In Thirty Years

Nonie Darwish, a Muslim, is a well known activist against the totalitarian concept of the Muslim faith.    She represents one side of the story whilst we, as non Muslims, encouraged by our political masters to be generous towards the religion and its believers, have been conditioned to reject criticism of the faith and its teachings because of the potential conflict within our so called homogeneous society.

The seeds of the current dilemma lie in the 'economic need' for cheap labour after the war and to supplement the losses to our menfolk which  the war brought.

We are constantly told to look to our Muslim friends and see how they have integrated themselves into our workplace and are an important part of our workforce and also, as the friends who we know through work.   

In all the propaganda to live side by side and amalgamate our two societies, the Muslim and the non Muslim (for that is the dynamic) we rarely see or come into contact with the female side of the Muslim family. They are held behind some sort of veil (actual, as much as symbolic) and the structural formality of keeping the wife "off limits" as it were, a construct of the religion as much as the culture, leads one to think that people like Nonie Darwish have something to say and we should listen if for no other reason than to learn and consider the consequences if we don't learn. 

We can't leave it to our politicians, they have their own agenda to follow having initially created the dichotomy they are simply covering their own tracks with calls for under-standing and tolerance.

If at core there is something wrong (a western interpretation) with the domination of the man over his wife, which is clearly against our own beliefs and more to the point our law, why do we allow it to flourish in our society. The belief that this patriarchal, totalitarian aspect of the Muslim faith and the belief that they are operating with gods support in all matters, makes them inevitably dangerous and at odds with what "we" the non Muslim stand for. 

In these circumstances perhaps we should grasp the nettle and begin to insist that the  treatment of their wives 'as chattel to be owned', has to stop. 

Of course it is interesting that some women prefer the dominance of the patriarch even within western society but the law is supposed to reflect what the majority want and under those circumstances, we have about 30 years left !!!