Dear Editor,
The more I read Mr Mujtaba Nasir’s misogynistic diatribe entitled, ‘Western clothes dehumanize women into sex objects’ (SN 4.8.08) in which he purports to speak for Muslim women, the more dismayed I am at the fact that such a letter was even published. To say that “badly and scantily dressed women,” whatever he means by this expression, bring rape upon themselves heaps scorn on the victims of rape. The contempt this man has shown is second only to the act of rape itself.
This reputed “al haj,” if he has ever cared to understand the crime of rape, must know that rape has nothing to do with the way women are dressed. If only he was reading our daily newspapers he would see that even little children are not infrequently raped. In God’s name where does this kind of arrogance come from?
Doesn’t Mr Nasir know that rape is one of the most often committed crimes against women in several Islamic societies, especially Pakistan and Bangladesh, of which societies I can claim to know somewhat? And while ‘infidel’ women are fair game as Hindu women are in Bangladesh, Muslim women who are dressed from head to toe with burkha and more, are not spared. To this day Sir, rape is a socially accepted way to punish women in the Pakistani society, a punishment that the whole village turns out to witness!
It is common knowledge that in many Islamic societies rape is one of the most under-reported crimes because it is virtually impossible for a woman to prove it, especially when her word does not have the same weight as that of the rapist, because a woman’s word in an Islamic court does not have the same value as that of a man’s. In 2006, over 64% of cases in Pakistan where Muslim women were courageous enough to report rape they found themselves persecuted by the law. Can Mr Nasir imagine the fate of ‘infidel’ women, Hindus and Christians?
But people like Mr Nasir are only interested in scoring points and excuse and defend the barbarity practised in the name of Islam. What a shame it is that while many of us were enjoying a classic table tennis contest between the brilliant and respectable Williams sisters, all that Mr Nasir pervertedly cared to see was their “very mini-skirts.” And, what a leap he has made from mini-skirts to immorality and HIV/AIDS.
Mr Editor, it seems to me that this fear of what’s under the mini-skirt, the blatant gynaephobia that is a major Islamic obsession, is the reason why female genital mutilation is so widely practised in some Islamic societies. In Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt even a child of five would have her offending clitoris cut out, and people like Mr Nasir will no doubt advance all kinds of moral reasons why this is necessary.
But the fact is that no society, no culture, no religion has sought to control and manage female sexuality as completely as Islam does and no amount of pain inflicted on women was deemed too much in achieving this worthy objective.
On another note which will certainly bring joy to Mr Nasir’s heart, as from 2009, only women in burkha will be allowed to participate in the Wimbledon tournament.
Yours faithfully,
Amina Chaudhury
