Anti-Islamic writer stirs hatred, Muslims warn
by Simon Kearney
A VISIT to Sydney by a controversial Somali writer who calls the prophet Mohammed a pedophile and says Islam is inferior to Western culture has outraged Muslims, who accuse her of inciting hatred.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali will arrive in Sydney today amid tight security normally reserved for foreign dignitaries or royalty.
Her writings and talks focus on what she calls the backwardness of Islamic culture and the persecution of Muslim women.
The Somali-born Muslim - who fled to The Netherlands, became a Dutch citizen and renounced her religion - has been under 24-hour guard since the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh in November 2004 by a Muslim extremist in Amsterdam.
Van Gogh's film Submission, which examined the oppression of Muslim women, was written by Hirsi Ali. His killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, left a five-page death threat addressed to her, pinned to the filmmaker's chest.
However, University of Technology Sydney Islamic law lecturer Jamila Hussain said Hirsi Ali's ideas were extreme and stigmatised Muslims.
"I think she'd be better staying where she came from," Ms Hussain said. "I've read enough of her thoughts. It's a narrow and radical opinion, and I don't agree with it. She's obviously had some dreadful experiences, but they're not typical."
In her writings, Hirsi Ali describes being circumcised as a young girl and how she escaped an arranged marriage.
Nada Roude, of the NSW Islamic Council, said Hirsi Ali's comments on the prophet Mohammed were a "no-go zone".
"They (prophets) are not just like you and me, they have special status - you're supposed to show respect," Ms Roude said.
"There have to be boundaries in how far you go in respecting other's beliefs. The reaction from the community is likely to be quite worrying."
Hirsi Ali has written that under Dutch law, Mohammed's marriage to six-year-old A'ishah (whose age is disputed by Muslim scholars) and his subsequent consummation of the marriage when she was nine would make him a pedophile.
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Monday, May 28, 2007
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1 comment:
Under Ms. Roude's logic that there are "no-go zones" regarding religious personages, let me propose a different one.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Denying that is a no-go zone -- and under her logic, should be prohibited. That would allow us to begin banning the Koran and other Islamic writings, because they reduce Jesus to the status of a mere prophet and human being. Therefore, we could logically ban Islam as hate speech denigrating Christianity.
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