Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Muslim Women: Obama's Slap in the Face
Townhall.com ^ | February 5, 2016 | Charlotte Hays

Posted on 02/05/2016 11:13:09 AM PST by Kaslin

"To Muslim women's rights activists fighting for equal access to mosques as part of a broader campaign for reform — from equal education for women and girls to freedom from so-called 'honor killings', the president's visit to a mosque that practices such blatant inequity represents a step backwards."

That was from Asra Q. Nomani and Ify Okoye in the New York Times. They were referring to President Obama's visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore Wednesday, the first visit to a U.S. mosque he has made as president. Nomani and Okoye stood outside protesting the president's choice of venue.

"While the free world awaits a Muslim reformation, the leader of the free world shows blatant disregard for gender equality by visiting a mosque that treats females like second-class citizens," said Pakistani-Canadian activist Raheel Raza, author and cofounder of the Muslim Reform Movement.

Looks like President Obama picked the wrong mosque to honor with his presence.

The Muslim women weren't the only critics of the choice. It was widely noticed that the Islamic Society of Baltimore had some questionable connections. A former imam had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to the Virginia mosque where radical Anwar al-Awlaki preached before becoming an Al Qaeda affiliate operative in Yemen, where he was killed by a U.S. drone strike.

While the New York Times piece dealt with mosques in the U.S. in general, the authors did point out that at this particular Baltimore mosque, girls (all of whom wear headscarves) and boys as young as eight are rigidly segregated from one another. The facilities for girls are vastly inferior to those for boys. According to the New York Times article, in an estimated two thirds of U.S. mosques women and girls are "segregated in dark basements, sparse balconies, separate rooms and even behind shower curtains in the 'sisters’ section,' listening to Friday sermons piped in through shaky sound systems and watching them, if we are lucky, via TV screens. It's too often only on 'interfaith' occasions like the president's visit that women and girls get to step forward into the 'brothers' section.'"

In light of this, Nomani and Okoye see the president's visit as a slap in the face to Muslim women. The content of the President's remarks was similarly disappointing. He had the chance to speak up for Muslim women and talk of the Western tradition of women's rights, but he chose to ignore this in favor of depicting American Muslims as being under siege in our prejudiced society.

"Around the country, women wearing the hijab have been targeted," the president said at the mosque." We've seen children bullied. We've seen mosques vandalized. Sikh Americans and others who are perceived to be Muslims have been targeted, as well."

The Sikh incident, sickening though it was, happened in the immediate aftermath of September 11 and, as far as I can tell, has not been repeated. There simply has been no outbreak of violence against Sikhs in the U.S. It is inexcusable if children are bullied or mosques vandalized, and there have been isolated reports of the latter. The president is right to speak of these things at a mosque, but he is also obligated--if he wants to do more than use the event to make Muslims angry over Donald Trump and earn votes for Democrats--to speak truly of assimilation, especially regarding the treatment of women in Muslim cultures.

A poll last year of 600 U.S Muslims nationwide by The Polling Company for the Center for Security Policy found that 51 per cent of those surveyed agreed "Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to sharia." Sharia is notoriously short on rights for women, unless, of course, you consider it a right to be stoned for adultery. The push for Sharia in the U.K. was such that no lesser a non-Muslim than the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, proclaimed its eventual official adoption in parts of England as "unavoidable."

It should be avoidable in America if we have the will to speak up about it. We have a right not to want a legal system that is vicious to women imported into our society. We have a duty to promote assimilation, and that everyone in our society must embrace a basic respect for women's humanity. We've seen what failure to do so looks like with the vicious attacks on women in Cologne and other European cities by men from the Middle East and North Africa. After a series of rapes by foreigners in 2009-2011, the shell-shocked Norwegians sought to bridge this cultural divide by providing "no means no" courses for asylum seekers from the Middle East. Good luck with that, Norway.

This is an area in which real presidential leadership could make a difference. He could have told the mosque that men like their former imam scare the dickens out of us--and with good reason--and he could have called upon Muslims to reject their "war on women." Instead of slyly portraying the rest of us as thugs who treat hijab clad women badly, he could have talked about the need to treat all women with respect, and this must include women who do not where the hijab.

President Obama did make a rather tepid plea that members of the mosque reject "extremism," but he focused his criticism almost entirely on American society. If you listened to or read the president's words, you could be forgiven for seeing American Muslims as surrounded by a sea of venom and bigotry--in fact, I'd argue that the president has officially given Muslims the most coveted status in our society--victim status.

Like many of his forays into Islamic relations, this was a lost opportunity. After all, there are real victims in Muslim society, however, whom President Obama pointedly ignored on Wednesday: the women.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: barack0bama; mosque; muslims; women

1 posted on 02/05/2016 11:13:09 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Look, as any muslim will tell you — and as Obama tried to make clear — women don’t matter.


2 posted on 02/05/2016 11:21:54 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (I don't know what Claire Wolfe is thinking but I know what I am thinking.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

You said it.


