Friday, August 13, 2010

Goodbye to the Veil — But Keep the Koran

Emel Zeynelabidin, the daughter of the founder of the German chapter of Milli Görüs, has broken with her father and thrown off some of the strictures of Islam, even though she remains a Muslim.

JLH has translated an article about Ms. Zeynelabidin that was published last month in Neues Deutschland — which is , according to the translator, “the old faithful publication of the former East Germany.”

The Revolt of the Curls

by Thomas Klatt

Muslim Emel Zeynelabidin has emancipated herself from her father, who founded the German section of Milli Görüs [the Turkish Islamist organization with links to IHH and other terror-supporting groups].

It could be one of those black/white or good/bad stories that sell so easily in the media: “The grown daughter of a well-known Turkish Islamist leaves her religion, puts aside her head-covering, and demonstratively declares her allegiance to Western, democratic values. But with Emel Zeynelabidin, it’s not so simple. The 49-year-old is still an avowed Muslim — and after 14 years, still loves her father.

Yusuf Zeynelabidin was still a medical student when his first daughter was born in Istanbul in 1960. He named her Emel — that translates as “wish,” “hope.” Four years later, his second daughter was born in Hannover. They moved to North Rhine-Westphalia. The father became a surgeon and he became politicized. In the mid-1970s, he founded the German section of Milli Görüs (translated: National Vision), an organization stemming from Turkey, which is controversial because of partly [no partly about it — BB] Islamist tendencies. Zeynelabidin founded the house organ, Milli Gazette, where Emel’s husband, Ahmde Algan, later worked. The marriage had been arranged early on.

“We Didn’t Know What It Was We Were Saying”

For years Milli Görüs has been under observation by the intelligence services, among other things, because of its anti-Semitic tendencies. But Milli Görüs has changed, maintains Emel Zeynelabidin. “The social interests that my father pursued at that time — all that is no longer to be seen. Today, it is chiefly about political power and financial enrichment. It has also become more of an economic enterprise. In his time, the prophet Mohammed supported the interests of women. In the case of Milli Görüs, I object to the fact that it is male-dominated. The men set the direction. According to my understanding of Islam, that cannot be,” declares the daughter of the founder of the German Milli Görüs.
- - - - - - - - -
The worst thing for her as a daughter at the time was that her father was with the family much less than he had been, because of the organization. Every minute was valuable. “My father initiated me in the Koran. Whenever he drove us to school, he made us learn the Koran by heart in Arabic. He recited, we responded, without knowing what we were saying.” These short suras were necessary for the performance of ritual prayers. “My father did not teach us the content, At the time, the Koran was not important to me; it was a possibility of being with my father. That was true later, too, when I was 13 years old and he taught me Arabic writing,” Emel Zeynelabidin recalls.

Even today, she can still chant those childhood suras and it is as if the young daughter were still sitting right here. “The Koran has become a part of me,” she says. “Today, the Koran means a great deal to me acoustically. In print too it moves me deeply. I would wish that each Muslim finds his/her entry to its contents.”

Emel Zeynelabidin has begun to read the Koran on her own and anew, without asking anyone’s permission. After more than 30 years, she has taken off her head covering. After 25 years, she has divorced her husband and taken back her maiden name. “There is an educational gap in Muslims worldwide. It is claimed that the head-covering is God’s will, and everyone accepts that without any follow-up questions.” Subordination to the opinion of a theological authority a big problem for today’s Muslims. By that means, they live “unnoticed in a passivity, which is controlled by an I-am-allowed-and-I-am-forbidden mindset” she says indignantly, “and that makes it impossible to resolve contradictions.”

It is a rule of life to learn to take responsibility for your own life and actions. Nowhere in the Koran is there mention of a head scarf for women. Only in two places are women asked to cover themselves, and that is so that the men of Mohammed’s time could distinguish in their importations between pious women and permissive slaves. That is unnecessary today, at least in our latitudes, where there are no more slaves and men have learned to deal respectfully with feminine charms.

Emel Zeynelabidin went on the offensive. With a Berlin milliner, she tried out new head coverings in an attempt to ameliorate the overheated battle about the head scarf between Muslims and politicians. She discovered for herself the “the hair insurrection.” In 2005, she dared the decisive step and completely gave up head covering.

To her amazement and against everything that had been drummed into her for years, she was not harassed by any men. Right in the middle of Berlin, she could move freely and unobtrusively with no head covering. Emel Zeynelabidin systematically continued on her path of self liberation. She divorced and gave up the chair of the Islamic women’s group Cemiyet-i Nisa. Soon she lost contact with most of her earlier friends and family. Many from her Muslim community declared her to be shameless, crazy, possessed by the devil. Or worse.

A Business Card with a Picture and no Hijab

When she talks about it now, she can even smile, but not at that time. She became independent — or better, an adult. Today, she works as a communications operative. It says so on her business card, where you can see her picture with no head covering.

