the fourth place

Reader Kate points out this speech by a Muslim cleric in Oz:

If you take a kilo of meat, and you don't put it in the fridge, or in the pot, or in the kitchen, but you put in on a plate and placed it outside in the yard. Then you have a fight with the neighbour because his cats ate the meat. Then (inaudible). Right or not?

If one puts uncovered meat out in the street, or on the footpath, or in the garden, or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, then the cats come and eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem! If it was covered the cat wouldn't have. It would have circled around it and circled around it, then given up and gone.

If she was in her room, in her house, wearing her hijab, being chaste, the disasters wouldn't have happened. The woman possesses the weapon of seduction and temptation. That's why Satan says about the woman, "You are half a soldier. You are my messenger to achieve my needs. You are the last weapon I would use to smash the head of the finest of men. There are a few men that I use a lot of things with, but they never heed me. But you? Oh, you are my best weapon."

His discritpion of rape as a "disaster" as if it is random or accidental, his portrayal of men as cats - tame but prone to stray from civility, and his absolution of the owner of the cat - a metaphor for leadership all convince me that this is an example of a man that see's women as a pure evil and men as forced into rape.

I should point out that he was describing a story invented by another and we know who else got into trouble by doing that recently, but this telling of the story is in the speakers own words and there is no other original content in this part of speech. The purpose is to relate teachings made by others and therefore I think we can hold this man accountable for selecting and presenting the story as he did. We can also look further up the text of the speech, where it is clear he is not relating any specific work:

in the event of adultery, the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time with women. Why? Because the woman possesses the weapon of seduction. She is the one who takes her clothes off, cuts them short, acts flirtatious, puts on make-up and powder, and goes on the streets dallying. She is the one wearing a short dress, lifting it up, lowering it down, then a look, then a smile, then a word, then a greeting, then a chat, then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, then Long Bay Jail, then comes a merciless judge who gives you 65 years.

Kate, writing from Australia claims the "Long Bay Jail" and "65 year" references refer to a specific gang rape, if true, then the abscence of a clear comdemnation of that act is telling.

Why am I caring about this? because within my inner circle are several Muslims with whom I have perfect trust that they do not beleive anything of this sort. Yet here is an example of a preacher not only clearly holding these views in his own mind and not quoting anybody but attempting to spread these views.

Part of me thinks that to protect those friends it would be best to silence this preacher and ensure that thuggish members of my society here in Britain do not hear or read this speech and react violently. Another part of me recognises that the views are harmful and would not want them to be shared by those in the audience, and I understand this speech was delivered to a mosque full of worshippers at Ramadan, where it would have been a larger than average crowd.

The fact is though, that denying the existence of these points of view denies us the opportunity to condemn and challenge them, to point and laugh and express disgust. Had we passed a law stating that blaming women for force used against them is illegal, then would the view go away? I don't think it would. I think the idea is obvious enough to exist on its own, and to be frequently re-invented. At the same time its problems are not sufficently obvious that it will die out on its own. It is a strong meme that requires refutation, and it is only by hearing the view expressed that we are able to determine that it is held and in need of refutation. It is also only by hearing it expressed and refuted openly in context that we are able to work out patterns, such as whether some, many, or all Muslims - or members of any other group - think as this one does.