Germany: critics continue after murder of “Hijab Martyr”

Alaa Al Aswany’s accusation of western double standards towards Islam is weakened by two badly chosen examples (Western hostility to Islam is stoked by double standards and distortion, 21 July). The argument about chastity in Christianity and Islam is undermined by the difference in outcomes for the women in question: there may be penalties for pre-marital intercourse in the US (eg parental blame) but they do not equate with the range of penalties applied in some versions of sharia law, or some nations where Islam influences judgments about personal behaviour. In general, chastity is a personal choice in the west, not something institutionally enforced. And the two murders of women he debates are not parallel in the way he maintains: the murder in a courtroom in Germany was a crime by an individual; the murder on the streets of Tehran was an act of state policy. Western public responses to the two cases are not hypocrisy, but reflect a sense of these differences.

via Letters: Double standards, Islam and the west | From the Guardian | The Guardian.

They continue to insist on the “Hijab Martyr” case. But no word for the honor killings which have happened since then (i.e. this, this and this).

Compare the outrage

Some days ago, I wrote about the “Hijab Martyr” and the outrage for her murder (committed by a Neo-Nazi in Germany, named Axel W, during the trial in which he was accused of insulting and harrasing her) in the Islamic world.

Now compare that case with Ilam Halimi’s murder and torture in Paris. He was Jewish and his torturers (for three long weeks) and killers were Muslims. Except Youssouf Foufana, the leader of the gang, the rest have been all condemned to very lenient sentences, so lenient that the punishments are going to be revised.

I never saw the same degree of outrage when Ilam Halimi was killed by Muslims than when a Neo-Nazi killed 32-year-old Sherbini. Her brother even considered that all Europeans were racists. I never saw any Islamic figure consider Muslim anti-semitism or protesting Islamic antisemitism because of the brutal killing of Ilan Halimi.

Egypt: more on the “hijab martyr”

An update on this story:

The irony of the outrage against Marwa al-Sherbini is that the assailant was in court appealing against a fine of 750 euros for insulting her in 2008. The authorities were clearly not complacent about the incident and it the court’s earlier verdict that provoked the attacker’s wrath last week. Despite Marwa’s hijab and religion, she was empowered enough to bring a case against Axel W and received official support in doing so, but this has generally been overlooked amidst all the indignation in the Arab countries. 🙄

Yet, these are stones thrown from Arab/Muslim glasshouses and two can play the “what if” game, as Khaled Diab does when he asks: “If a western or local woman were attacked or murdered in a Muslim country for not wearing the headscarf, would her case attract much attention in Egypt or other Muslim countries?” He also mentions prejudice against Copts in Egypt and cites the case of Maher al-Gohary, a Christian convert who has been denied identity by an Egyptian court, as an example of the discrimination against Christian converts. This legitimate argument, however, should not be used to suggest that Muslims hail from a backward civilisation and are thus not deserving of equal rights.

via Is Europe really Islamophobic? | Nesrine Malik | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

I do think there are Islamophobic people in Europe. But the situation is much more complicated that it’s pictured by demagogues in Arab world. I believe people have ended being Islamophobic after hearing once and again menaces from Islamic fundamentalists (kill the infidels, and so on), pushes to get Shariah Law applied, calls for modifying our culture, etc. No one asked Muslim immigrants to come here. So if they came was because they wanted to come and as such, they have to live by our standards. Don’t like them? Just get back to your own country.

By the way, Axel is a Neo-Nazi. Generalizing his ideas is not going to do any good and has nothing to do with reality… In Europe Neo-Nazis are not well considered, a different consideration to what Jihadis have in an important part of the Islamic world. LABlogs:

Although the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denounced the act and asked its German counterpart for an official response, Egyptians were upset at the way their government had been dealing with the matter. “The passive policy adopted by the foreign ministry will lead to similar incidents against other Egyptians and Muslims abroad,” said El Sherbini’s brother Tarek.

“Now we as Muslims and Arabs have a chance to show the whole world that real terrorism takes place in the West,” he added. “In the West, they don’t recognize us. There is racism there. The Germans are the enemies of God.”

The funeral, which was attended by a large number of Egyptian politicians and parliament members, was overwhelmed with chants such as “We need revenge,” “Where is our foreign ministry?” and “Down with Germany” and “No to racism.”

Of course, Christian Copts, Palestinian Christians, Pakistani Christians, Jews, Bhuddists, etc. have never suffered anything in the hands of Islamic terrorists.

More in Islam in Europe.