The other day when I talked about shari‘a in the U.K. (here), I ended on a flippant note, but let me say it again more formally. The issue is that some Muslim women in the U.K. feel that the informal shari‘a courts do not help them, and legislation has been proposed that would rectify this. It is suggested that the response from Muslims will be that this will be “another assault on Muslims.”
Muslims should realize that they are being protected by liberals and leftists in the West because of a long history of standing up for the oppressed, a history that originally had nothing to do with them. The concept has now been extended to them, but that doesn’t mean that they get protection for everything they do. It means only that they get protection from oppression. If they themselves engage in oppression, then (at least theoretically) the left will stand up for the people they are oppressing.
It’s as simple as that.
Muslims should realize that they are being protected by liberals and leftists in the West because of a long history of standing up for the oppressed, a history that originally had nothing to do with them. The concept has now been extended to them, but that doesn’t mean that they get protection for everything they do. It means only that they get protection from oppression. If they themselves engage in oppression, then (at least theoretically) the left will stand up for the people they are oppressing.
It’s as simple as that.
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