C L O S E R

nrc.nl – Opinie – Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

nrc.nl – Opinie – Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden
De post hieronder gaat over Hirsi Ali’s ‘Straw Demons’. Hier staat er weer in, vandaag in NRC, maar al lang eerder gepubliceerd.

Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden

Kijk ook naar sociale rol van religie Is hervorming van de islam mogelijk?

De basis van iedere discussie over de plaats van de islam in een democratische samenleving moet het principe van gelijke behandeling zijn, schreef Paul Scheffer vorige week in NRC Handelsblad. Dat betekent: aanscherping van de scheiding tussen kerk en staat en de plicht voor moslims om ongelovigen en kritische leden in eigen kring dezelfde vrijheid te geven die zij nu terecht als groep opeisen. Dit stuk heeft veel reacties opgeroepen. Volgens Ayaan Hirsi Ali is Scheffers vertrouwen op een hervorming binnen de islam misplaatst – gelukkig leert Hirsi Ali ons wat de ware islam is, zegt Robbert Woltering. Onder hun stukken meer bijdragen aan de discussie over kerk en staat.

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C L O S E R – A difficult week

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Some personal considerations.

C L O S E R

Well, this has been a difficult week for the Dutch, not the least for Hirsi Ali of course (Yes, no matter what Verdonk says or no matter what some of her critics say, to me she is Dutch). On Harry’s Place a nice summary for what happened to her:

It’s safe to say it hasn’t been a brilliant few weeks for Ayaan Hirsi Ali. First she was ordered to vacate her apartment building after an appeal court judge ruled in favour of neighbours who’d complained that her presence put their own safety at risk. Then on Tuesday she resigned from the Dutch parliament following revelations that she’d lied on her asylum application in 1992, and announced she’d be leaving the Netherlands to join the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. The resignation was announced in a press conference in which she explained her reasons for agreeing to join the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)…

Harry’s Place is one of the few that can be considered pro-Hirsi Ali, but remains polite, distant and with a nose for different views without insulting these but just criticizing their content, as in the case of Developing Your Web Presence, Par en Bas and don’t forget Navaho Gunleg:

Just reading right here that the two-timing, lying, double-crossing bitch we call Ayaan Hirsi Ali (but is actually called Ayaan Hirsi Magan) will work for the American Enterprise Institute.

Of course, I am not surprised; she’s been sucking up to the US world-wide globalisation policies for ages now; that has always been pretty damn clear to me.

So now it’s official. As of the 1st of September she’s outta here.

Hopefully, this obvious ‘conflict of interest’ shall mean she’s really out of politics in this little country of ours. I have always thought of her as the Dutch Condoleeza Rice, as in sell-out capitalist bitch.

It’s obviously very dangerous that she will be spending time in this ‘conservative thinktank’, sucking Bush’s dick while Rice is holding it. (Eeew, now that was not the picture I was looking for.)

Meanwhile, in the Dutch newspapers several columnists try to make sense of it. Ephimenco (pro-hirsi ali) in Trouw:

Who is fishing in the gutter of the internetfora, reaches the same conclusion: the most humiliating remarks against the fallen politician are from different political spheres. Remarkable, but also comforting: after a period of polarizing, the people recovered their lost unity at the cost of the ‘sooty black one’ (sorry don’t know the translation for ‘roetmop’)

Jaffe Vink, also in Trouw, finds it

[…] painful to see that Ayaan Hirsi Ali – for who the Netherlands is the country she loves – has to leave. […] Her statements are ordinary, almost plain. She pleads for the freedom of the individual, the equality of man and woman, the emancipation of allochtone women and especially muslimwomen. No office clerk will be shocked, but the worldwide Muslimcommunity does. […] Islam has two big problems that should be solved: the first is the position of the apostate and the second is the depiction of the paradise. […] How can a religion expect respect, when it deals with his apostates the way it does? I challenge imams to preach about this, I challenge them to write about this. […] Dear imams, criticize that picture of the paradise, criticize the death of the martyr in the name of the holy life. Celebrate life, imams. Teach that to your children. Celebrate life. And tell your children that Ayaan Hirsi Ali also can live on. Grant her life. Tell that to your children. Tell them.

Also in Trouw, J.A.A. van Doorn:

The main difference, and that is what this is about, […]: Hirsi Ali came from abroad like many others. The government tries to send back or refuse, those who entered with a story based on lies. About that policy, unnecessary tough I admit, we can debate, but it has nothing to do with the infamous ‘Ausbürgerung’ (He refers to one commentator who pointed to the practice of the Nazi’s who expelled German citizens they did not like). One thing should be clear: when friends of Ayaan write about Ayaan, the are often lead by their friendship in a way that is harmful to their reputation. But of course, they have a difficult time these days.

