Reply to Hind

Submitted by Mark (United Arab Emirates), Mar 13, 2006 at 05:21

Hind I was interested in your comment that Islam is the only religion that gives equality to men and women..

Interesting thought but I have another interesting thought for you to consider. Atheist, secular humanism is the only 'religion' that treats all humans equally. Under this philosophy, nobody is going to hell or heaven dependent on which God they worship or which rules they obey, This philosophy, to which I subscribe, presents rather the concept that there is no heaven or hell or God and that we live together on the planet as equals who may or may not have equal rights depending on what society they find themselves in but who are certainly equally deserving of such..

A humanist would rejoice in the assertiveness of many Islamic people in standing up for their 'rights' but would also acknowledge that others have rights to do as they please including things that do not meet with sharia approval..

Sharia law is a process of where a few pretend to interpret the intentions of a fictional God and then prescribe behavior on others. Someone once quoted Oscar Wilde on this web site as saying. (I paraphrase but you get the idea). While living your life as you please with no regard to others may be the penultimate in selfishness, having others live their lives the way that you would have them do so is the ultimate in selfishness. In this sense all fundamentalist religionists partake in Wildean selfishness, not the least being the proponents of Sharia, Islamic dress codes etc..

Law must be by the people and for the people... not by the mutawa for the mutawa. Basically I am saying go ahead wear the burka, abaya, shaila, enjoy but recognise that others have the right to choose otherwise. Personally I am always very happy to see women dressed up as such with the exception of when they are walking down a dimly lit road..

Now on the topic of lusts of the flesh. The covering of the woman is demanded by Islam to protect from adultery etc. Wouldn't it be a wild and interesting concept if men actually took some responsibility for their own actions. I am not promoting nudity or even topless bikinis but I am a man and at 50 years old I have somehow managed to be on many streets and beaches etc with scantily clad women without having to behave badly, ogle and touch, molest or otherwise interfere with women. On the other hand I notice many middleeast men (I live in Dubai) seem to find this impossible when faced with the same situation. Beaches where western women sunbake become peep shows for asian and mid-eastern boys who sit in close proximity to the women and simply stare and sometime behave much worse.. Now I am not suggesting this is a racial thing. This is very definitely an attitude thing.

Hence confrontation in Sydney when boorish Mid East boys behave very badly towards scantily clad non-muslim women..

The point I am trying to make is that so long as all the responsibility for chaste and pure behavior is laid at the feet of women then certain men will take advantage of the situation and behave badly..

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