Posted on 01/12/2003 8:34:33 PM PST by Alouette
RIYADH, 13 January 2003 — A seminar entitled "The Image of Muslim Women in the Western Media" was held on Saturday at King Abdul Aziz Library. It was organized by the Information Center for the Women’s Cultural Committee at the ongoing Janadriah Heritage Festival.
The opening ceremony, which Princess Nouf bint Abdul Aziz attended, was led by Jawahir Abdul Aa’l, the head of the Women’s Cultural Committee.
She said that the aim of the seminar was to set the record straight regarding Western misconceptions and attacks on both Islamic culture and the rights of Muslim women.
She pointed out that the right of Saudi women to have an education and to be employed began with the unification of the Kingdom by King Abdul Aziz.
The two guest lecturers were Dr. Noura bint Abdullah ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Adwan, an education specialist at King Saud University in Riyadh, and Noura Khaled Al-Sa’d, a sociology specialist at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah.
Noura Adwan made the point that the Western media makes judgments on the rights of Muslim women from the perspective of Western feminism, and questioned its validity in Muslim societies.
She added that the Western media should deal with the problems of women’s rights in their own culture before criticizing others.
"If the Western media is so concerned with Muslim women’s rights, where are the human rights for Palestinian women who cannot lead normal lives under the pressures of Israeli occupation?" she asked.
Noura Al-Sa’d, the second lecturer, reinforced much of what had been said by the first, and specifically drew attention to the image of Muslim women in the Western media. "We should not try to defend Islam because Islam does not need to be defended," she stated. "Only through the true practice of Islam can we project its meaning and set an example for others to follow."
She has a point, (other than the one on the top of her head). Doesn't everyone remember when that convent in Boston caught fire and the Catholic cops and firefighters shoved the nuns back inside the burning building because they didn't have their habits on?
Yeah, because it's a voluntary action on the part of the nuns. In Saudi Arabia, the girls are covered with the abaya as soon as they have their first period.
Except by the liberal nuns themselves, who usually wear cheap polyester versions of Ol' Crusty.
Another interesting book is "Stolen Lives" which was written by Malika Oufkir, who along with her mother, brothers and sisters spent almost 20 years confined to solitary confinement in a hideous Morroccan prison. They escaped to France, and Malika converted to Catholicsm. She denounces islam. Their crime? Their father was allegedly part of a an assination plot on the Morroccan king.
These books should be mandatory reading for islamo-apologists everywhere.
I apologize for not remembering the name of the sequel written by the former princess. Both my copies of those books have disappeared and I cannot find replacements.
Isn't that a redundancy?
It is striking how much Islamist spokesmonkeys remind me of Marxist spokesmonkeys. Fr'instance, the way that they keep comparing things that have nothing to do with another as a means of 1)ignoring the criticism leveled at them 2)raising issues where they believe they have the tactical advantage.
Of course, in this case it depends on the definition of normal this useful idiot wishes to adopt. If by normal she means "subject to totalitarian oppression, with maybe a massively traumatic circumcision thrown in with a stoning or two", then she is dead-on...Those Palestinian women sure are missing out.
But can they drive a car? By themselves?
"If the Western media is so concerned with Muslim women’s rights, where are the human rights for Palestinian women who cannot lead normal lives under the pressures of Israeli occupation?" she asked.
Well, maybe if they spent less time birthing, raising, and teaching their kids to be "martyrs" in Isreal, they wouldn't be so "repressed." What kind of lives can the Israelis live with the threat of the Pali suicidal children?
I never noticed the Afghan women pining for the old Taliban days, do you?
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