(All translation of the Dutch texts are mine, in case of errors just let me know)

Of course, there is nothing wrong with Hirsi Ali’s goals: the rights of the individuals and the emancipation of Muslim women. Problem is that she creates strawman fallacies. For example  she talks about a pure islam. This is certainly an issue but doesn’t say much. Many people talk about pure islam and in practice that can be a very intolerant but also a very tolerant islam. She however chooses the first definition and elaborates on this pure islam as if it were a clearly delineated, homogenous Islam: The true doctrine of the pure Islam, as laid down in the Quran and hadith, calls upon believers to take violent action against infidels, apostates and for example homosexuals, while an unfriendly attitude against women is a given.” Of course there is a Muslim movement that would fit nicely in this definition, but what Hirsi Ali does here is pushing aside ‘ordinary’ Muslims as people who just did not quite understand their own religion. In fact there are numerous version of this true islam, which actually means that true islam does not explain anything. Instead, it is true islam that should be explained. By distorting and misrepresenting this vision of true islam, she makes other Muslims look like weak, naieve and ridiculous. Her vision of true islam is no less then a straw demon. Because, in her view, every Muslim that should discover her version of true islam, would radicalize since a Muslim is completely submitted to God and cannot distance himself from the prophet Muhammad. So a Muslim has no other choice. Also her vision of Muslims can be called a  straw demon because she ignores the fact that the position of Muslims is not only determined by religious traditions but also by economic, social, juridical, psychological factors and groupprocesses (for example, radicalization is almost always a groupprocess instead of a purely individual process).

She does the same with her critics for example when she said the Mohammed Cheppih wanted to introduce shari’a and corporal punishment when there is majority. That is true, but what he also said is that he wanted an ideal islamic state and then the shari’a (as a way of life, not only the punishments), something which he considered to be a utopia.  Weak, one might say, but it still is more nuanced then she stated.

The other way around of course also happens. Hirsi Ali for example has never stated that the prophet Muhammad is a perverse man or a pedophile, full stop. She has stated, referring to his marriage with Aisha, that such a behaviour would be called pervers according to the present Western standards. Weak, one might say, but it is still much more nuance then most often is referred to.

Notwithstanding the pain this last week has caused for Hirsi Ali, in my view she is (again) the winner. She was, again, exposed as someone who lied about her past and therefore loses an important basis for her authority and credibility. But in the end, who has lost credibility and authority? The Dutch government and especially Dutch integration minister Verdonk, whose credo ‘rules are rules’ simply does not work because there are always special circumstances. Almost the entire government and parlaiment stood up for her, something she never realized before (except of course right after the murder on Van Gogh). In some of the Dutch press but certainly in the foreign press she is hailed as the icon of Dutch tolerance (and the victim of intolerance) and her position as an authority on (radical) islam is not really challenged.

Last news item. The Hofstad-group has congratuled Zembla because of ‘telling the truth about Hirsi Ali’. A joke as Jermaine W. (brother of Jason W., convicted last year in the Hofstad-trial) said; they send flowers, Moroccan cookies and their name and adresses. According to the police (who was brought in) it was not forbidden: ‘you can give flowers to a broadcasting station’.

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Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law
Iran denies religious dress code law
Iranian officials on Saturday denied a report published by the Canadian National Post on the previous day, claiming that a new dress-code law was passed in Iran this past week, which mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public.

The National Post later cited experts saying that the idea of religious demarcation had only arisen in discussing a law defining Iranian dress code. The paper quoted an Iranian commentator who said the idea of external identification of non-Muslim minorities was only raised as a secondary motion.

Legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament’s cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.

“It’s a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless,” he said, explaining that the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. “The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,” he said. “Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill,” he said.

Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: “Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.”

A diplomat at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York called the report “completely false.”

“We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament,” the diplomat said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements.

Whether approved as law or not, the proposal demanded that Jews will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones.

The new law was drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, but was blocked. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In addition to the requirements on non-Muslims, the Iranian government has also envisioned that all Muslim Iranians wear “standard Islamic garments” designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.

The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis “unclean” by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public.

According to Ahmadinejad, reported the National Post, the new Islamic uniforms will establish “visual equality” for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam.

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Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law
Iran denies religious dress code law
Iranian officials on Saturday denied a report published by the Canadian National Post on the previous day, claiming that a new dress-code law was passed in Iran this past week, which mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public.

The National Post later cited experts saying that the idea of religious demarcation had only arisen in discussing a law defining Iranian dress code. The paper quoted an Iranian commentator who said the idea of external identification of non-Muslim minorities was only raised as a secondary motion.

Legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament’s cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.

“It’s a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless,” he said, explaining that the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. “The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,” he said. “Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill,” he said.

Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: “Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.”

A diplomat at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York called the report “completely false.”

“We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament,” the diplomat said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements.

Whether approved as law or not, the proposal demanded that Jews will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones.

The new law was drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, but was blocked. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In addition to the requirements on non-Muslims, the Iranian government has also envisioned that all Muslim Iranians wear “standard Islamic garments” designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.

The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis “unclean” by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public.

According to Ahmadinejad, reported the National Post, the new Islamic uniforms will establish “visual equality” for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam.

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