On the 30th of May 2016, Middle East Eye reported on a new research report published by European Network Against Racism that shows how “Islamophobia is a form of discrimination specifically targeted at women.” The report itself can be found in the following link:
“The report, which covers eight European countries, focused on discrimination in access to employment, education and hate crime. It found that Muslim women face a “triple penalty” – suffering the same gender discrimination as other women, compounded by racial and religious discrimination on account of their background, skin colour and faith.” One of the many findings of the report showed how 1 in 4 employers in the UK also admit that they would be hesitant to hire Muslim women on the basis of cultural stereotypes, due to concerns that childcare would be an issue for them.
Comment:
Muslim women living in western nations are fully aware of the hardships and dangers that face them on a daily basis due to the constant anti-Islamic propaganda spewed out by the media outlets and government entities that run them. This new report merely confirms the contradiction in the political rhetoric where insult after insult is thrown at all things related to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and His Messenger ﷺ and yet these same bigots assume the role of peacemaker in justifying their position by saying “we love Islam and Muslim – its just the terrorists we hate”. Such statements are designed to socially engineer a climate where it is globally acceptable to degrade and abuse Muslims and oppose any expression of Islam. This attack is not only meant for non-Muslims to have a wrong understanding of Islam as a political alternative to Capitalism, but it is meant to demoralize Muslims themselves and plant a desire for integration at the expense of Islamic values at the very least and self loathing in the worst case scenario. Tolerance and equal opportunity for Muslim women is clearly exposed as an illusion to trap Muslim women into trying to live in a system that has no respect for them. The news report states, “For those women who choose to challenge discrimination in the courts, the chances of success are pretty slim. While a strong legislative framework prohibiting discrimination in employment theoretically exists, companies and governments are using vague exceptions to justify discrimination against Muslim women.” What Muslim women should realize is that anti-terrorist rhetoric is a cheap trick to promote Islamophobia and that, until the return of the Khilafah – Islamic ruling system, the danger of discrimination and attacks upon them will only increase. Allah سبحانه وتعالى advises all Muslims in the Quran to never compromise with the truth regardless of how oppressive our situation becomes, this expressed in Surah Yunus: verse 32.
فَذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمُ ٱلْحَقُّ فَمَاذَا بَعْدَ ٱلْحَقِّ إِلَّا ٱلضَّلَٰلُ فَأَنَّىٰ تُصْرَفُونَ
“Such is Allah, your Lord in truth. So after the truth, what else can there be, save error.”
Imrana Mohammad