However, she has not given up being a Muslim. On the contrary, she is seeking, if not confrontation, then intellectual exchange with conservative Muslims about the proper way to interpret the Koran. “There is the Islam of the Prophet Mohammed and the Islam of the scholars. Muslims believe in the punishments of Hell and sharia — a system of control and condemnation. Sharia is in the heads of Muslims.” It was conceived by men, scholars, who invoked the Koran and the Prophet and defined the sexual regions of man and woman. “While this is described as from the navel to the knee in men, women are expected to cover the entire body except for the hands and face. But what about the attractions of the man?” asks the self-confident woman.

In the question of the head scarf, she insists, there must be freedom of thought on all sides. So she does not want a government ban on the hijab, because that would patronize women. She no longer accepts that women should do or not do something in their lives strictly out of obedience to some authority or that they should ask permission.

She experienced how burdensome that can be when she wanted to travel far from Berlin for a pressingly necessary rest cure. “There is a rule that a Muslim woman cannot take a trip alone. We combed legal sources, looking for some permission so that I could take this approved trip. Finally, we found that a Muslim women may do that if she is with one or two other devout women.” Today it leaves her speechless. “When I think back about that, I find it ridiculous. That is infantilizing in the name of God,” she says.

In conversation, the daughter of the founder of the German Milli Görüs seems joyful and free. She seems to have found a mission for herself: encouraging individual thought and the capacity to make one’s own decisions about what is allowed and what is forbidden in Islam. Her maiden name Zeynelabidin means “the radiance of the faithful”. She carries her father’s name with pride.

13 comments:

Zenster said...

Emel Zeynelabidin, the daughter of the founder of the German chapter of Milli Görüs, has broken with her father and thrown off some of the strictures of Islam, even though she remains a Muslim. [emphasis added]

That's what she says. I'd bet there's quite a few jihadis of the male persuasion that would be more than a little willing to classify her as takfir and kill her just for fun.

“The men set the direction. According to my understanding of Islam, that cannot be,” declares the daughter of the founder of the German Milli Görüs.

Feminism meets Islamism. Tape of this lurid train wreck at 11:00.

“There is an educational gap in Muslims worldwide. It is claimed that the head-covering is God’s will, and everyone accepts that without any follow-up questions.”

Not so! I'm sure there have been many who questioned the need for any head-covering. The graveyard is full of them.

To her amazement and against everything that had been drummed into her for years, she was not harassed by any men.

Permit me to suggest that Ms. Emel Zeynelabidin try out her uncovered act in Saudi Arabia and then get back to us about whether "she was not harassed by any men." Paging the mutaween to the white courtesy telephone.

Her brand of idiotic "feminist" Islam is only possible within the sheltering confines of a civilized Western country. She wouldn't last a New York minute in one of her beloved Middle Eastern Islamic utopias.

Many from her Muslim community declared her to be shameless, crazy, possessed by the devil. Or worse.

While more than a few of her fellow Muslims simply opted for: All of the above.

However, she has not given up being a Muslim.

Again, that's what she says.

On the contrary, she is seeking, if not confrontation, then intellectual exchange with conservative Muslims about the proper way to interpret the Koran.

My money is on "confrontation" and her purchase of the harp farm in short order. At this rate, her shelf life probably will be a few minutes longer than Benazir Bhutto's. Any hope of "intellectual exchange" went out the window with ijtihad almost a millennia ago.

She no longer accepts that women should do or not do something in their lives strictly out of obedience to some authority or that they should ask permission.

Sure thing, gal. That's going to fly just peachy with all the Big Turbans™ back home.

“When I think back about that, I find it ridiculous. That is infantilizing in the name of God,” she says.

Welcome to the world of Mohammad. Islam, infantilizing be thy name.

She carries her father’s name with pride.

Right up to the day her own father, or another male relative of his, murders her in the name of "family honor".

Unlike Wafa Sultan, who managed to read the writing on the wall, Ms. Zeynelabidin remains delusional about being a Muslima and exactly what Islam expects of her as a submissive woman slave of Allah. I'm confident that somewhere there is another more pious Muslim who is all too ready to correct her obvious misperceptions. Probably in a fatal manner.

1389 said...

Zenster is right.

mriggs said...

A little off topic, but is there somewhere on the internets a toolkit someone can easily use to refute those blatant falsehoods muslims regularly presents about the koran, such as non-violence, women as equals etc. etc. Relevant falsehood - Sura number - text: BAM!

?

Anonymous said...

@mriggs :
I recommend you to read this web
there´s a lot of material there, with quotes about almost all topics taken from the original muslim sources. It´s very eye-opening.

goethechosemercy said...

Quote:
That's what she says.
end quote.

As a Westerner, what she says is important. She is entitled to her faith.
And decent people like us have to stand up for such people as her.
If I were her father or any member of her family, I would be extremely proud.
It is in defending the integrity of individual faith that we defend the Western heritage.

S said...

""so that the men of Mohammed’s time could distinguish in their importations between pious women and permissive slaves""

translation~ permissive slaves = those who they are allowed to rape

S said...

individual faith ~ the problem is islam is NOT an individual faith - it is umma. that is why they kill those who leave - because they DAMAGE the body of faith when they leave

pacificwaters said...

