(From Prof. Richard Holmes' Foreword. He's professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University): 'Whatever advantages may have been gleaned from Guantanamo will, in the long term... be submerged by the fact that the place's very existence helps spawn a mass of radicalised young men eager to avenge injustices inflicted on their brothers... [And] to thousands of Muslims, many of whom had neither affection for Saddam nor real quarrel with the West, [the Iraq invasion] was a symbol of unspeakable humiliation. We are tactics-driven, but "strategy lite"' (p.5). 'Al Qa'eda's war aim is "complete victory over infidel powers and the establishment of the Islamic caliphate". Al Qa'eda's training manuals justify the torture or murder of hostages, using a version of Islamic teaching to justify itself' (6).
Sookhdeo's thesis: 'The challenge for the West is not to declare war on Islam, the personal faith of the mainly peaceful majority of Muslim people, but rather to declare war on the Islamic theology, philosophy and ideology that motivate and sanction fanaticism, extremism, violence, and terrorism' (8). 'The mantra "Islam is peace" is heard so often in the West today, and yet this is true only in the sense of peace borne out of religious war resulting in the submission of the enemy' (9). 'Many are at pains to distinguish "Islamist terrorism" from what they believe to be the unacceptable term "Islamic terrorism". This is a meaningless distinction: Islamism is simply the essence of classical Islam, and violence and terror are found within both of them' (10).
'In the West, Muslim liberals have the freedom to express their views, but face the ire of community leaderships heavily influenced by the power-centres in their countries of origin and by the resource-rich Wahhabi Saudis who fund much of their activity' (15). 'The ultimate goal of Islam: a worldwide Islamic government based on shari'a' (17).
'It is remarkable that a world community of over 1.2 billion, comprising some 52 independent Muslim-majority states (having significant large minorities in over 40 other states), controlling more than half the world's oil resources and constituting the largest voting bloc in the United Nations, continues to see itself as a victim of forces beyond its control... These feelings of victimhood have been redirected into feelings of rage against the West as the main cause of Muslim weakness and humiliation' (18-19).
'Sheikh Muhammed Taher of the Leeds Grand Mosque, UK , makes clear... his belief that jihad includes actual fighting, urging Muslim youngsters, both male and female, to be brought up as jihad warriors' (21).
'A variety of interpretations have been suggested with respect to contemporary Islamic violence. Huntington wrote of Islam's "bloody borders" and interpreted war in its contemporary expression in terms of a clash of civilizations. By contrast, Francis Fukuyama, following his idealistic predictions of a post-Cold War period characterised by liberal democracies, argues that current Islamic violence represents the death throes of a religion unable to compete and coexist with liberal democracy' (423).
Jordan's King Abdullah II : 'There is no such thing as extremist Islam and no such thing as moderate Islam, for Islam is one' (430). 'In the end the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood are not dissimilar from those of the extremists; it is only their methods which differ' (434). '[The escalating] Sunni-Shi'a conflict... in the Middle East... is producing a reaction in peacable Muslims who are revolted by the daily carnage and are increasingly disillusioned with their religion which produces such hatred, cruelty and violence... Non-Arab Islam might develop a more peacable doctrine. Indonesian Islam did so...' (439).
Patrick Soodhdeo's plea: We ought to give more support to liberal Muslim networks, which are working towards the reformation of Islam, away from its inherent war-like stance. (443).
Rosemary Sookhdeo's Secrets Behind the Burqa (2004, 2008)
Rosemary's book contains stories and insights from conversations with Muslim women, mostly in the East End of London. Her thesis: Muslims believe that the Qur'an... teaches the equality of men and women, but many rights given to women by Islam have in practice been ignored. 'Islamic laws are saturated by a notion of the eminence of men over women, and they include numerous rules to regulate women's lives' (p. 59).
Examples:
'Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?' (Hadith 1:301); 'the witness of two women is valid only when accompanied by a man' (45). The majority of dwellers-in-hell are women (Hadith 8:456) (39). 'In the Qur'an there is not one verse to show that women will be treated equally in paradise' (40). 'Unless a woman is obedient and grateful to her husband at the time of death she will go to hell' (41). Muhammad... believed that if a man and woman were alone the third person present was the devil' (97).
'Women are not as intelligent as men' (41). 'Wife beating is considered to be sanctioned in the Qur'an' (45). 'According to the Shari'a a man has only to repeat "I divorce you" three times in front of witnesses and the wife is thrown out of the house' (50). About 70% of forced marriages in the UK end in divorce; 75% of divorces are initiated by women; in Muslim countries governed by Islamic law a woman who divorces her husband must give up her children (70, 81).
'From the time of birth girls are considered a liability... their birth can go unannounced and condolences may be offered' (112).
Rosemary Sookdheo believes there are about twenty honor killings of women a year in the UK (this was ten years ago) – perpetrated by cousins, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons or other male relatives. 'Up to 17,000 women in the UK are being subjected to "honor" related violence every year, according to the Police Chiefs' (87). Children as young as eleven are being sent abroad to be married.
Women must be virgins when they marry, but 'it is no loss to a man's honor to sleep with a prostitute for she is considered to be nothing' (76). An increasing number of women are paying up to 4000 pounds for hymen replacement operations.
Rosemary Sookdheo devotes several pages to the conflict of cultures, especially for younger Muslims in the UK. According to a paper presented to the British Psychological Society in 1997 by psychologist Dev Sharma Muslim girls have a higher degree of anxiety and are up to three times more likely to harm themselves than their white counterparts (111).
Her devastating conclusions: 'Muslim integration into British society has effectively come to a halt' (124). 'There is no discussion in the Muslim world on the position and rights of women. Not one constitution in the Muslim world upholds sexual equality. But there have been gains in Tunisia and Morocco where women are being given more rights' (125). (But note: this was written before the 'Arab spring'.)
In Yahoo's Answers: ' "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" is often used in political and social contexts for any obvious truth denied by the majority despite the evidence of their eyes, especially when proclaimed by the government.' (answers.yahoo.com). The Sookhdeos would agree. Although their Christian theology is of a conservative colour, the question still remains: are they on to something that many of us would prefer to 'wish away'? Go figure!
See Rowland Croucher's web site jmm.org.au
Rosie Timmins in a journalism graduate from Bond and is based in Melbourne ministering with OAC as an Intern.
Rosie Timmins previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/rosie-timmins.html