Shakira

It's the toxicity of their seventh-century stuck religion, in the midst of a modern society, and their fanatic "stickiness" to Allah Akbar that disempowers young Muslims, as well as old ones, and not Western society. The quicker they liberate themselves from their sacred antiquated idols, the quicker will they achieve their ambitions and hence their empowerment.

http://con.observationdeck.org

What a great article, lots of insight and no political finger pointing, I felt I actually learned something.

"runner" what you know about Islam is nothing. Christians have been fighting over what their holy book says for 1600 years why would you think that this is not the same for Islam?

To the Author very insightful thankyou.
White Anglo Atheist male.

Great article. The delivery of a balanced opinion is rare and is to be applauded.

So what if the author is making up her own form of islam. Same thing happened to Christianity - declining congregations at various points have meant that the various churchs have had to "get real".

Perhaps Muslim men (or other men for that matter) that see women as inferior should be reminded about how they entered this world. They wouldnt exist if it wasnt for women (and likewise all those feminazi's out there would do well to thank their sperm donor for their own existence).

As for women not being intelligent enough to enter paradise, then lets remember the mufti's teachings that women hold the power over men. Dont men act as wild animals unable to control their urges?? Hardly the actions of intelligent creatures! Seems to me that this argument would see a much larger population of women in the afterlife. Perhaps this is why muslim women have put up with so much rot for so long.. they know they will win in the long run.

One of the more enlightening articles of recent weeks, particularly for how it explains the behaviour of a person who feels completely alienated from any culture. This Mustafa doesn't speak Arabic & wasn't raised in a Muslim country (so we ought to be careful as to how much we attribute his beliefs to Muslim society generally, since he quite clearly wasn't raised in a Muslim society), yet Mustafa also feels completely outside of British society too. Let's not forget that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who massacred their schoolmates at Columbine High, also felt similarly cut-off from all cultures. Their disturbing rambling memoirs carried much of the same kind of narcissism and claims to superiority that this Mustafa exhibits.

Mustafa's dilemma is one with which many second-generation migrants would identify, although most manage to handle it in a much more responsible and balanced fashion than he. The support and understanding of the community is vital to bring alienated young men round to being productive and useful members of society.

And while I might take exception to certain aspects of their language, it's a refreshing change to be able to agree 100% with the sentiments of Leigh and David Boaz.

Spot on, Country Gal! And.....as an accountant, this should be up your alley....could you confirm whether there exists a little discrepancy between the earthly view and teachings with respect to the afterlife prospects of muslim women in general, as opposed to the ratio of women to men promised to muslim men in the afterlife? Or will much of the female population of paradise be merely holograms on a sort of Islamic holo-deck?

In asking this I am not seeking to trivialize what Shakira has written. Nor am I trying to stereotype Islamic men as being typified in the context of the contradiction indicated above. I am just trying to illustrate with a bit of humour a more obviously ridiculous aspect of a belief system that does not seem to mesh well with observed reality.

It is good to see a woman from an Islamic background speaking up about what we would all like to think typifies life in Australia, the ability to physically escape to some extent from the tyranny of oppressive control freaks. To such men, the words of their prophet are merely an excuse to express what is in their hearts anyway. The problem is, when such are allowed to give expression to their anger under the cover of a spurious 'religious freedom', all who see it are apt to be intimidated, especially other muslim men. The strident insistence of a noisy minority that we are a multicultural society is the only reason these standover 'men' are maintained in a position where they can perpetuate this controlling behaviour. Shakira is at least one of its betrayed prisoners that is speaking up. Good for her! As for those who promoted this policy, shame on you one and all!