generalspeaking

Mohamed Sifaoui, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, is a well-known liberal writer and journalist who has published numerous books and articles on Islamic fundamentalism and other subjects. Two recent posts on his blog, at www.mohamed-sifaoui.com, deal with the encroachment of Islamic fundamentalism on the democratic values of Western society.

In a satirical entry postedJuly 31, 2009, [1] he attacked the French government for being too diffident in promoting a law banning the burqa in France. He mocked the French Interior Ministry's estimate that only 367 women in the country wear the burqa, arguing that the issue is not how many women wear it but the infringement on France's democracy.

In an entry posted July 28, 2009, [2] he criticized Belgium for allowing Mahinur Özdemir, a veiled woman who was recently elected MP, to enter the very "sanctuary of democracy." He argued that her presence in parliament is an insult to all the women fighting for their freedom in Islamic countries, and called on the democratic states to defend their principles in the face of Islamic extremism - even if this means changing their laws.

On September 11, 2009, the book Ben Laden Dévoilé ("Bin Laden Unveiled"), by Sifaoui and renowned French cartoonist Philippe Bercovici, was released; it is about Osama bin Laden and the history of Islamic fundamentalism in graphic form.

The following are a few excerpts from the two blog entries:

In his July 31 blog entry, titled "Three Hundred and Sixty Seven - the New Erotic Number," Sifaoui wrote: "We can relax. According to the Ministry of the Interior, there are 367 women in France who do not wear the Islamic headscarf... They prefer the full-body veil - the niqab or the burqa...

"This was my first reaction when I read the Interior Ministry's publication providing 'statistics' on the number of women who wear the niqab in France... Three Hundred and Sixty Seven.

"How accurate! How did they manage to count them? Does French Intelligence have an undercover agent under each and every burqa? Did the police contact the National Federation of Females Wearing the Full-Body Veil? Or was it SOS Burqa [a pun on the name of the anti-racist French organization SOS Racisme] that released the information? Maybe it was the UOIF [Union of Islamic Organizations in France, an umbrella organization of Islamic groups]? Or maybe the figure can simply be found on niqab.com?

"[On second thought,] the information was most certainly obtained from the Niqab Manufacturers' Association. Because the ability to provide such an accurate number is rare, isn't it?

"Can we ascertain the exact number of people in France who wear a cross around their neck? Is there any way to estimate the number of Frenchmen who wear a yarmulke? Do we know how many Indian saris were sold last year? And how many women are hiding under a wig, or who dye their hair?...

"Still, let's be serious for a minute. What is the meaning of such statistics, which in fact show nothing at all? Supposedly, there are only 367 niqab-wearing women in France, [making it] a negligible phenomenon not [worthy] of debate... This figure might mean... that no law [banning the burqa is necessary.] So let's wait a few years, until there are 3,670 women wearing the burqa, or 36,700, or 367,000, or even 3,670,000… and [only] then become alarmed and ask our MPs to draft a law [against the burqa], after an investigative committee has been established…

"There are many more than 367 women in France who wear the niqab - and you know it!"

"Go visit 'community shops' and you will see how quickly they sell niqabs... [In fact,] they are often sold out. I think that these merchants who sell halal clothing [i.e. clothing permitted by shari'a] sell 367 niqabs per month.

"After that, take a little tour in France, including the [immigrant] neighborhoods, and you will see that the phenomenon goes far beyond this ridiculous figure. And [if you attend] the next UOIF meeting, you will [surely] find an alarming number [of burqa-clad women there].

"In any case, no self-respecting country puts its values at the mercy of statistics. One burqa on our national territory is one too many. One veil in the civil service is one too many.

"Even if we assume that this figure is correct - which it is not - we had better take political action before the Interior Ministry statistics indicate that there are 300,000 women wearing the full-body veil. This means that a law should be discussed while [the burqa] is still a negligible phenomenon. We should not wait until it becomes a nationwide plague."

"But let's assume [for the sake of the argument] that what I am saying is ridiculous, and that the figure published by the Interior Ministry is perfectly accurate and based on a careful, thorough, and well-documented inquiry. Let's assume that [the phenomenon] is nothing serious.

"In this case, what does the figure 367 mean? [It means] that there are at least 367 men with firm Salafi convictions who are married to, or who are about to marry, these shadows, these females whom they have decided to conceal, or who have decided [of their own accord] to hide their faces from society - as if they were facing millions of sex maniacs ready to rape them right away, either over or under their burqas.

