair and ears. Where I have to draw the line, as an American and a woman, is this notion that there's a right to hide one's identity for “religious reasons”. I believe it not only endangers others, but potentially places the wearer in danger.

So what's to be done about this dilemma?

One option is for those Muslims who want niqabs and burkas to flow freely, to begin living in communal situations similar to the Amish, Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Haredim, and Hutterite peoples. And maybe that would be the best way to go if they want to maintain such a separatism. But don't come back later and complain about being marginalized.

The other option is to make specific codes as to where, when and how these styles may be worn. This is already starting, as drivers' bureaus, courts and jails begin to face the problem.

This insanity needs to stop. Muslim women must stop making themselves seem ridiculous if they hope to be accepted into western society. Nobody expects them to go outside with their heads uncovered. Nobody expects them to don miniskirts or short-shorts, either.

What is expected is that Muslim women living in the West realize that their religion is one of many religions dotting the landscape of America and to act accordingly. To do anything less, and to demand that you be allowed to do what others cannot do, is a selfish way to approach a larger community.

You have a hole....

2012-01-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

Recently the NY Times had a book review of a book about Muslim women. The anthology, entitled "Love InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Woman" purports to show that Muslim women are far from impressed. And this may well be true...

...in the West.

But like all attempts to show that Muslim women aren't oppressed, be it books, movies or "All-American Muslim", what is so easily forgotten is the fact that these are reflective of the cultures in which these women live, aka, THE WEST. And not places where Islam dominates via Sharia law.

When you go to the book's website, what you see are vinettes of Muslim women who have the luxury of living as they please precisely because they live in the West. They have the right to be covered with a hijab, or to not cover with a hijab. Such would not be their luxury in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.

So one of the excerpts from the book recounts the story of a younger (14-year-old) Zahra Noorkhksh who is about to meet with friends at the Mall when she suddenly remembers "Ryan":

"Finally. My first year of high school was over, and summer was here. My mother was dropping me off to go to the movies with Jen, Kim, Laura, and Ryan. Wait. Oh, crap, I had forgotten about Ryan! There he was, walking with my girlfriends to the ticket booth. I knew that if my mom saw him, she would never trust me again and would confine me to the house for the rest of the summer."

Okay, she's fourteen. I personally think that's too young to go on a 1-1 date with a boy. But the Mall? With three other girls in tow? Maybe Mom isn't as "liberated" as we're being told American Muslim women are supposed to be? But lets say, for the sake of argument, that Mom and Dad were just concerned that their daughter could get into trouble. So what was their reason for their fear?

"Regardless of how chaste the event was, they had to be sure there wouldn’t be any boys present to tempt me down the path of loose women. The thing is, I was a late bloomer and had absolutely no interest in dating—what I knew of it, anyway, based on Molly Ringwald’s characters in John Hughes films like Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. Though I could barely admit that I 'liked' guys, my days of blissful ignorance about the world of dating were about to be over."

So let me get this right. Only LOOSE women are "tempted" by boys. And frankly, it seems silly not to trust your daughter to this extreme. The girl didn't have any interest in boys and barely admitted to liking them.

Who brought her innocence to a screaching halt? It wasn't an evil, American, infidel boy. (The boy, it turned out, was a Mormon. Not exactly the type prone to boffing every girl in town!)

Nope, it would fall to Mom to totally screw with the poor kids' mind. After some fantasy and foul language crosses her mind (there seems to be a produndity of F-bombs in the mind of this innocent fourteen-year-old Muslimah), Mom finally has "the talk" with her daughter:

'Zahra, you have a hole. And for the rest of your life, men will want to put their penis in your hole. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, who is your ‘friend.’ Even at the movies, maman jaan, wherever—it does not change. Ri-anne seems like a very nice man, but he is a man. And all he wants is your hole. So, I will pick you up here at five o’clock. Have fun, maman jaan,' she said."

Apparently this rather immature attempt at explaining the facts of life (does anyone's mother REALLY talk this way?) has the desired outcome and poor Zahra spent the rest of the day imagining every boy desiring to get a hole-in-one off her (and I don't mean golfing!)

