The latest Jesus and Mo strip, called “discipline,” came with a note and a link:
It’s that Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham again.
An excerpt from the National Secular Society‘s report:
An Islamic charity issued regulatory “advice and guidance” after it promoted misogyny has since streamed a sermon saying men can ‘physically discipline’ wives who are ‘rebellious’.
Last month, Birmingham mosque Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre (GLMCC) live streamed a sermon in which Aqeel Mahmood [see video below[ said “discipline in the case of rebellion” is one of the “rights of the husband over the wife”.
He said: “The husband is a leader. He has his responsibilities. Physical discipline is a last resort on the condition that it doesn’t cause pain, injury, fear or humiliation”.
. . . Mahmood also said a husband has a “right” to “intimacy” with his wife and a wife must not leave the house without her husband’s permission. Mahmood is understood to be an imam at the centre.
Yes, a “last resort” to be used on “rebellious” women. Some “faith of peace”!
Here’s a short clip showing Mahmood’s interpretation of Islamic law:
My favourite part is “Physical discipline … that … doesn’t cause pain, injury, fear or humiliation.”
… to the husband?
Green Lane was not a million miles from where I went to school.
Years ago, I took a college course in Egyptian history. For one class, they brought in a woman (a professor of economics) who was a Muslim to deliver a lecture on Islam. A woman in the audience asked her about the verses in the Koran endorsing wife-beating. The lecturer reluctantly acknowledged that the verses were in there, but insisted that the Prophet (Peace be on him!) was only speaking of “symbolic” “taps.” Of course, that is not how they are not interpreted by countless Muslims worldwide.
It reminds me of how many Christians and Jews will insist that the Book of Genesis is “obviously” not meant to be taken literally, even though this would be news to billions of Christians and Jews down through history.
Yet another example of the conflict between Islam and Western values. In the US, a man can go to jail if he beats his wife. I presume this is true in the UK as well. Are we supposed to provide an exemption for Muslim men?
I recognize that in practice spousal abuse can be a complex problem, with some women (for understandable reasons) scared or unwilling to bring charges against the man. I’m sure it would be worse for Muslim women, as it could bring social estrangement and religious condemnation. But Western societies have to protect their citizens from abuse and cannot “respect” this Islamic tenet and permit it to be practiced.
Once again, where is the outrage from all the progressives? And I don’t mean their outrage at Western “Islamophobia”.