She is in such a deep hole of denial about islam.

Zenster said...

goethechosemercy: As a Westerner, what she says is important. She is entitled to her faith.

Just for the sake of supposition; what if she is "crying wolf"? What if this is merely a ploy aimed at having other more hesitant Muslimsas rebel likewise only to get themselves killed?

Is Ms. Zeynelabidin still "entitled to her faith" then? What's more, nowhere does this woman openly challenge any of Islam's core tenets that encourage the spread of brutal shari'a law, genocide against the Jews and violent terrorism.

How "important" is it really that the West allow or protect this malignant and seditious doctrine under freedom of religion?

And decent people like us have to stand up for such people as her.

We do? What obligation is there to "stand up for" someone who, at heart, still wishes to see the downfall of Western civilization? After all, nowhere does she talk about rejecting Islam's imperative of a global caliphate under which would be implemented worldwide shari'a law.

Does she anywhere decry Germany's wing of Milli Görüs and its support of NGO terrorist front IHH (full Turkish name: İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı - in English: The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief), that sponsored the Gaza flotilla?

From all appearances, she is still a stalwart member of the umma, head covering or no, and thus the enemy of every civilized society. Why should any Western legal system's precious resources be committed to helping or protecting this wretched traitor?

At best, her case should be publicized in an effort to sow discord within the European umma. Even then, this putatively counter-jihadist strategy is fraught with danger as it will, again, encourage other young Muslim women to doff their head coverings and then be placed at risk of being murdered by their families for doing so.

If I were her father or any member of her family, I would be extremely proud.

You aren't her father and the odds are much better that, instead of being "extremely proud", some male family member will kill her. Were this Ayaan Hirsi Ali of some other Muslima who has wholeheartedly renounced Islam, then every resource of the state rightfully should be directed towards securing her personal safety.

Please note how one of this site's owners instructively titled this article "Goodbye to the Veil — But Keep the Koran" specifically to provide critical moral clarity about the superficiality of this "debate" over head coverings.

In reality, Ms. Zeynelabidin appears to be actively supporting the bulk of brutal shari'a law whilst quibbling over some of its minor dictates. One may as well dispute Stalin's final death toll yet still defend Soviet Communism.

It is in defending the integrity of individual faith that we defend the Western heritage.

Save that "defending" the likes of Ms. Zeynelabidin only contributes even more to the internal rot that permits stealth jihad to further encroach upon European and Western values.

If anything, rising to Ms. Zeynelabidin's defense ameliorates negative public perception of shari'a law as something that must be discarded entirely. Instead it encourages this barbarous legal code to be seen in an inappropriately benign light to which it is wholly unentitled.

Only by drilling down past the cosmetic layers of Ms. Zeynelabidin's supposed rebellion against a minor issue of shari'a law do we manage to see that it is a non-issue so long as she does not condemn terrorism, Islam's anti-Semitic genocide, FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and a host of other abject human rights violations that are permanently inscribed into Islamic culture.

Does anyone care to bet whether Ms. Zeynelabidin would defend Israel's right to exist?

[crickets]

Anonymous said...

That is infantilizing in the name of God

And yet she still wants to remain Muslim. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

goethechosemercy said...

I think that eventually, she'll have to leave her faith community. Her interpretation of her religion is not the one prescribed by the flock itself.
I didn't hear anything from her about Sharia law. Anyone who favors the imposition of sharia, even in a limited communal form, approves the undermining of the rule of law.
Muslims frequently argue that sharia law is not meant to supercede secualar law, but history has proven these pious exhortations to be lies.
Islam will cease to be a threat only when the faith becomes as individualized as Christianity became after 1649. The Muslims have yet to fight their wars of religion.
And Europe, in its foolishness and the U.S. also, have decided that their countries will be part of the the battle-ground.

Zenster said...

goethechosemercy: I think that eventually, she'll have to leave her faith community.

Most likely feet first if Islam has any say about it.

goethechosemercy, your second comment does not square with your first one. Have you decided that Ms. Zeynelabidin is not all that she's cracked up to be? You certainly seem to have realized that, so long as she does not decry shari'a law, her stance is still anti-civilization.

If you have not renounced your original position, it would interesting to hear how you reconcile it with the observations in your second comment.

Again, Ms. Zeynelabidin doesn't seem to think she is going anywhere, despite placing herself in direct opposition to the Islamic hierarchy. As I noted earlier, there are graveyards and burn wards filled with her type of disobedient Muslim brood mare.

gsw said...

"In his time, the prophet Mohammed supported the interests of women."

I keep hearing this! Could one single person quote me chapter/verse of the history of mohammed (aka quoran) to substantiate this?

1) Throughout the history, mohammed claims that "women are deficient" in religion and intelligence.

2) His first wife ran her own business - successfully! And inheritance laws at that time did not claim she was only half a person.
So to claim that women were more oppressed before he started hallucinating is rubbish.