Cover to Cover: Hijab vs. Playboy
As we recover from the riots that resulted from the offense of caricaturing Mohammed, another offensive is being mounted against equally offensive offenders. Various media outlets estimate that 150 to 300 members of a hardline group, the Islamic Defenders Front, protested in Jakarta against Indonesia's first edition of Playboy, despite the fact that nobody posed nude. But if criticizing Mohammed even in jest is blasphemous, suicide bombings are easily and reasonably justified, and Playboy is morally bankrupt, then where is there room for the elusive compromise I keep hearing the West must strike with Islam? Here's a sample of Al-Jazeera's report on Jakarta's most recent protests:
Muslim leader Yusuf Hasyim said the magazine posed more of a threat to Indonesia than terrorism by al-Qaeda-linked militants who have killed more than 240 people across Indonesia in recent years. "This is a kind of moral terrorism that destroys the way of life of the nation in a systematic and long-term way," state news agency Antara quoted Yusuf Hasyim as saying. He went on to urge Muslim youths not to attack shops selling the magazine but to express their objections peacefully.
Another, more optimistic sounding article is The birth of a global society, by Soumaya Ganoushi. She says the Islamic world is divided into left and right too. A very compelling argument that reasons, in part:
[I]n Europe and across the Atlantic, in the name of the war on terror, Muslim minorities have been the subject of a string of draconian legislations, endlessly required to prove their allegiance to the nation-state.... On the other side, the liberal and socialist left has found itself at the heart of Arab and Islamic causes, as the axis of its conflict with a will to hegemony imposed on the world in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. For these opponents of occupation, the Palestinian Kufiyye has turned into the symbol of their movement for a just world order.... The rapprochement between Muslims and the left is in this sense more pragmatic than ideological and more objective than doctrinal.... Religion may be an ally of fatalism and stultified conservatism just as it may act as a catalyst for dynamism and change. Insane violent al-Qaeda anarchists aside, this is precisely the role Islam is playing across the Muslim world today from Tangier down to Jakarta.
Ultra-conservative Indonesian protesters burn the country's first edition of Playboy magazine on Wednesday. The protesters called for the new magazine to be banned. (AP)
Given recent events (time frame of your choice) and the tenacity of superstitious human credulity, however, it's difficult to take "peaceful" rhetoric seriously, Islamic or Western (ostensibly secular, but who are we kidding?). Playboy will continue selling magazines in the world's most populous Muslim country because there's money to be made, at the expense of Woman. And people will continue to protest--violently whenever they deem it necessary, which is almost always--in the name of protecting Woman. So this may only be the beginning. There may of course be many who would disagree with this analysis. But consider this:
The Council of Ulemas made up of 43 Muslim scholars and leaders of major Islamic organizations, was formed in 1975 to guide Muslims on how to live in accordance with Islamic principles. The council has recently issued fatwas banning women from leading prayers if a man is present and prohibiting Muslims from praying alongside members of other religions.
And this:
On the same day that [Condoleezza] Rice was in Jakarta, the police in the province of Aceh arrested a French woman and an Acehnese man found together in their car on suspicion of adultery and possible "sex crimes," and referred their case to Aceh's Shariah law enforcers--the same ones who in recent months ordered public canings for women caught kissing or drinking beer in public.
And then this:
"If within a week they are still active and sell the magazine, we will take physical action," said Muhammad Alawi Usman, a spokesman for the [Islamic Defenders Front]. "Playboy is not suitable for reading because its contents degrade women."
And if there remains any doubt as to the insidious nature and the severity of the situation, remember the Secretary of State only last month reiterated that her government's "unfailing support for Asia's success remains rooted in the same basic principles [as Islamic fundamentalists]: the promotion of peace [by force] and the rule of law [again by force]; freedom of commerce and exchange and support for the just [i.e., pious] aspirations of all people [except dissenters, otherwise known as blasphemous heretics].
Or, one could leave Indonesia altogether.
Muslim leader Yusuf Hasyim said the magazine posed more of a threat to Indonesia than terrorism by al-Qaeda-linked militants who have killed more than 240 people across Indonesia in recent years. "This is a kind of moral terrorism that destroys the way of life of the nation in a systematic and long-term way," state news agency Antara quoted Yusuf Hasyim as saying. He went on to urge Muslim youths not to attack shops selling the magazine but to express their objections peacefully.
Another, more optimistic sounding article is The birth of a global society, by Soumaya Ganoushi. She says the Islamic world is divided into left and right too. A very compelling argument that reasons, in part:
[I]n Europe and across the Atlantic, in the name of the war on terror, Muslim minorities have been the subject of a string of draconian legislations, endlessly required to prove their allegiance to the nation-state.... On the other side, the liberal and socialist left has found itself at the heart of Arab and Islamic causes, as the axis of its conflict with a will to hegemony imposed on the world in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. For these opponents of occupation, the Palestinian Kufiyye has turned into the symbol of their movement for a just world order.... The rapprochement between Muslims and the left is in this sense more pragmatic than ideological and more objective than doctrinal.... Religion may be an ally of fatalism and stultified conservatism just as it may act as a catalyst for dynamism and change. Insane violent al-Qaeda anarchists aside, this is precisely the role Islam is playing across the Muslim world today from Tangier down to Jakarta.
Ultra-conservative Indonesian protesters burn the country's first edition of Playboy magazine on Wednesday. The protesters called for the new magazine to be banned. (AP)
Given recent events (time frame of your choice) and the tenacity of superstitious human credulity, however, it's difficult to take "peaceful" rhetoric seriously, Islamic or Western (ostensibly secular, but who are we kidding?). Playboy will continue selling magazines in the world's most populous Muslim country because there's money to be made, at the expense of Woman. And people will continue to protest--violently whenever they deem it necessary, which is almost always--in the name of protecting Woman. So this may only be the beginning. There may of course be many who would disagree with this analysis. But consider this:
The Council of Ulemas made up of 43 Muslim scholars and leaders of major Islamic organizations, was formed in 1975 to guide Muslims on how to live in accordance with Islamic principles. The council has recently issued fatwas banning women from leading prayers if a man is present and prohibiting Muslims from praying alongside members of other religions.
And this:
On the same day that [Condoleezza] Rice was in Jakarta, the police in the province of Aceh arrested a French woman and an Acehnese man found together in their car on suspicion of adultery and possible "sex crimes," and referred their case to Aceh's Shariah law enforcers--the same ones who in recent months ordered public canings for women caught kissing or drinking beer in public.
And then this:
"If within a week they are still active and sell the magazine, we will take physical action," said Muhammad Alawi Usman, a spokesman for the [Islamic Defenders Front]. "Playboy is not suitable for reading because its contents degrade women."
And if there remains any doubt as to the insidious nature and the severity of the situation, remember the Secretary of State only last month reiterated that her government's "unfailing support for Asia's success remains rooted in the same basic principles [as Islamic fundamentalists]: the promotion of peace [by force] and the rule of law [again by force]; freedom of commerce and exchange and support for the just [i.e., pious] aspirations of all people [except dissenters, otherwise known as blasphemous heretics].
Or, one could leave Indonesia altogether.
posted by jp at 22:36
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