3 posted on 02/05/2016 11:23:14 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin


4 posted on 02/05/2016 11:23:58 AM PST by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING ’VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I am all for slapping Muslims in the face.

Radical Muslims want to kill us. Non-radical Muslims want the radical Muslims to kill us. And that includes the women.


5 posted on 02/05/2016 11:28:54 AM PST by sipow
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Convert ...


6 posted on 02/05/2016 11:36:19 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


7 posted on 02/05/2016 11:38:23 AM PST by DoughtyOne (the Free Republic Caucus: what FReepers are thinking, 100s or 1000s of them. It's up to you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Woman are for children, while boys are for fun. Buncha stupid goat and camel humpers.


8 posted on 02/05/2016 11:39:23 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sipow

Its pretty simple:

I am all for slapping Muslims in the face.

Radical Muslims want to kill us. Non-radical Muslims want the radical Muslims to kill us. And that includes the women

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT.


9 posted on 02/05/2016 11:46:40 AM PST by Uversabound (Our Military past and present: Our Highest example of Brotherhood of Man & Doing God's Will)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Uppity Hussein is a disgrace to the Presidency AND Americanism.


10 posted on 02/05/2016 11:58:40 AM PST by TraditionalMerica
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

All hypocrites aren’t liberals but all liberals are hypocrites.

In fact, you aren’t a real democrat if you aren’t a hypocrite.

20 Ways To Tell If You Might Be A Liberal

1 - You think only bigots are being concerned about bringing Syrian refugees to America, but
agree newspapers should not print Muhammad cartoons because Muslims might kill them for it.

2 - You think every man accused of sexual assault is guilty until proven innocent except Bill Clinton.

3 - You call anyone who questions global warming a Flat-Earther even though you really don’t
understand any of the science behind it yourself.

4 - You are concerned that keeping terrorists at Guantanamo Bay who are trying to murder
Americans might make the other terrorists who are trying to murder Americans mad.

5 - You believe there is a “Republican War on Women” yet you are okay with Barack Obama
supporting Islam, think males who say they are females should be able to use the women’s toilet,
and approve of Hillary Clinton going after Bill’s Bimbos.

6 - You claim Republicans constantly commit racial micro-agressions yet deny you’re a racist just
because you believe that black Americans aren’t capable enough to get an ID to vote.

7 - You think that we should negotiate with radical Islamists who are sworn to kill us, but that
dialogue with the NRA is a waste of time.

8 - You believe Hillary Clinton is telling the truth. About anything. Ever.

9) You simultaneously believe the police are violent trigger-happy racists who shoot black people
for no good reason and that we should disarm the populace so that only the government has guns.

10 - You approve of colleges denying permission for conservatives to speak on campus because
they are invading students’ safe spaces.

11 - You believe you’re a caring and compassionate person because you advocate giving other
people’s money away to people you hope will vote for candidates you like.

12 - You believe that anyone who dislikes Barack Obama does so because he’ black, but your hatred
of Ted Cruz and Clarence Thomas is perfectly justifiable.

13 - You think you are sophisticated and non-judgmental but believe all Republicans are evil racists.

14 - You think it’s racist to expect muslim immigrants to assimilate and observe our customs and laws.

15 - You blame the Republicans for the failure of Obamacare even though none of them voted for it.

16 - You believe that disarming law abiding Americans will somehow stop insane people from harming others.

17 - You support politicians who respond to muslim terrorist attacks with demands that Americans be disarmed.

18 - You think an unemployed, white factory worker struggling to feed his family enjoys some sort of racist
White Privilege but the success of Barack Obama, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Maxine Waters and Al Sharpton has
nothing to do with their skin color.

19 - You believe that border fences don’t work but gun-free zones do.

20 - You believe Bruce Jenner is a woman, Rachel Dolezal is black and Elizabeth Warren is an Indian because they say so.


11 posted on 02/05/2016 12:20:30 PM PST by Iron Munro (The wise have stores of choice food and oil but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Iron Munro
Big


12 posted on 02/05/2016 1:01:43 PM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: justa-hairyape

“Woman are for children, while boys are for fun. Buncha stupid goat and camel humpers.”

Shortly after we went into Afghanistan, Ashley Bandfield of MSNBC at that time, did a program from Afghanistan and she made the same statement because the US GI’s were taken back by the way the grown men went after the ‘little boys’.


13 posted on 02/05/2016 1:15:30 PM PST by kagnew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Obama is pro-abortion, and that alone should be a glaring clue about how he feels about women’s equality.

Abortion, to the radical left, is the be-all and end-all of women’s rights and health care. It’s an appeasement meant to shut women up, like candy given to a child to make him shut up about getting no toys for Christmas. e.g., why would women want the right to be safe from cross-dressing men in public restrooms—they have the right to abortion!


14 posted on 02/06/2016 5:25:37 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson