Quran Uber Alles (Robert Spencer)

FrontPageMagazine ^ | Robert Spencer

[Pyro7480]

Beaten and threatened with death by her husband, a young Muslim mother of two in Germany petitioned a Frankfurt court for a speedy divorce. German law mandates a year-long waiting period between separation and divorce, but also contains “hardship” criteria that allow for that period to be shortened. However, Judge Christa Datz-Winter decided that this was not a “hardship” case. According to Spiegel Online, Datz-Winter quoted Qur’an 4:34, which says that “men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other,” and that men should punish disobedient women: “admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them.” After all, Datz-Winter pointed out, both husband and wife were Moroccan.

Evidently, multiculturalism trumps even gender solidarity. Judge Christa Datz-Winter’s startling assumption that the Qur’an could be a legitimate basis for decisions in a German court is simply the logical endpoint of the disastrously self-destructive relativist multiculturalism that has governed European policy for decades now. As the historian Bat Ye’or recounts in Eurabia, beginning in the early 1970s the European Community, and then the European Union, entered into a series of agreements with the Arab League that provided for massive Muslim immigration into Europe without assimilation. It is ironic that European governments are now frequently criticized for not assimilating their Muslim populations, when the Arab League for years insisted that they must not move to assimilate their new Muslim immigrants – as have Muslim leaders in Europe. So if Muslims can legitimately form cultural enclaves in European cities, which in some cases have become virtually autonomous, such that even police, fire, and emergency personnel don’t dare enter them, why shouldn’t they be governed also by their own laws?

Nor is this the first time something like this has happened. A “religious diversity handbook” given to police officers in Australia’s Victoria state in 2005 stated that “in incidents such as domestic violence, police need to have an understanding of the traditions, ways of life and habits of Muslims.” They were directed to consult with the local imam, who would make sure there was no “fragmenting” of the “family unit.”

In both of these incidents, Muslim leaders protested. In Australia, Joumanah El Matrah of the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council said of the “religious diversity handbook”: “The implication is one needs to be more tolerant of violence against Muslim women, but they should be entitled to the same protection. Police should not be advising other officers to follow those sorts of protocols. It can only lead to harm.” And in Germany, Ayyub Axel Köhler of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany articulated a view often stated by Muslims in Western countries: “Our prophet never struck a woman, and he is our example.” Unfortunately, however, the idea that a husband is sometimes justified in beating his wife – even if in a “light” or “symbolic” way – is held by influential Muslim authorities such as Sheikh Yousef Qaradhawi, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Dr. Muhammad Al-Hajj of the University of Jordan, Islamic apologist Jamal Badawi, and others -- so it cannot be said that Judge Datz-Winter was wide of the mark in Islamic terms when she invoked Qur’an 4:34 to justify the abusive Moroccan husband’s behavior.

Judge Datz-Winter’s decision caused a furor in Germany, and she was quickly removed from the case. That may be one small sign that Europe is inching toward throwing off its multiculturalist blinders and recovering the spirit of General Sir Charles James Napier, the British Commander-in-Chief in India from 1849 to 1851. It is said that a Hindu delegation protested against the British prohibition of sati, the practice of burning a widow to death on her husband’s funeral pyre, by telling Napier that it was part of their cultural custom. Napier famously responded:

You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

It is long past time for authorities in Europe and the United States to begin to emulate Napier in their dealings with increasingly restive and demanding Islamic communities. Instead of issuing “religious diversity handbooks” and making special accommodations for Islamic practices, Western officials need to reassert the validity of our own laws and mores, and – at least as long as Europe’s suicidal immigration policies remain in place and neither Europe nor America treats immigration as a national security issue – remind newcomers that they are not welcome to bring with them customs and practices that are at variance with our own. This is the standard to which visitors and immigrants to Islamic countries are expected to adhere. The West should demand no less.

[Pyro7480]

That may be one small sign that Europe is inching toward throwing off its multiculturalist blinders and recovering the spirit of General Sir Charles James Napier, the British Commander-in-Chief in India from 1849 to 1851.