I suppose it never dawned on Zahra's mother that its not the frienship with a boy that's the problem. It's the lack of knowing what friendship IS NOT that's the problem. And admittedly, it's a problem for ALL girls and boys in the United States. There is not, nor can there ever be, "friends with benefits". Someone always loses the benefit of the friendship once sex enters in.

And maybe her mother should've told her that, instead of talking about "holes" and such.

The book, an anthology of various women's stories, is hot off the press. I plan to get a copy (Amazon, $9.99). But I wonder if these stories let people know about the problems women face under Islam, and the restrictions that can often be harsh.

A BEAUTIFUL WIFE IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE?

2012-01-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

A Filippino maid accused her employer of rape. His attorney insists it's impossible because a) the man is a diabetic and, as a diabetic he has a "weak penis". Everyone knows it takes a "strong penis" to commit rape, right? And the second reason? He has a GORGEOUS wife! Yeah, okay. So this flacis felon gets it from his hot fox wife so often that he doesn't "need to rape?"

"...reports that showed traces of the defendant's semen on his clothes, he said he had watched a pornographic film and ejaculated".

This is getting curioser and curioser. And sicker and sicker. Since when was rape about lust? Oh maybe but usually it's all about control, isn't it?

The defense argues that the maid filed the charge to hurt the wife because said wife had earlier scolded the maid.

Scolded?

Ah well, what can you expect?

source

Iran’s morality police crack down on sale of Barbie and Ken

2012-01-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

You're kidding, right? No, I'm not. This article featured in AlArabiya news wasn't intended as a joke, either. Since 1966 the government of Iran has considered Barbie to be "immoral". Those of us who know that neither Barbie nor Ken are anatomically correct may find this laughable. But in a culture where women are made to look like they're auditioning for "March of the Penguins", Barbie's nipless frame is likely a turn on for the men. Hence, Barbie is immoral.

“About three weeks ago the morality police came to our shop, asking us to remove all the Barbies,” said a shopkeeper in a toy store in northern Tehran.

To compensate for the missing Barbie phenomenon, Iran came up with their version of Barbie and Ken: a slightly chunkier, well covered, version of both, named Sarah (female) and Dara (the male).

In their little jammies it's hard to tell which is which. But since 2002, they've been available.

Parents are noting that their daughters simply don't like Sara and Dara:

"My daughter prefers Barbies. She says Sara and Dara are ugly and fat," said
Farnaz, a 38-year-old mother, adding that she could not find Barbie cartoon DVDs
as she was told they were also banned from public sale.

The current Sara doll sports a long black veil.

"We still sell Barbies but secretly and put these in the window to make the police think we are just selling these kinds of dolls," says a 40 year old shop keeper.

Perhaps Matel should develop a Barbie that wears a bikini under it's burka and call it BOOTLEG BARBIE, smuggling it into Iran could prove interesting.

source

iranian actress warned: do not return home

2012-01-19T08:44:00.000-08:00

A famous Iranian actress who posed nude for a French magazine has been warned not to return home.

Golshifteh Farahani, who was born three years after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, came into the spotlight at the tender age of 14 when she appeared in her first film, “Pear Tree.”

Farahani, who moved from Iran to Paris a year ago, co-starred with Leonard DiCaprio in the 2008 drama “Body of Lies.” She appeared in the news magazine Madame Le Figaro in protest against the ultra-conservative cultural policies she says are restricting her native country’s film industry. She later posted a bare-chested photo on her Facebook page.

“I do not support what she did nor reject it, because it was her personal choice, but I love her courage,” wrote one Iranian blogger named Alfred. “She did what the Egyptian blogger Alya Majda al-Mahdi did, and this is to protest against gender discrimination and the forced veil,” he wrote. The blogger was referring to a similar instance, when al-Mahdi took off her clothes to pose naked in protest against what she saw as unfair practices.

“After Alya al-Mahdi posed naked, it seemed that getting naked publicly had become the only means women had to protest against gender discrimination, as there are no other ways to express protest as such,” said Hamid al-Kanani, an expert on Iranian issues.

“The proliferation of such pictures of the Iranian actress is an indication of the failure of the Islamic republic’s policies when it comes to culture and religion, especially since she was born and raised during the religious era and entered schools heavy in religious teachings and lived in societies where men and women are separated even in public institutions,” said Kanani. “The way that the system has imposed hijab and the separation between men and women made Iranians feel repelled from religion.”

