Tarek Fatah’s Malicious Attempt to Make Muslim Community Feel Inferior

THE latest article by Tarek Fateh, “This is no sin to shun Hijab” supported by Farzana Hassan is another malicious attempt at using isolated cases to make a diatribe at the Muslim community, making them feel inferior in their own eyes and presenting the Western version of Islam- Western not in the sense that it is being promoted by Western Muslims, as there are many true Islam lovers living amicably in the West, but Western because it is the version of Islam the Western powers want to see emerging. This is a version of Islam that is compatible with their nonsense version of the freedom of choice, so that the corporate forces can use these “choices”: for their commercial ends. I won’t speak anything about the case itself, as I know nothing about the facts, and it is the duty of the Law to punish the culprits, which I hope it will do.

Fatah says, “millions of Muslim girls are told very early in life by their mothers that their place in society is one of submission; submission, not to God, but to Man.” I would like to tell Fatah that more than Muslim girls, the other girls especially those living in the western world are told very early in their lives that their place in society is one of submission to man’s desires. As they grow they are told that they must not shy of showing their “assets” to men all over the world, must not feel reluctant to sell their bodies to male customers as it is their right to use their bodies for their financial uplift, must not bother to abort their fetuses as it could give them and their boyfriends unwanted trouble and what not.

I am grateful to Fatah and Farzan that they have stopped at giving the Muslim men including the scholars the advice that “they need to assure young Muslim women who choose not to wear the head cover that they are not committing a sin.” They could have better told them that giving young women an advice to wear Hijab is itself a sin. Or, women should be told that shedding clothes is in fact a virtuous act that needs to be followed by one and all.

Who says that Muslims do not have a Khushwant Singh in their midst? Most certainly they have one in Mr Tarek Fateh.

If Mr. Fateh is really interested in submitting to God, he should wage a concerted fight against nudity and pornography (nothing can be a more sinful freedom of expression), against prostitution (nothing can be more degrading for women), promiscuity (nothing can be more dangerous for human health particularly women’s health) and abortion (nothing can be a bigger crime against humans, especially children)..

Dr Javed Jamil is the Executive Chairman of International Centre for Applied Islamics, India.