[MD] Intellect battles the (immigrant) barbarians

[Khaled Alkotob]

[Ham]
Certainly the rules of a culture stem from its morality, but this isn't
the
issue that concerns me.  I believe that all men (and women) are
inherently
free, whatever their cultural tradition dictates, and Western
civilization
has progressed (or "evolved") sufficiently to embrace that belief.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the Islamists have never
advanced
beyond the nomadic morality of tribal survival.  Since the time of
Mohammud,
Islam has not established an authority to unite its people, nor a
reformation movement to settle religious differences amicably. 
Basically,
these are warring people who are sorely in need of intellectual
enlightenment.  Now that they are emigrating in large numbers to other
countries, their moral intransigence has become almost as much of a
global
problem as their brutality.

[Khaled]
First of all Muhammad is spelled with an "a" or an "e" at the end, not a
"u".

A nomadic tribe, as you call them, would not have been able to establish
an empire that spread from Andalus to Malaysia. Something must have gone
right for almost a thousand years in terms of tolerance, open
mindlessness and just treatment. You cannot rule by force for that long
such a large area and control an empire for that long. Free trade and
commerce prospered.
The downfall became as Europe started its renaissance period and the
Arab/Muslim empire decided to keep its doors and minds closed to progress
that was not home grown.

As to the veil issue, well lets get the terminology cleared up. When we
say veil, do we mean a head cover?

1. A head cover such as the one a Catholic nun would wear, like a habit.
It's interesting how one is considered devotion to one religion and the
other becomes the battle cry for religious bigotry.

2. Or a veil that covers the face. Well that is a modern invention
believe it or not. The Afghani Burka, the Iranian shador and so on, these
are but a religious/political backlash of the 20th century. Religion
NEVER ask of such behaviour.

As for Authority and reform movement in Islam. Well the Muslims are
waiting for their Martin Luther. But unfortunately since modernity gets
associated with westernization, and westernization gets associated with
colonialism, the cycle is vicious and getting out of it is a long road.
 Islam does not have a hierarchy. Simply put, God shows up ( again) and
says here is another message, and by the way here is my business card
with my direct number on it, any questions, just call. So in a way
modernity and openness come from the bottom up not from the top down.

A great little book that would shed a lot of light on this is "what went
wrong"  by a British Orientalist named Bernard Lewis. Who happens to e
Jewish and who mentions that the Jews have enjoyed far greater freedom of
movement, thought, religion and philosophy under Muslim rule than any
other rule. So lets leave the bigotry and anti Semitics out of the
dialog.

Now for my personal opinion

If the head scarf is to keep attention away from he woman, wouldn't a
woman ( dressed modestly) keep the attention away from her by dressing
like every one else ( do in Rome...).
Sure it would, and this is where the local Imams at the local mosques,
where ever they may be, should say to their flock, yes you can dress
modestly without attracting attention. Something that Muslim
African-American  women have managed to do and still succeed in the home
and professional world. The unfortunate thing is that the imams in the
local mosques are not home grown but rather imported, bringing with them
their ideology. Islam has a lot of leeway for a tribe/village to
establish their own law as they see fit. If there is nothing to eat but
pork, so be it. you don't let the people starve. It's called Shoura and
it allows for decentralization of the religion. 
If someone is living near the northern hemisphere, and daylight is 20
hours, the local mosque leader can declare that fasting for Ramadan can
end at 7:00 pm instead of midnight. The religion has flexibility for that
but it's all lost on the followers. Well that's another story for another
time.

As a kid, we use to see the tourists for the Gulf states in Beirut all
veiled up, and we did think they were off their rockers.

Khaled