Napier is also known for the best one-word military communique.

From Charles James Napier

The most important epoch in Sir Charles Napier's life was yet to come, and in 1842, at the age of 60, he was appointed as Major-General to the command of the Indian army within the Bombay presidency. Here Lord Ellenborough's policy led Napier to Sindh, for the purpose of quelling the Amirs or Muslim Rulers of the region, who had made various hostile demonstrations against the British government after the termination of the Afghan war. His campaign against these chieftains resulted, after the victories of Meanee and Hyderabad, in the complete subjugation of the province of Sindh, and its annexation to eastern dominions. This is when he is said to have despatched back to headquarters a short, famous message, "Peccavi" – Latin for "I have sinned" - a pun on Sindh. Later proponents of British rule over the East Indians justified the conquest thus: "If this was a piece of rascality, it was a noble piece of rascality!"

[Pyro7480]

Robert Spencer ping!

[mockingbyrd]

words truly fail me.....

[domenad]

That's the second time I have heard of this guy today. I would think that I would have heard of a guy that kicked as much tail as he did, but I guess you learn something new every day.

[Pyro7480]

See if you can find the link to where you saw the mention. I first read about him in a National Geographic article on the continuing legacy of ancient Rome on the world. One part of the article mentioned Latin, and Napier's use of "Peccavi."

[rovenstinez]

Why is such wide berth given to Islamic Sharia law, and such narrow closure at the pass given to Christian/Jewish established law in Europe?

[ken5050]

Thanks for the fascinating historical tidbit. Can you imagine if Gen McAuliffe ( Bastogne) had been a Latin scholar? (G)

BTWE..re the story..if that judge isn't isn't removed, fired, impeached, whatever the means of redress is in Germany, then it's effectively over. A message must be sent. Remember when Souter said that he considered foreign laws? A bill for his impeachment shoudl have been filed the next day.

[WOSG]

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours." = Napier

Great quote.

[Pyro7480]

Can you imagine if Gen McAuliffe ( Bastogne) had been a Latin scholar? (G)

I'm sure the Germans would have a lot less trouble translating a Latin word or phrase than "Nuts!" ;-)

[Thombo2]

I wonder how judge Winter would feel if she was getting her a@@ kicked by her husband???

[stm]

What exactly would constitute a "hardship" case, if he beat her to death?

Dieser Richter ist ein Scheissarschloch

[davisfh]

How sad it is that we have begun the descent into this cultural morass that is Islam. Islam, in my mind is a mental illness that is totally incompatible with Western Culture.

How is it that we are allowing ourselves to be dragged into this slime pit that masquerades as a religion? Are we so focused on political correctness that we are blinded to the obvious - the obvious being that these people are totally incompatible with our society?

The bigger question here is, "Why do we invite this trash into our country?" Do we not have enough trash to contend with without opening our arms to a bunch of Middle-Eastern garbage?

In my never to be humble opinion, there is no place in this country for these people. They have no desire to assimilate. They want everyone else to assume their abberant customs. To be brief, I'm just not going there and I do not expect any of my people to behave otherwise.

[Maeve]

Ban Islam and burn all the Korans.

Any questions?

[Gritty]

[drpix]

General Sir Charles James. You'd think he'd be a hero taught at our feminist oriented universities. But no chance he's a dead white male... unlike Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin...

[AnAmericanMother]

He didn't actually say, "Nuts!"

He said something far more pungent, which had to be translated for the German commander.

[Bokababe]

Julia Gorin did something on this issue a couple of days ago. She thinks that the judge did us a favor, because even the usually PC press went nuts over it and it became a wake-up call!

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting article, but Spencer overlooks one very important point. If Muslims are to cast aside their peculiar -- and even downright bizarre -- religious customs, then what would he have them adopt? A culture radical secularism that is rapidly bringing on its own demise?

What does "the West" have to offer these immigrants anymore?

[Squawk 8888]

What does "the West" have to offer these immigrants anymore?

Victims.

[ansel12]

There may be new hope springing up in Africa and Asia as far as an energized Christian response to the Mohammedan death cult.