Do secular laws benefit Muslims?

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Sep 8, 2009

(The Nut Graph) "IN order for me to embrace, fully and publicly, my African-American, feminist lesbian identity, I didn't believe I could simultaneously embrace, fully and publicly, my Muslim identity," Aishah Shahidah Simmons tells The Nut Graph. "But given all the repression I've faced as an African-American, feminist lesbian, I have so many privileges in the world as a US citizen," she continues in a 5 Aug 2009 interview in Petaling Jaya while on a visit to Malaysia for a conference.

In other words, coming to terms with being a lesbian in the largely conservative African-American Muslim community was not easy. But Aishah still appreciates the spaces she had in the US to explore her religious beliefs and sexual identity as a matter of personal conscience.

AishahIn fact, the 40-year-old filmmaker went on to make NO! — a much-acclaimed account of rape and other forms of sexual assault in the African American community. Thus, despite the multiple oppressions she could potentially have faced, the secular US state allowed her the freedom to explore Islam, feminism, and her African heritage. Could Aishah have gone on the same journey if she had been born Muslim in, say, Malaysia, whose secular foundations are increasingly being contested by Muslim politicians and groups?

In the spotlight

Islam, as it is enforced through syariah laws in Muslim-majority countries, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks. On 4 Aug 2009 in Sudan, police fired teargas to disperse supporters of Lubna Hussein, a former United Nations worker charged under the country's Islamic laws with "indecent dressing" for wearing trousers.

Malaysia has not been spared, either. On 20 July, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor was sentenced to six cane lashes and a fine of RM5,000 by the Kuantan Syariah Court for drinking beer in public.

Secularists and anti-Islam quarters might use these examples to point out that Islamic laws discriminate against women, and that secular laws protect them better. But then, how would we explain the 2 July killing of Marwa el-Sherbini, a hijab-wearing Egyptian national living in Dresden, Germany? Sherbini was caught up in an argument with her non-Muslim neighbour, who called her a "terrorist" and an "Islamist whore". The case was brought to court, and during Sherbini's testimony, the defendant got up and stabbed her 18 times. When Sherbini's husband rushed to her aid, police mistook him for the attacker and shot him.