Thursday, January 22, 2009

They say it is unIslamic to hit your wife - but...

Imam Samir Abu Hamza in a lecture given in 2003 stated that under Islamic law men could demand sex with their wives. This is despite an Australian law requiring consent. In a cover up of what is preached within Islam i is now claimed that Islam does not condone either the hitting or raping of their wives. Now it seems that the Imam is trying to cover up his faux pas by claiming what he said was metaphorical.

A statement by the current Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on this subject is in my opinion very unhelpful. It seems to me that he is extremely ignorant about the real Islam.

Now I will give the benefit of the doubt to Islamics in Australia, that the majority prefer a reformed version of Islam - that is there is an effort to clean up the violence that is allowed in some Islamic countries. However, I cannot accept that Mr. Haset Seli is telling the truth about Islam as it is practiced elsewhere when he says of the Imam:

"His lecture was absolutely ludicrous, unIslamic and highlighted the ignorance of the man".

On the other hand, in this story I do see some hope for Islamic women in Australia, that they will be subjected to less violence in the future. The hope comes from comments by Sharene Hassan, vice president of the ICV because she is organizing a series of workshops for Victorian imams on the issue of domestic violence.

She says:

"There may be individuals who have interpreted this lecture as condoning violence against women - it's not the first time we have had this problem, " she said.

The good news is that imams are meeting to plan workshops to find ways of discouraging domestic violence among their followers.

It seems that there is a discrepancy between the two views expressed - the male says that the women are not treated with violence; the woman says that there have been problems in the past. I prefer to believe sherene Hassan, not the staff member from the mosque in Coburg.


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