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IHEU
[0] member organization American Humanist Association [0] reports:
The Saudi king yesterday pardoned the “girl from Qatif,” a woman
whose case stunned and outraged the world. The woman was brutally raped,
and her male companion assaulted, by several men who discovered them
alone in a car. She was then sentenced to 200 lashes and six months
in prison for the “offense” of being alone with a man who was not
her husband or relative. Her harsh sentence spurred a debate within
Saudi Arabia and throughout the world about the treatment of women and
the terrors of fundamentalist Islam.
“The
pardon of the ‘girl from Qatif’ is very welcome news,” said Roy
Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist [0] Association.
“For those who value religious moderation, it’s also a beacon of
hope. Hope, not just for we Americans who wish to release millions from
the stranglehold of religious zealotry in the Middle East, but also
hope for those oppressed by those regimes and dismayed to see such horrors
perpetrated in the name of Islam.”
As the
world learns of the King Abdullah’s pardon, the American Humanist
Association issues “A Sensible Approach to Islam,” setting forth
a humanist viewpoint. It is also published in the January/February 2008
issue of the Humanist magazine, on newsstands now. See full statement
at: http://www.americanhumanist.org/press/IslamStatement.php
[1].
In the
statement, the American Humanist Association draws attention to the
faulty assumption that Islamist extremism represents Islam as a whole.
Though it is true that this dangerous movement has ascended to political
power in many countries, and that some Islamists have formed terrorist
organizations, the statement contends that such extremists don’t represent
all Muslims. Moreover, “Generalizing Islam as entirely violent undermines
the efforts of millions of Muslims and others who are struggling to
challenge the rise of extremism.” The statement goes on to say: “The
American Humanist Association is opposed to both the activities of Islamic
extremists and to the ‘crusade’ mentality rising in Western circles
that condemns all Muslims indiscriminately.”
Non-Muslims
are called upon to resist prejudice and discrimination against Muslims
in the United States and elsewhere. Islam and its various sects and
divisions should be assessed objectively, the statement says, using
the same standards that one would apply to all belief systems. For humanists
this means showing support for all who advocate a democratic secular
state with complete separation of religion and government.
Recently,
in a New York Times opinion editorial, “Islam’s Silent Moderates,”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali rightly lamented three tragic incidents in the Muslim
world, one of which included the initial harsh sentence of the “girl
from Qatif.” The others include the sentencing of and violent protests
against school teacher Gillian Gibbons in Sudan for naming a teddy bear
“Muhammad,” and the danger facing Taslima Nasrin, a women’s rights
activist, who has been on the run in India from Muslim militants who
put a 500,000 rupees price on her head. Hirsi Ali criticizes moderate
Muslims for not speaking out against these events.
But, in
releasing “A Sensible Approach to Islam,” American Humanist Association
Vice President Carl Coon, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal and one of
the statement’s authors, declares: “Ayaan Hirsi Ali is mistaken.
Numerous moderate Muslims and Muslim organizations have come out against
these developments and in support of the victims.” The “girl from
Qatif” has been helped by
human rights [1] activists across
the Middle East, and her story has been reported on sympathetically
by several newspapers within Saudi Arabia, which undoubtedly influenced
King Abdullah. And now even the Saudi king has pardoned her. In addition,
Gillian Gibbons has been supported by many Muslims, including the Sudanese
president, who pardoned her, and the Muslim Council of Britain, who
criticized Gibbons’ arrest. Similarly, there have demonstrations and
protest rallies in support of Taslima Nasrin in Kolkata, India, calling
for her safe return. The Indian government continues to give her shelter
elsewhere in the region. “These courageous acts on the part of moderate
Muslims highlight the importance of distinguishing between extreme Islamists
and moderate Muslims,” Coon concluded. The humanist statement stresses
that rather than attacking Islam as a whole, it is important for non-Muslims
of goodwill to work with moderate Muslims and show support for peaceful
and democratic interpretations of the world’s second-largest religion.
Source URL:
http://www.iheu.org/node/2876
Links:
[1] http://www.americanhumanist.org/press/IslamStatement.php
Copyright © 1952-2008 International
Humanist and Ethical Union
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