It’s truly unsettling that Peter Freidman’s message of hate and intolerance has been allowed to echo through a public library – an institution where the beacons of knowledge navigate wayward seekers of information towards accepted truths rather than blind them with lies and falsehoods.
I didn’t attend Mr. Freidman’s lecture. As a social science teacher who has researched and taught Islam, I felt there was no need to. However, I must confess I spent some time at his website, curious to find out what his audience was in store for.
At islamthreat.com, I clicked on the link, “Islam and Women,” and found an amateurish produced, document littered with quotations from presumably Islamic texts. Supplementing the quotes are graphic and disturbing images of female victims of acid burning, genitalia mutilation, and beheading—an obvious attempt by Mr. Friedman to underscore his contention that Islam condones misogyny and violence against women. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Often victims of tribal traditions and customs, Arab women lacked equality and protection before the founding of Islam. Shortly after his spiritual revelation, Muhammad stated that women had rights that were to be protected, including the right to own property. In addition, he decreed an end to the practice of female infanticide.
With this new sense of empowerment, Muslim women, including Muhammad’s youngest wife Aisha, voiced their opinions and concerns, often affecting Islamic doctrine.
In their book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Pulitzer-Prize winning, New York Times’ columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl Wudunn write, “Aisha vigorously contested views of Islam that were hostile to women” eventually recording over 2,000 “recollections of Muhammad used in Islam to supplement and clarify Koranic teachings.”
Today, Muslim women continue striving for increased equality. Just last month, female athletes from Saudi Arabia made their Olympic Games debut—a historic first in a country known for its staunch, religious conservatism and gender, discrimination policies.
It should be noted that the efforts by religious conservatives to stymie women’s rights isn’t limited to Muslim countries. Remember the Obamacare backlash fanned by the political right? Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and their acolytes, including the Gilroy/Morgan Hill Patriots, continue denouncing a medical, insurance program that gives women rights over their own bodies.
Rather than fear a Muslim takeover of our country, we need to be steadfast in guarding against individuals like Mr. Friedman and his supporters who stalk our communities, sowing seeds of paranoia and ignorance. To shh and remain quiet threatens the fabric of our country and its civic institutions, including our public libraries.
Frank J. Perez is from Hollister.
