There’s an Arabic word commonly spelled in English as fiqh and pronounced as “fick”. It refers to the corpus of regulations derived from scriptural sources. For 14 centuries, Islamic religious scholars developed all kinds of rules from scripture. And for the past decade or so, my “Aussie Mossie” mates have developed a polite way of responding to the more imbecilic rulings.
So when I read this morning of the crazy rants of someone described by Herald Sun as “Coburg’s self-styled cleric”, I used that same polite response, asking myself: “What the fiqh?” And when I watched the actual video (consisting of clumsily edited excerpts from two separate lectures), I found myself wondering what bits had been left out.
Samir Abu Hamza was shown saying hitting and bashing one’s wife was forbidden. As a last resort, a man may hit their wives with a toothbrush. The traditional brush used by the Prophet Muhammad (known as a miswak and which looks like this) is much lighter than your average Oral-B. Did Abu Hamza remind his audience that not a single incident is recorded in Islamic scriptures of the Prophet even so much as raising his voice at any woman? I’m not sure. What I do know is this — my mum would happily squirt toothpaste in Abu Hamza’s eyes and up his nostrils if he tried lecturing her husband and/or son on the merits of even the “mildest” form of toothbrush tantrum.
The second excerpt showed Abu Hamza talking about the spiritual and moral causes of alcoholism, crime, gambling and other social ills. He accuses Muslims of being selfish in not sharing their religious values with others. Apparently, we are meant to be offended by this. Apparently, the Jensens and Pells of this world don’t deliver similar sermons.
So where is the real story in all this? Abu Hamza defended using an instrument of “discipline” that can still poke someone’s eye out whilst effectively denying the existence of marital rape in religious law. It’s a claim without foundation. To suggest marital rape is tolerated in any religious tradition (let alone Middle Eastern faiths like Christianity, Judaism and Islam) is complete nonsense. What kind of sick man gets his kicks out of forcing any woman, let alone his own wife, to have s-x with him?
Domestic violence (including marital rape) is far too common across all Australian communities. The Herald Sun poll asked whether readers thought Abu Hamza’s comments are out of touch with Australian values. If Aussie values are defined using crime statistics, well the White Ribbon Day website provides disturbing statistics; for example, nearly two-thirds of women experience physical or sexual violence at least once during their life time.
Yet sadly, as is so often the case, religious teachers are out of step with the rest of us. Some months back, The Age covered a Melbourne University conference where the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council delivered a paper on the attitudes of imams toward gender issues. Muslim women deserve not just the protection of the law but also the support of their menfolk. How can this happen when male religious leaders continue to be caught out making despicable remarks? And how can the problem be resolved when moronic tabloids across the land turn issues like domestic violence into yet another exercise in shoring up “Australian values” despite the fact that men of all backgrounds are perpetrators and women of all background are victims?
Geoff, if you can convince me that expelling Muslim blokes (or even just the “nuts”) from Australia would remove or substantially reduce domestic violence from the nation, I for one would happily settle in Auckland. Can you give me that guarantee?
Irfan, of course I cannot; however, I would prefer to think that allowing these loonies to represent the muslim community in Australia (when they clearly do not) will certainly not do anything to reduce the amount of violence towards muslim women married to husbands who are easily led by those expounding, and even advocating, such extreme behaviours. For Islam to gain more respect from non-muslims in Australia I believe that the very public denouncement and removal of Abu Hamza and his ilk as spokesmen would do wonders – I know it would for me.
Just to wrap this up Irfan, I am generally a long-time fan of your items; however, one thing continues to puzzle me is why you seem to avoid this basic (to me, anyway) issue: Is it too hard to get rid of these loudmouth loonies who are shown and reported to be speaking for muslims when in fact they are speaking only for the fundamentalists? They do the muslim movement no good – quite the opposite, as I’m sure you will agree. Why are they allowed so much freedom to damage Islam in Australia?
I can only assume that it is a hard and complex question not easily solved, notwithstanding its importance, or it would not be the problem that it is, and remains.
Irfan conveniently misses the point…again. Abu Hamza’s condoning a muslim man’s right to force his wives to have sex if they show no signs of physical illness or injury is nothing less than disgusting and despicable. This maniacal mysogynist and his sickening view of women’s place in the world should be loudly disowned by all thinking muslims – including, if not especially, Irfan.
Geoff, it goes without saying that these kinds of absurd attitudes toward women are nuts. The idea that a man can just demand intercourse from his wife is something out of another century. Or at least it should be. The problem is that it isn’t out of another century. It’s happening here and now and across cultural and religious divides. But when you turn domestic violence into the object of cultural warfare, it means you aren’t serious about the issue. You’re only serious about it when it allows you to point the finger at others, forgetting that three fingers point straight back at you.
A positive aspect of the Herald-Sun article (which wasn’t replicsated in the hard copy edition of the Daily Telegraph) was the response from Joumanah El-Matrah. I think her response is spot-on.
Irfan, I am disappointed you refuse to acknowledge that it seems it is only muslim clerics and other muslims in positions of influence who are “nuts” to quote you. Which other religion openly (and loudly) supports forced sex in marriage (not to mention many other barbaric treatments of women such as stoning, etc.)? If the few muslim nutters who are truly crazy are allowed to continue with their pontifications to no good end then why does not the good muslim community send them packing? Who needs them? Certainly not the muslim community and certainly not their adopted Australia.