"Indeed, the niqab, or the veil, is the stupidest thing that a woman can accept. It is the worst humiliation she can inflict upon herself: [the humiliation of] depersonalization. [Once clad in a veil], she is no longer a woman but a statistic - one of [the 367]!

"So, returning to our count, this means that we have 367 potential couples who believe in the burqa culture - meaning 734 people who believe that a woman should become a number in order to please God. And then, unless these couples are all infertile - which we do not wish on them - they will have about three children each, if not more. In other words, in the years to come, these 'burqanized' couples will have 1101 children...

"Then the Interior Ministry will issue [another] statement - which will be validated by the UOIF and the International Federation of Salafis - that 'there are [now only] 367 women in France who do not wear the veil, the niqab, the burqa, the sitar, or the shower curtain…'"

In his July 28, 2009 blog entry, titled "The Worm of Fundamentalism in the Fruit of Democracy," Sifaoui wrote: "Congratulations to Belgium for its election [of Mahinur Özdemir]! Congratulations to the land of tolerance and understanding for letting the symbol of [medieval] obscurantism and ignorance into the temple of enlightenment!

"Some will probably say, 'But she was democratically elected!' I am all too familiar with this response, to which I reply that when [democracy] allows a symbol of the Islamist ideology to infiltrate democratic institutions, it is time to reassess the laws.

"I will say it again and again: Democracy does not consist only of elections. Democracy is a political system that promotes [certain] values: human rights, gender equality, respect for [the other, despite] real or imagined differences, tolerance, generosity, and humanism...

"Therefore the veil, or Islamist headscarf, is a stain on the parliament. I am not talking about that piece of cloth that women - reduced to the status of mere females, due to a medieval interpretation of Islam - have decided to wear. I am talking of what [this piece of cloth] stands for."

"The veil is not an Islamic symbol of femininity or modesty, let alone a sign of spirituality. The veil - in its various forms, such as the burqa, niqab, sitar, etc... - is a symbol of the Iranian revolution and its crimes. It stands for the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology and obscurantism; for Salafism and the hostility it promotes; for the Taliban and its barbarism; for bin Laden and his view of women. It is the banner of that green fascism that has killed Muslims and has been striving to slaughter humanity in recent years. It is the flag of criminal organizations that prevent us from living in peace.

"The veil, I say, stands of the obscurantism of those who spit on enlightenment. It symbolizes the grave disease that is consuming Islam. It is the result of years of indoctrination and deception [by those who have] exploited [Islam] for ideological and political purposes. It is the outcome... of the subjugation of women by fundamentalist males suffering from severe mental illnesses.

"The veil, I say, is the final blow in the Islamist assault on Europe, its media, its civil society, and its institutions…"

"What some in the Brussels parliament have welcomed so happily [into this institution] is a symbol that continues to make Muslim women flee their native countries, or their [immigrant] neighborhoods in European [countries]. It is what the butchers in Algiers, Mogadishu, and Kabul want to impose on six-year-old girls. It is the uniform that Islamists want to impose [on women] in accordance with the will of men...

"The veil is spreading because democratic values are in decline. I wonder at old Europe that no longer knows how to defend the ideals for which its ancestors fought."

"…I am shocked by the harassment [faced by] those who dare to criticize this harmful doctrine of Salafism or political Islam. The veil - it cannot be said too often - is nothing but an emblem of these backward ideologies that continue to tarnish Islam, making it look like a backward, misogynistic and obscurantist religion.

"I find it outrageous that a veiled woman has been allowed into the Brussels Parliament, [as if] this insult to democracy were a sign of progress. The capital of Europe should be ashamed that such a thing has happened. What a depressing message [we are sending]… to Muslim women in Islamic countries who are fighting [for their right] to live without a veil!

"Europe wants to solve its immigration problem, and it has surely found the way to do it. Soon progressive Muslims will no longer want to settle in Europe. On the other hand, veiled women and their bearded husbands will know that Europe is sure to welcome them warmly...

"Many progressive people of North African or Arab origin now realize that the Old World is implementing a new vision of society based on multi-culturalism and on compromise with political Islam...."

[1] http://www.mohamed-sifaoui.com/article-34417631.html

[2] http://www.mohamed-sifaoui.com/article-34322113.html