Nasty
The tendency to lump together Muslim females in exile who have rather unsavoury views about Islam makes the voices of moderate females difficult to hear…Male exiles from the faith do not seem to attract the same sympathetic open-armed treatment as the damsel in distress…The most prominent of the “refuseniks”, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji and Wafa Sultan have caused a stir for allegedly being “brave enough” to criticise Islam and nail their colours to the west’s mast of values.
Interesting scare quotes on ‘brave enough’ – since all three women mentioned receive regular (and sincere) death threats. What exactly is Nesrine Malik expressing incredulity about, one wonders?
Wafa Sultan’s debut on al-Jazeera , where she bleated hysterically about the irredeemable retardation of the Islamic faith…[I]n marketing oneself as a Crusader speaking on behalf of the mute Muslim millions…[M]edia-courting one-woman-roadshows pitting themselves against the Muslim world do little more than create western media darlings…I should have a natural synergy with these women but I am appalled at how cavalierly they have appropriated the very limited opportunity to capture attention and raise awareness…
Aw – diddums – did the bad nasty talkative women grab your chance to ‘capture’ media attention? Well no wonder you have such a nasty way with words, then. No wonder you’re so full of sneers. Poor poor you.
Their personal histories exhibit a disturbing ruthless tendency to twist half-truths into a media-friendly tale of woe…This chameleonism offends me. Their abuse of the religion and its mores is unconstructive and gratuitous…when voices are heard, it is a tragic waste that they are pitched at a hysterical shriek supporting an irreconcilable “clash of civilisations” paradigm. What do these enlightened, brave souls hope to achieve?…[T]hey have robbed the Muslim woman of her independence and free will, pigeonholing and victimising her as a “Caged Virgin”…[T]elegenic articulate women cynically exploiting the naivety and polarisation of a terrorised post-9/11 world.
Unsavoury views, “brave,” bleated hysterically, Crusader, media-courting, cavalierly, ruthless, abuse, gratuitous, hysterical shriek, victimizing, telegenic, cynical. Nesrine Malik has a taste for shameless vituperation, and sexist vituperation at that. Sexist vituperation coming from women is doubly disgusting.
That sounds like a copy past from the standard denunciation of atheists. Somebody who did a quick job replacing “militant atheists” by “muslim rebel sisters” and “Richard Dawkings” by “Ayaan Hirsi Ali”
No wonder she complains of them being so articulate!
As for the trio “robbing the Muslim women of her independence and free will”…
We also have the perfect trifecta of crusade, gratuitous offence and hysterical shriek but no mention of islamophobia? Some people have let their game slip slightly, I think.
The scare quotes caught my attention too. I wondered just how exactly the author thought she was going to get away with sneering at bravery under threat of death without seriously hampering her own credibility.
I will allow this, though: though it was nasty of the author to use this as a slur against her competence, I would agree that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is wicked photogenic.
“It is undeniable that much needs to be said about the state of women in Arab/Muslim society and this needs to be done delicately, responsibly and with sensitivity to diversity in culture, heritage and religious practice.”
Nah, stuff that. They used to say the same thing about Germaine Greer – don’t swear so much, you’re alienating the people who might be most sympathetic, don’t be so shocking. But rebellious females found it exciting and inspiring and after a while the moderates came grudgingly along. Let them speak the way they will and others will speak in different voices and there will be a great chorus.
“articulate women cynically exploiting the naivety and polarisation of a terrorised post-9/11 world.”
“Cynically?” I don’t know about the rest but if AHA is a cynic when she praises the Enlightenment and denounces the constraints of Islam, I’m a monkey’s aunt.
Reading CiF’s “A paler shade of black” March 5, 2008 has given me insight into the character/mindset of Sudanese, Nesrine Malik.
Sustained and bitter racism, (sometimes unintentional) railing and condemnation : vituperative utterance runs right through the mentality of the people of the place she was reared. “The word ‘abd, although strictly meaning “slave” or “servant”, became synonymous with negritude. Even my Islamic heritage reinforced this with quotes from the Prophet Muhammad such as “You should listen to and obey your ruler even if he was an Ethiopian [ie black] slave whose head looks like a raisin” (Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 89, Number 256).
Her “put down” of the three “sisters” in this context by all accounts, would be perfectly au naturel/normative behaviour.
I am sure the three “sisters” would not hesitate in also saying that she too represents a false dawn.
“But rebellious females found it exciting and inspiring and after a while the moderates came grudgingly along.”
Eggzactly. That’s why I like the ‘new’ atheists despite realizing that a steady diet of that kind of thing would get stale quickly. There’s a place for some exciting and inspiring.
‘The word ‘abd, although strictly meaning “slave” or “servant”, became synonymous with negritude.’
And Hirsi Ali says, in Infidel, that when she lived in Saudi Arabia one of her teachers called her Slave – and she adds that she hated Saudi Arabia. Yet Malik says something disparaging about her lack of understanding of Arab culture. What bullshit – she lived right in the heart of it and got a good close look.
OB,
“Yet Malik says something disparaging about her lack of understanding of Arab culture. What bullshit – she lived right in the heart of it and got a good close look.”
No, no, being born somewhere and living there can never ever bring knowledge to stand the scrutiny of scholarly wisdom! This is a double blasphemy! Against the Arab culture and against this scholarly culture. “Down, dow, with all of them!” we say.
“Solid Comment No. 1341989 May 12 11:25
GBR”
“But isn’t it generally accepted that whenever someone wants unfairly to attack a woman for being tough they call her “shrill”?
Tell me all about it – has B&W indeed, not had similar experiences to contend.
Welcome to the cyber-world of B&W.
Here you will find you are on solid ground.
I just got “Fashionable Nonsense Dictionary” from Cork City library. It is such a pretty book with a snow-white cover. I shall definitely purchase my own copy from Easons, Dublin – as well as that too of “Why Truth Matters.”
Both Jeremy and OB are such gifted writers.
I am looking forward to the next book “Does God Hate Women”
When I Googled Nesrine Malik I found that she ‘works in London in the financial sector’. So perhaps she perceives the whole ‘Muslim woman in the Western media’ thing as a lucrative market that she’s being kept out of by (whisper it darkly) better-looking rivals? Maybe there’s a reality TV show in this – shallow and rather plain Muslim women with big egos could compete to win a date with Christopher Hitchins.