I know we tackled this yesterday and it got quite a response but I think this post by B-BBC contributor Alan adds to the debate…
“Listened to Any Questions in astonishment…..they nearly all refused to engage with the real issue…not that girls were raped but how they were selected…..which is why the attacks went on for so long originally.
Raping girls in short skirts….“So what is wrong in it? Who will object to that?”
Listened to Any Questions with mounting distaste and disgust….the issue of culture and religion in relation to Rochdale was not just ducked but actively swept aside and covered up. This was the problem originally which allowed these crimes to continue unchecked for so long and for so many victims to be attacked.
‘Professional Black’ Henry Bonsu excuses the rapes……the girls were easy …they were ‘pre groomed by society’ which is ….‘why girls give themselves away so cheaply.’
No Henry, they didn’t give themselves away, they were taken and raped, sometimes up to 20 times a day by gangs of men.
Henry was sacked by the BBC for being ‘too intellectual’ and he claims that : ‘I won’t go gently into that good night – the desire for a talk radio station specialising in black issues is very strong. Since my show was axed, I’ve had e-mails from doctors and lawyers, all asking what they can do to help.’ So he not only wants to discuss ‘Black issues’ but wants a radio network on the BBC just for that.
And yet he doesn’t want to talk about Asian, or rather, Muslim issues which might affect the wider community.
If you have a teenage daughter might you not be interested to know the norms and standards of behaviour and beliefs that drive another community that you live nearby? Wouldn’t you want to know what they think about your daughter and how they can behaviour towards her and treat her?
And what does Islam tell us about other cultures? What might that Muslim community be thinking in its heart of hearts?
‘If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.’
So said Muslim Imam Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali in Australia who alluded to gang rapes in Sydney suggesting the attackers (Muslim) were not entirely to blame.
While not specifically referring to the attacks on four women, for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilali said there were women who “sway suggestively” and wore make up and immodest dress … “and then you get a judge without mercy and he gives you 65 years… but the problem all began with who?”
The BBC were quick to go to the ‘moderate’ Muslim Council of Britain to reassure us about Rochdale and of course they did….no need to be scared of Muslims…because if you’re raped it’s possibly your own fault…you are to blame….which is essentially what the representative suggested.
Which is not too different to a more candid approach taken by the MCB about the Australian Imam:
Abduljalil Sajid, (Times £) a senior figure in the Muslim Council of Britain, offered support for Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali’s views, saying that “loose women like prostitutes” encouraged men to be immoral. Dr Sajid, visiting Australia, said that Sheikh al-Hilali was attacking immodesty and loose dress, or “standing in the streets, inviting men to do these bad acts”. Referring to the thrust of the Sheikh’s argument, he said: “So what is wrong in it? Who will object to that?”
After meeting him yesterday, Dr Sajid said: “As far as I am concerned he is a great scholar and he has a great knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence.”
Funny how much these ‘extremist’ scholars are held in such high esteem by the ‘moderate’ community.
Qaradawi is a case in point…..supporter of executing gay people (and Iran has apparently done so to 4000 gays …’according to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979.’) , beating women and suicide bombers. A much respected scholar!
But don’t mention any of that…it might stoke or inflame racial/community tensions!