Blue Like You

Archive for December 12th, 2007

(Update at end)

Right beside the National Post’s politically-correct editorial is a candid op-ed by Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hassan - The deadly face of Muslim Extremism.

Fatah and Hassan are members of the Muslim Canadian Congress, and have received death threats in the past for expressing their views.

They must feel that this message is worth the risk.

…If convicted, Aqsa’s father and brother must be handed the strictest penalty available under the law. As for the imams and clergy of Canada’s mosques, who constantly berate young women for not wearing the hijab or snub them for “violating Islam,” they need to reflect on the consequences of their sermons.

Consider, as an example, the Montreal mosque that recently posted on its Web site a warning to the effect that if young girls took off their hijab, they could end up getting raped and having “illegitimate children.” Other proffered risks included “Stresses, insecurity and suspicion in the minds of husbands” and “instigating young people to deviate towards the path of lust.”

As if the threat of rape and the fear of illegitimate children were not enough, these pre-teen girls were told that if they took off their hijab, they would cease to be Muslims: “By removing your hijab, you have destroyed your faith. Islam means submission to Allah in all our actions.” Little wonder then, that Canadian girls walk away from sports tournaments rather than remove their hijabs…

Fatah and Hassan suggest that this may put undue pressure on Muslim men to exert control over the women in their families:

Radical Muslim men consider themselves ultimately responsible for the conduct of the womenfolk. This outlook is rooted in a medieval ethos that treats women as nonpersons, unable to decide for themselves what they should wear, where they must go and what they must accomplish in life. If their conduct is seen as contravening this austere religious outlook, they are invariably subjected to abuse.

Today’s Star discloses a disturbing tidbit that was alluded to in a Global newscast last night - that the brother may have had more to do with this than simply obstructing justice:

…Friends of the slain girl said Parvez’s brother picked her up Monday morning from a bus stop, where she was waiting to go to school, and told her she’d better come home to get a change of clothes…

Yes, women from all different kinds of faith and cultural backgrounds have been the target of abuse and violence.

However, this does not excuse us from trying to consider all possible systemic causes of the tragedy, and focus on doing all we can to prevent this from happening again.

Anything less is an act of complicity.

The Dunnville Chronicle reports that Gary McHale has been “prohibited from entering Caledonia, Hagersville and York under conditions set by the Ontario Provincial Police…”, among other restrictions.

Is this a normal way to deal with such things? I never heard of a Canadian citizen being barred from a particular town before.

More details at Caledonia Wakeup Call.