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Wed 21 Apr, 2004 05:41 am
Quote:Prayer Leader Defends Beating of Adulterous Wives
Tue Apr 20,10:21 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - An Algerian-born Muslim prayer leader in France faces legal action after he defended the stoning and beating of adulterous wives in a magazine interview, French Justice Minister Dominique Perben said Tuesday.
Abdelkader Bouziane, 52, imam of a mosque in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux in eastern France, told the monthly Lyon Mag that the Koran allowed husbands to beat unfaithful spouses as long as they did not strike them on the face.
Expressing disgust at "this archaic approach toward women," Venissieux mayor Andre Gerin urged France's justice and interior ministers Sunday to launch a probe into Bouziane's preaching, which he said "pollutes our neighborhoods and our kids' heads."
"This man will have to explain his statements to a court," Perben told France 2 television. France's five million Muslims, the largest Islamic minority in Europe, are mostly of North African origin.
"Domestic violence is an abomination," he said. "As soon as this article was published, I asked the criminal affairs office of the Justice Ministry to see how we can take legal action."
Perben did not say what could happen to Bouziane, who has lived in France since 1979. France last week expelled an Algerian-born imam for preaching radical Islam and expressing support for the March 11 train bombings in Madrid.
Many mosques in France import imams from Arab states, a policy French authorities and moderate French Muslims oppose as a potential open door to radical Islam. But there are too few imams educated in France to staff all mosques.
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There are a number of aspects to this story that disturbs me. One of the problems that I see with dealing with the middle east, is that there is a huge clash of cultures. For many there, the mores that they deem reasonable, are those which were discarded as primitive by western civilization a long time ago.
I find it problematic that mosques in France France are importing Muslim clerics from Arab states, where the culture is far less evolved from that in Europe. Personally, I think that the proliferation of of Muslim radicals is a recipe for trouble.
What do you think?
I believe that the vast numbers of Moslems entering Europe are just as problematic. A clash of cultures is IMO inevitable. The wearing of head scarfs is just the opening round.
This is not a clash of cultures. Any population will contain a small number of yahoos who will defend and promote outrageous positions and ground them in their own unique interpretation of law, tradition, or sacred text. If the US were judged on criteria such as this article we would look equally atavistic . Just look at the nuts running their mouth off in public in this country.
Acquiunk- I hear you. Yes, there are a few groups of nutjobs that would cause havoc in the US. (The skinheads come to mind).
The problem is that the radical Islamics, IMO, believe that they are in a holy war with western culture. They have the funding, and have, little by little, over a period of decades, infiltrated the western world.
I believe that what we have here is much more than some way out splinter group.
Phoenix32890 wrote:
The problem is that the radical Islamics, IMO, believe that they are in a holy war with western culture.
There are segments of the religious right in this country that are in the same position.
Acquiunk - Again, I agree. But I don't think that, except for the small group of way out radicals, that they would resort to violence.
In both cases it is a small group of way out radicals, the Oklahoma bomber comes immediately to mind. The difference is that in most of the west there are strong central and local governments and a general trust in the rule of law to keep these people in check. That is lacking in much of the middle east as a result the nuts get loose. This cleric in Lyon will be quickly brought to law and put out of business. That does not happen in many middle eastern countries and as a result this kind of thinking continues to fester.
The Oklahoma bombing, as horrendous as it was, was simply the work of a couple of screwball malcontents. There was no concerted effort, great amount of funding, or political support for the deed. It was a finite act.
I think that there is something that is much more insidious and potentially deadly going on, throughout the world, in the case of the radical Muslim extremists..
Our home grown fanatics are just as dangerous. Take a look at this post by BBB
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23323&highlight=
Whew.... THAT is scary. I tend to think though that a threat from without would tend to quiet the homegrown wackos.....................for the moment.
It was a standing joke in my family that the way to achieve world peace (with a bow to Orson Welles) was to convince people that we were being invaded from outer space!
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