This visit was criticised, but on the flip side, there has been a great deal of education going on about what the Islamists believe, as you can see.
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/10/2004 4:48:57 PM PDT by MadIvan
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim cleric currently on a controversial visit to Britain, believes that female rape victims should be punished if dressed "immodestly" when assaulted.
The 78-year-old Egyptian-born scholar, allowed into the country despite his open support of Palestinian suicide bombers and his extreme views on homosexuality, says that women can be guilty of provoking a sexual attack if their dress or behaviour arouses a man.
Dr al-Qaradawi's views on rape appear on a website called IslamOnline, which purports to give a modern interpretation of Islam. He is the website's chief scholar and leader of a group of Islamic academics who provide answers to questions posed by Muslims on moral issues.
One question asked: "Are raped women punished in Islam?" A panel, headed by Mr al-Qaradawi, replied: "To be absolved from guilt, the raped woman must have shown some sort of good conduct . . . Islam addresses women to maintain their modesty, as not to open the door for evil.
"The Koran calls upon Muslim women in general to preserve their dignity and modesty, just to save themselves from any harassment.
"So for a rape victim to be absolved from guilt, she must not be the one that opens . . . her dignity for deflowering."
The disclosure of Dr al-Qaradawi's views follows controversy over his public support for suicide bombers in Israel and his extreme interpretation of Islam on the subjects of wife beating and homosexuality.
Dr al-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar and is the head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, has stated that wife beating is allowed under Islam. "It is permissible for him [the husband] to beat her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive parts," he said.
The website describes homosexuality as perverted, abominable and a corruption, and states that homosexuals can be executed by either burning or stoning.
But Dr al-Qaradawi's comments were condemned as "appalling" by rape victims and support groups yesterday.
Jill Saward, who was raped in 1986 in a vicarage in Ealing, west London, when she was 21, said that the cleric's attitude allowed men to escape responsibility for their actions. She told The Sunday Telegraph: "I do not condone what Dr al-Qaradawi is saying at all.
"Men are very quick to condemn and shift the blame but invariably they know what they are doing and that it is wrong.
"Blaming women for rape is not facing up to the problem at all. It is men who are in charge and according to his view of the world they have a wonderful situation where they never lose and it is always going to be the woman's fault."
Ms Saward, 38, who is married with two children, said that what women wore and how they behaved should not have any bearing on whether a man was guilty of rape.
"We have got to the point where our society says 'take what you want'. Men feel like they can do that, regardless of what the woman wants and then argue that 'No does not really mean No'."
Lynne Harne, the spokesman for the Truth About Rape campaign, said: "I think that Dr al-Qaradawi's comments are absolutely appalling. Such an attitude should not be tolerated."
She added: "These kind of views simply promote violence against women, which is prevalent enough."
Jenny Jones, a London Assembly member who has campaigned against Dr al-Qaradawi's visit, said that he should not have been allowed to speak in Britain.
"His views are appalling and are deeply offensive," she said. "I've spoken to many Arab women who believe that he should never have been allowed here and certainly does not represent Muslims."
The Crown Prosecution Service was sent a dossier of evidence last week from Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, outlining the cleric's extreme views ahead of his visit, but he will not face prosecution.
"We have advised the Metropolitan Police that there is insufficient evidence that a criminal offence has been committed," the CPS concluded.
Henry Grunwald QC, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that he regretted the decision not to prosecute. He said: "Al-Qaradawi's past speeches and statements show the true nature of the man and we stand by our view that he should not have been permitted to enter the UK."
Dr al-Qaradawi yesterday attended a conference of the Muslim Association of Britain in Kensington, west London, where delegates voiced their support for the cleric.
Yusra Khreegi, a spokesman for the association, said that Dr al-Qaradawi's views had been distorted and misinterpreted deliberately by the "media and Zionist organisations".
"It has been very unfair and upsetting to see what has happened over the last few days," she said.
"Mr al-Qaradawi is actually a modest and open man and very well respected within our community. He is also one of the most open-minded Muslim clerics in the world. If the media destroy him then we'll be left with only extremists like Sheikh Abu Hamza."
Peter Tatchell, the leader of Outrage, the gay campaign group, said: "Mr al-Qaradawi blames women who are raped for provoking the sexual assault. Giving a platform to him is an insult to women as well as to Jewish and gay people because he endorses wife beating and sanctions the killing of homosexuals and Jews."
This visit was criticised, but on the flip side, there has been a great deal of education going on about what the Islamists believe, as you can see.
Regards, Ivan
Religion of Peace ping.
Actually, since polygamy means that most Muslim men cannot ever expect to marry (hence their fondness for young boys and each other), rape should be considered a normal by-product of Muslim culture.
The extreme Islamists disdain modern life as much as they disdain humam life. If a woman dresses in provocative clothing, she asks to be raped. Gee, now where did we hear that one before?
And you're right, Ivan, this was a good visit. This stuff is the Islamo-fascists' vision for the world.
On a related note.
"Imam gives underling permission to beat his wife"
http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/10/d40710011313.htm
PERFECT! You just nailed a major psychodynamic of the IslamoFascists.
Yet Mohammedanism is "chic" among leftists...
Why was this monster even given a visa to enter England?
Actually, we need to hear more from these savages so we know what we're up against.
Hear no evil will not protect us.
Only eternal vigilence and a full clip.
Those morons still have their heads in the sand.
This guy simply espouses typical Mohammedan beliefs.
The difference between a "moderate" Mohammedan and an extremist one is simply the length of their beards.
The First Amendment for American citizens is one thing, but tell me just WHY we allow people like this into our country since nothing says we have to??????
Last vote for the Republicrats will be in Nov 2004. Const Party thereafter.
This guy must be a hit in Paris...
Something really weird happened to me that this reminds me of. I attended a 'talk' that was supposed to be between a Pastor friend of mine and a group of Muslims. (This was pre-9/11. I've learned a lot since).
The Muslim guys up front did all the talking and didn't allow the Pastor much time. Maybe he got 10% of the total time up there. There were 7 of us Christians and 100 or so Muslims.
At the end of the ordeal, a Muslim convert (Fat American kid wearing a skull cap) was particularly interested in arguing the case for Islam with me against Christianity. (He was one of many, they all ganged up). But his particular beef with me was "that passage in Deuteronomy" that said that if a woman didn't cry out during a rape that she would be put to death. He distorted the Old Testament passage which basically said that the woman needed to protest or else it would be considered consensual. (I didn't have my Bible with me (ugh) and was not very familiar with that Old Testament law so I didn't refute him on that particular issue. I didn't agree with him, either).
But it was very strange that he would pick that topic to try to convince me that Christianity was inferior to Islam.
(By the way, here's the passage:
If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death-the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her).
These guys are playing word games. The woman was raped; the rapist should be punished.
Ivan, I would be extremely honored to be put on your ping list.
Hold on there! You need to get some expert opinion on word games and rape...I suggest BJ "better put some ice on that" Klinton.
FMCDH(BITS)
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