Another online Iranian commentator wrote that “human beings prefer to be looked at as humans and in a society where people don clothes, they do not look at those who do not wear clothes as human beings but as animals.”

He continued with his denunciation of the Golshifteh by saying that “I wish if she respected our values and civilization.”

In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency said “publishing of photographs of the deplorable Golshifteh Farahani on the Internet shows the ugly face of cinemas behind the scenes.”

Iranian women's activist shot dead in Houston

2012-01-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

If you have to ask, chances are, you're not aware. But the recent killing of Gelareh Baghersadeh is baffling police in Houston, Texas. The 30 year old molecular technology student was found murdered in her car this past week. Two separate calls were made from her cell, some 45 minutes apart. One was to her ex-boyfriend who, along with another friend, heard her screaming for her life over the phone as shots were fired.

Gelareh wasn't just another Muslim college student. She was well-known as an activist for women's rights in Iran and a member of the SABZ (houston) rights organization. Police have intereviewed the current boyfriend and nobody can think of any enemies, but given that she was shot at point-blank range, they question whether it was random or if she was targeted.

The strange case of Mandy Ahmadi

2012-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

In 1999, Zahara Rahimzadegan, aka Mandy Ahmadi, moved to Australia with her two children and her husband, Nasir Ahmadi. Mandy was a convert to Christianity from Islam. Her husband, Nasir, still a Muslim, seemed to be supportive of his wife, in spite of her apostasy.

Then, on December 18th, Nasir Ahmadi went to the police to report her missing. Though her cellphone was gone, her wallet and other items were still in the home. Ahmadi said in later interviews on television that he suspected she was abducted by "Muslim extremists". Police weren't so sure.

The punishment in Islam for apostasy is death. And Mandy went a step further. She had the audacity to prostelytize other Muslims to Christianity as well.

In spite of his attempts to cast stones in another direction, it would seem that Mandy fell prey to her own husband. Her remains were found on the property of their home when police pulled apart a new timberdeck and found her body buried under some concrete.

For right now, we don't know exactly what the reason was for Ahmadi killing Mandy. But given the circunstances, it's very possible that he took the matter of her apostasy into his own hands- if indeed he killed her (we always presume innocense until guilt is proven, right?)

Some Muslims are now arguing that the death penalty for apostasy isn't death ( re: http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Apostasy1.htm ). In fact, they claim it's not in the Quran, therefore, it isn't Islamic.

But if that be the case, then why is it that people like Youcef Nadarkhani, a Moroccan convert to Christianity, had to obtain asylum in America just to stay alive?

And how about Sofia Allam (not her real name- she was still in hiding as of 2007) who was beaten severely and told she deserved to die- by her own family- just for leaving Islam?

Islamic apologists claim it isn't Islam that's the problem. It's tribalism or culture. But in a religion which claims it is not merely a religion, but also a "way of life", compartmentalizing the two isn't a workable response.

We also read and hear Muslim "scholars" claiming that it's only if you convert to Islam and then leave, that the apostasy penalty can be applied. Those who are born into, or raised Muslim, do not have this applied to them. And yet, story after story appears wherein a person born and raised Muslim, leaves and converts to Christianity, only to become a death target.

Perhaps some of the problem goes back to the Hadith. In an article entitled "The Fitrah", the author explains that everyone is born with a natural desire for God but that many people get turned away from the "truth" by their parents:

“Each child is born in a state of “Fitrah”, but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian. It is like the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any (young animal) born mutilated before you mutilate them?” [source].

In otherwords: converting to another faith, be it later in life or because of parental influence, makes one a mutilated animal.

In the animal kingdom, a mutilated or deformed offspring is usually killed by either the birthing female or the male. Mohammed drawing the same conclusion about humans who decide to change religious faith is very telling and shows a disregard, not only for freedom of religious choice, but for life itself.

The strange case of Mandy Ahmadi isn't strange in Islam. It's strange to the rest of us who cannot fathom that, in the twenty-first century, there are still people who think this is the means of resolving such conflicts.

Islamic Sentiments about Western Women: a tale of two extremes.

2012-01-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

For several years now I've belonged to a chat program on where there are many Muslims. Througout the years I've come across an interesting mix and meld of Muslims. But one thing I've found to be quite consistent among the, shall we say, more "devout" of them, is a consistently negative view of the American, non-Muslim woman.

This is particularly interesting because, for many of them, their only exposure to American womanhood is what they see on television. Case in point: a recent blog article in the al-Arabia news.

In the op-ed, Muslima writer Muna Khan (no relation to Ghengis, I hope) laments the uproar over the show All-American Muslim, and basically concludes that wiser people would admire the role-model seen in one of the reality-show's starlettes, as opposed to, say, a Kim Kardashian personality.

"What makes Suheila Amen, a 32-year-old smart single woman who hopes to create a safer world and have a family of her own any less of an all American than those who are propped up as good model American citizens?

Instead young women look up, nay aspire to become like the fame hungry, 72-day marriage having, famous for no one really knows what, Kim Kardashian. What about her makes her easy to embrace as all American and Suheila easy to reject as not American? "

Well, I'll give you a clue here: most American women and girls don't put Kim Kardashian, nor any other woman, up on the pedistal of "American womanhood".

No, most American women do not see Kim Kardashian as "the norm" of American womanhood. Nor is she such. If you don't believe me, come to America. Visit the local WalMart. You won't find a Kim Kardashian there. In fact, in most communities across America, American women dress decently.

I suppose I cannot totally blame Ms. Khan for her limited insight. She's probably never visited a local Penecostal church, or the Toys-R-Us, or the local McDonalds.

But in case she's wondering, there's American Muslims who are pretty much not happy with the presentation of Islam (and Muslim women) in All-American Muslim and they have their thoughts about Arabic women as well:

All-American Muslim: Advertiser says "it sucked!"

2012-01-11T05:43:00.000-08:00

The controversy over the reality TV show "All-American Muslim" continues, with Kayak.com apologizing to customers Wednesday for deciding not to advertise on the TLC show next year. But an executive at the travel site said the network "was not upfront with us about the nature of this show" and added that "mostly, I just thought the show sucked."

The show more than sucked. Anyone who has watched it, who knows about Islam, realizes that islam as practiced in our country (USA) is nothing like Islam practiced in places like Saudi Arabia, where women can't even drive cars (hence, no Muslimahs at the WalMart?)

Several corporations, including Lowes, backed out of the show after realizing the show was a propogandist lightening rod. And while I'm glad that most Muslim women in America don't have to live in the kind of fear that Muslim women in, say, Pakistan have to live in, the sad fact is that the ONLY reason the women in All-American Muslim are as free as they are is BECAUSE OF THE WEST.

Appeals Court in OK Blocks Ban on Sharia

2012-01-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

A federal appeals court upholds a 2010 ruling preventing the implementation of
an Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would bar judges from considering
international or Islamic law in decisions.

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released Tuesday, affirmed
an order by a district court judge in 2010 that prevented the voter-approved
state constitutional amendment from taking effect. The ruling also allows a
Muslim community leader in Oklahoma City to continue his legal challenge of the
law's constitutionality.

The measure, known as State Question 755, was approved with 70% of the vote in
2010. The amendment would bar courts from considering the legal precepts of
other nations or cultures. "Specifically, the courts shall not consider
international law or sharia law," the law reads.

"This serves as a reminder that these anti-sharia laws are unconstitutional and that if politicians use fear-mongering and bigotry, the courts won't allow it to last for long," said Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. Awad sued to block the law, contending that it infringed on his 1st Amendment rights.

So this boob from CAIR think it's "Unconstitutional" to ban foreign laws from being implemented in Oklahoma? Or any other state?

Could someone PLEASE show me where Sharia falls under constitutional protection?

What people fail to realize is that Sharia is not merely religious law. Islam, which contains the body of Sharia is not merely another religious and/or ethnic entity. Sharia is LAW unto itself. And, I might add, a body of law that violates the rights of women at every turn!

DHIMMIE DHUMMIE OF THE WEEK

2012-01-11T05:12:00.001-08:00

TSA STUPIDITIES

With the EU banning the use of body scanners it seems almost laughable that a woman would get in trouble for CUPCAKING!

That's right, cuppycake! Rebecca Hains, who was carrying a cupcake in a jar, had her confectionary treat taken from her by the TSA because it was in a gel solution which, according to them, exceeded the "limit" and thus posed a potential terrorist threat. Of course we can all tell that Ms. Hains is the absolute face of terrorism, right?

Now the TSA claims they had to confiscate the cuppycake and detain Ms. Hains because well, her cupcake posed a terrorist threat.

Somehow I suspect these people wouldn't know from terrorist if it slapped them in their obese little faces.

Ms. Hains, make more cupcakes! Sell them! Call them AL-CUPCAKES. I'll have 2 dozen :)

Muslim woman extradicted for war crimes

2012-01-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

The United States has extradited a Bosnian Muslim woman who is suspected of taking part in the killings of Bosnian Croat civilians and prisoners of war during the region's 1992 to 1995 ethnic conflict.

Rasema Handanovic is suspected of personally taking part in execution of three soldiers who surrendered and three civilians. She is also alleged to have belonged to a Bosnian Army unit that attacked the southern Bosnian Croat village of Trusina in 1993, killing 18 civilians. Witnesses say she personally shot some victims in the head.

She immigrated to the U.S. and became a citizen in 2002. Dzeko immigrated to the U.S. in 2001, and became a naturalized citizen in 2006. He had been living in Washington state.

a Very Odd Muslimah?

2012-01-10T07:56:00.001-08:00

It's doubtful that Senator Greg Ball had ever received the kind of package sent him by one Jameela Barnette. Barnette, a Georgia resident and convert (or revert) to Islam sent the odd package containing potentially hazardous liquid hidden inside a "Curious George" stuffed toy (decorated with the Star of David) to Senator Ball's office as part of her anti-Jewish tyrades.

Shot to death on Christmas Eve as she yelled "Alluha Ackbar" repeatedly at police officers, her story is one seen all too often: a woman converts to Islam and becomes another tool of radical Islam.

Among her other targets was the owner of Jihad Watch. If her hope was to convince him that Muslims were non-violent, decent people, she certainly couldn't do it with this kind of email:

"ALLAH is the greatest, ALLAH is ALIVE, but the christian's god is only a partially eaten, jew corpse. ALLAHU AKBAR you rabid, jew-eating, racist, christian MOTHA F U C K A S of extremely low intelligence. I will be sure to tell your hostile jinn aka jew masters what loyal and obedient slaves you christians are. Enjoy your brief and evil life of fairy tales and hokum your evil jew masters have created for you, because the Hell-fire is your final destination. Muslims should kill you corpse-eating, blood-drinking, christian savages and send you to your partially-eaten, jew corpse you call god."

You may wonder what she's prattling on about. Well, its the same kind of misrepresentation of the Christian faith some of us see every day: Christians eat the literal flesh of Jesus' body; Jesus is dead; Christians are the slaves of the Jews; Christians drink blood...." yadda yadda.

As if all Christians believe in transubstantiation (probably too big of a word for this chick).

Jameela, age 53, apparently had happier times. Meeting Dustin Hoffman in 1996 was probably one of them but she changed. Was it her conversion to Islam?

France fines six Muslim women for wearing niqab

2012-01-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

PARIS: France has fined six Muslim women for wearing veils since a ban on face-covering veils took effect in April, French interior minister said.

Claude Gueant said in an interview with the daily Le Monde published Monday that no woman has been sent to a citizenship class — another potential punishment.Gueant said police cited a total of 237 women but only six were convicted. He said that nearly a quarter of the women police questioned had converted to Islam.French police earlier this week fined a Muslim woman for driving a car while wearing a full-face veil covering. French authorities consider the veil a safety issue as they say it reduces the driver’s field of vision.The French newspaper reported that the woman was stopped while driving in the coastal town of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany. Police spokesman Laurent Dufour explained that the driver “seemed hesitant in her driving” and police then realized she was veiled.Dufour said “This is an issue of skill, safety and visibility,” comparing the niqab to other distractions whilst driving such as eating a sandwich or smoking. The woman was fined €35.

