“I am Woman”: Sharia is OK with Me
By Jonathan Bean • Tuesday October 13, 2009 10:17 AM PDT • 5 Comments
Surprise, surprise: multicultural dogma and concern for “the Other” have seeped from college campuses to the highest corridors of power (again).
To wit: The first veiled female appointee in the White House, Dalia Mogahed, member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mogahed recently appeared on an Islamic television show in the UK touting her Gallup poll purporting to show that women are OK with sharia. Westerners just don’t get it, she says:
“the majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance. Whereas only a small fraction associated oppression of women with compliance with the shari`ah.”**
For the transcript, click here. There was little news coverage, except for this British article.
Imagine if a president appointed a strict Christian adviser who stated: “gender justice means obeying the Bible and church rulings on it.” Can you imagine the uproar?
The key point: Christians are not “the Other.” The dominant or majority group is held to a different standard. “Others” get a pass because “it’s an ‘Other thing,’ you just wouldn’t understand.”
Where is Western-style feminism when you need it? We don’t lack for Women’s Studies Departments that issue secular fatwas when they feel the pea of oppression through their seats in the Ivory Tower. Surely, they have something to say about treatment of women in Muslim countries? Alas, we must seek out a Yemeni feminist to criticize the appointment of Dalia Mogahed.
I can hear the comebacks: feminist critics of sharia are a minority (the abolitionists were a minority too). Or: “those uppity women need to read Dalia’s surveys and tighten their hijabs!”
**For Mogahed’s puffed-up survey results, go to “Who Speaks for Islam?” For criticism of Gallup “spin” see Jihadwatch More to the point, read the conditions under which pollsters labor in Muslim countries, given the many restrictions on women and the watching eye of government and family. Do these restrictions lend themselves to representative opinion surveys?
Postscript: Apologies to Helen Reddy: “I am Woman” is the title of her best-selling song (1972). Reddy did not have sharia on her mind.
[Originally posted at my new National Association of Scholars blog.]
Tags: Media, Middle East, Personal Liberty, Religion 
Although I agree that the idea that all Muslim women respect and agree the Sharia is ludicrous, I also believe that it is fallacious to assume that Dalia Mogahed’s statement is completely false. It’s perfectly acceptable that a few women may agree with Sharia law.
Culture is something, I think, which should be studied more closely. It is oftentimes said that the “culture of liberty” is distinctly Western, and that Eastern cultures believe in more regulated lifestyles. I believe that this analysis is false. Liberty is not a culture. Liberty is an axiom. It is a quality which exists and applies to all human beings. Namely, the liberty to choose your culture, your morals and your way of thinking.
That said, in a truly liberal society women would be allowed to believe in what they wanted, instead of being grouped under blanket statements in whatever political direction.
Jonathan Finegold Catalán | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
You are right: the problem isn’t what they actually believe (that may be a problem but they are free to choose and believe as they wish). The problem is the signal this high-level appointment says: we will whitewash our view of the “Muslim world” based on ludicrous sampling methods. Even by her own description of the Gallup methods, the governments get to choose which questions may be asked, family may hover the female respondent, there is no freedom of religion, etc., etc., etc.
Aren’t these restrictions a problem for any one concerned with the lives of women? And where are the feminists? (They are busy writing harassment codes to target evil Western males but that is something I cover elsewhere).
Jonathan Bean | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
I agree with you that one woman supporting Sharia does not give justification for government to coerce Sharia law on all women. I think it should be considered, though, that some people would voluntarily agree to have a State tell them what to do. The difficult part (and perhaps incompatible part) is making sure that State’s power does not grow beyond the circle of people who voluntarily surrendered to it.
In any case, I also agree that the current administration should not replace the previous government’s anti-Muslim rhetoric with fallacious and blanket statements which seem to give justification for government policies in that area in the world which few of their citizens actually agree with.
I guess my original intent was simply to illustrate that not everyone disagrees with Sharia. I did not mean to suggest that it is therefore justified to oppress those who do not agree with it.
Jonathan Finegold Catalán | Oct 13, 2009 | Reply
Amen.
Jonathan Bean | Oct 14, 2009 | Reply
An issue not mentioned here is that we don’t completely understand culture itself, nor the “choice” that may (or may not) be involved in embracing a given cultural norm. If one is habituated to a custom or convention, including treatment under the law, one may come to believe it is proper and even find comfort in it because it is familiar.
In this case, the survey has clear limitations since women may be reluctant to reveal what they have been taught is inappropriate to share. Culture itself limits the study of culture.
Jane Weaver | Oct 19, 2009 | Reply