Islamists, male and female, have been trying to argue that the wearing of the niqab (which covers all but the eyes) is a matter of a "woman's right to choose" her style of dress. I've heard these arguments: "if a woman can choose to wear a bikini why can't she have the right to choose the niqab?"

I guess if she wore a bikini with that niqab, they'd have a point. After all, at least we could identify the chick by birthmark, mole or cellulite, if she did. But we're talking about the impossibility of recognition. And in this not-so-safe world in which we live, this isn't about her "right" vs the rights of others. It's actually about the safety of us all.

Prayer in School: should students be allowed to leave class to pray?

2012-01-10T07:30:00.001-08:00

Parents at the West Shore school district are concerned that Muslim students are being accomodated for prayer in the schools. In fact, they believe that students are being allowed to leave class to meet Muslim prayer times.

In an interesting twist, both left and right-leaning legal beagles are in agreement:

"Legal experts for the left-leaning Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the right-leaning Rutherford Institute said Muslim students whose religion requires prayer at certain times of the day should be excused to pray in an empty room at that time, as long as students of all religious beliefs have similar options" (source).

School-led prayer was struck down by SCOTUS as being unconstitutional. As a result, schools could no longer "lead" students in prayer. The problem is, for many Christian students across America it's gone farther than that. No prayer at football games; no prayers at graduations; no praying at the "pole" in some school districts.

But these are Christian students.

If we're going to allow for some students, we need to allow for all. Period.

Muslim woman settles lawsuit against Easton church

2012-01-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

Most churches hire people from "within" to work for the church. Members, rather than outsiders, are seen as the best person to hire since they'll have the church's best interests at heart.

But recently a Catholic diocese found out that outsourcing may not be the best thing to do. The diocese of Allentown was sued by a Muslim woman for what she considered "discrimination" when she was let go after working at the St. Anthony's church from 2007-2009.

Among her complaints of discrimination, Omayma Arafa stated that she was required to take lunch during the month of Ramadan "even though it meant sitting in her office and not eating".

click here for article

TEACHER INVITES MUSLIM SPEAKER-CAUSES STIR-morality police and more....

2012-01-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

Florida Family Association's David Caton protests Muslim speaker's visits to Hillsborough school

TAMPA — A history teacher who sought to broaden her students' horizons got more than she bargained for when she invited a Muslim leader to Steinbrenner High School.Kelly Miliziano now finds herself in the crosshairs of David Caton's Florida Family Association.Caton, a well-known conservative leader, is calling on the Hillsborough County School Board to end visits by Hassan Shibly of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or allow time for speakers who could counter Shibly's message...(click header link to read more)

It's amazing to me that any teacher in public schools would pull this one. But here was the school board chairwoman (Candy Olson) response to criticism:

"Our kids need to understand a lot of different perspectives. They're going to have to deal with everybody in the world, and they can't just be afraid of them because they don't know them."

Ms. Candy assumes that a) the children NEED to understand a lot of "different perspectives". Really? Do they NEED to understand the pedophiles' "perspective"? Do they need to understand the smack-daddy pimps' "perspective"?

Understanding perspectives is fine, but not all perspectives are appropriate for children to explore, and especially without parental knowlege and consent.

Another assumption being made is that the children are "afraid" of Muslims. Did these children express such fears? Did their parents? Who came to this conclusion and how?

The last assumption is that children are necessarily afraid of Muslims because they "don't know any". That's a broad assumption.

The problem is that the guest speaker is from CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations.
This would be the same organization that was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land terrorism case, and the same CAIR that had it's tax-exempt status revoked in 2011. Now there's a good example, right?

Would this same teacher bring in a speaker from a Jewish organization, to dispell myths about Jews? How about a speaker from the American Family Association (a Christian organization) to dispell myths about Christians?

I have problems with this, not because it's Muslims, but because Muslims are given preferential treatment not afforded other groups.

Welcome

2012-01-05T10:49:00.001-08:00

After a year's sabbatical, I have decided to reinstate the Women of Islam blog once again. The look is different and so is the scope. I am hoping that you will enjoy the new blog even more.

A couple of things to note: the blog will be open to comments. I ask that you post your comment only ONCE. Spamming will get you blocked from being able to post responses.

News stories are going to be posted, the good, the bad and the in-between.