Letters to the Editor: Ramadan speaker and students respond to accusations of insensitivity

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Posted: 9/26/08

I was honored to give a talk on "Misconceptions about Islam" at the Muslim Student Association's Ramadan Awareness Dinner and Fast-a-Thon at UConn. Many professors and students expressed to me their appreciation for both the topics covered in my lecture and my manner of delivery. But of course one cannot please them all. So I am replying to one Ms. Cayla Smith who misunderstood one of the topics, was offended, did not ask me any questions then voiced her protest or disapproval via a Letter to the Editor printed Sept. 22 in The Daily Campus.

First of all, the Arabic word hijab means to cover, to veil, to screen, to shelter. It does not mean "headscarf" as Ms. Smith sought to define it. Hijab is used to refer to the modest, loose clothing that covers the Muslim woman's body except for her hands and her face. This could have been easily learned from a more careful observation of my talk and a less emotionally-motivated one. This common, internationally known meaning of the word hijab can also be easily found via everyday, non-Muslim sources of information like Wikipedia.

Secondly, the most important point that needs to be addressed from Ms. Smith's letter is her assumption, jumping to conclusions and putting words in my mouth. Her letter read, "Cleaver clearly implied that women in the U.S. who do not wear Hijab are at fault if they are ever raped."

This was not in any way clearly implied in my talk. A rapist is a criminal who has made a heinous and most horrible sexual assault. The fault of his crime rests100% on his shoulders. The comprehensive nature of the Sharia dictates that any person convicted of rape using a weapon be sentenced to capitol punishment. I wish American law were as just as the Islamic law in this regard.

Now the question at hand here is the high station and place of modesty in Islam for both women and men. Islam's religious dress codes are for loose modest clothing for both women and men. This is to cover the private area in Arabic, Al-Aouwrah. This private area is a much wider section of the body in Islamic teaching than it is in contemporary Western culture. Try to remember the pictures of women in old America and old Europe and how they used to go swimming while wearing long dresses. Then ask yourself two questions:

1) Is there any true and real benefit for humanity and for society to have so many women commonly walking in public in very revealing modes of dress?

2) To a man who is criminally violent, depraved and desperate, can seeing many scantily dressed women be the straw that broke the camel's back? Meaning, is it within the realm of possibility that watching women in very revealing modes of dress could realistically spark and stir an already criminal mind to assault a woman?

Islam is realistic and brings the final divine revelation from God to mankind. Within it is a message of modesty for higher morality and increasing mankind's and womankind's piety. From Islam's realistic teachings is the hijab. To be worn as a shield between women and men who are desperate and dangerous.

I stress and emphasize to Ms. Smith, to all women of all faiths who are my sisters in humanity, to my dear Christian African-American mother and sister, and to my dear six daughters, that no woman ever deserves to be raped. And as Muslims, we encourage all women to wear modest loose clothing as a shield between them and those dangerous and filthy men who are, if we want to see the world realistically, very common and abundant in the North, South, East and West of all the countries in the world.

Now as far as my lecture, I encourage students at UConn to assess and evaluate their speakers, lecturers and teachers with an objective view toward learning the truth, and not to view them only behind their personal, subjective opinions. Try to listen first in detail, then ask questions. Seek to understand prior to passing judgment.

First, as students, be assured that you got the message clearly and accurately so as to try to overcome the pre-conceived notions and imagined half-truths that are often a result of one's upbringing. My talk at the MSA's well-organized program covered many points including sources of misinformation about Islam; comparison of the perception of God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; religious practice and belief in Islam; views of Jesus and the prophets in Islam; religious meanings of the Ka'bah in Mecca; polygamy, hijab, the perception that Islam is spread by the sword; Muslim criminal law; female genital mutilation; separation of the sexes; views of Islam as being intolerant of other religions and views of honor killings, terrorism and fundamentalism. Ms. Smith's hope that next year the MSA chooses a more appropriate speaker is based on her misunderstanding of one point in my talk and ignoring 20 others.

I am a post-graduate student of Islamic Studies and I do not speak in lectures from my own opinion. Rather this is my specialty and I draw my words from the sources of Islam which are the Quran and the Sunnah; the teachings of the final Prophet of God Muhammad.

May the peace and blessings of God be upon him and upon all of the Prophets sent.

- Ahmad Eldridge Cleaver

Cayla Smith was right in describing Ahmad Cleaver's statement on rape and provocative dressing as dishonest and offensive. (Women in Egypt dress conservatively, yet still report harassment--the point being that rape is not directly related to how women dress). Yet we can not deny that provocative dressing does yield a culture ridden with objectification and material sexualization of women. Nonetheless, I have a few questions for Cayla Smith and women in general: Given that more than 100,000 women get raped every year in the U.S, how are we in any better position to dictate how other countries should treat their women (even if they are misogynistic)?

Shouldn't we first improve what is wrong with our own culture and the way we have shamefully failed to respect the fair sex? Don't some other countries (including the Islamic ones) do a better job at preventing women from being portrayed as pieces of meat? And if rape, in the U.S, at this level isn't oppression of women, then what is?

- Waqas Shaikh, an 8th-semester accounting major

In her letter about the Ramadan Fast-a-thon, published on 9/22, Cayla Smith has unjustly judged the intentions of Ahmad Cleaver, the keynote speaker.

From the onset of his speech, Cleaver made sure the audience is involved. He posed questions and asked the audience to guess the answers and say them out loud. The speaker kept a warm atmosphere, encouraged interaction and welcomed questions at the end of the speech. Cayla Smith could have easily voiced her concerns during the lecture, instead of walking out to protest something that the speaker never said or implied.

Cleaver never implied that the victims of rape are at fault, and had this been the case, I'm sure every one of the few hundred people who stayed until the end of the talk-Muslims and people of other faiths alike-would have promptly protested. The fact that over 300 people enjoyed the event and had no questions at the end proves that Smith got it wrong.

Cleaver clearly said that Muslim women wear the Hijab (Islamic, modest, loose clothing, usually covering the entire body except the face and hands) to protect themselves from unwanted sexual advances. This is very similar to wise people locking the doors of their homes to keep unwanted intruders and burglars out. Now, Smith, does this imply that a person who leaves her house unlocked is at fault if others break into her house? Has it become politically incorrect to advise people to lock their doors?

In Islam, the rapist is punished with the capital punishment, regardless of how the victim was dressed! Wise women, however, expect burglars to break into unlocked houses first, and therefore choose to lock theirs. On the other hand, Islamic law treats rape victims as just that, helpless victims who deserve sympathy and support.

This is indeed a very sensitive subject, but the essence of open-mindedness is to verify assumptions by inquiry, and had Smith asked Cleaver on the spot, I'm sure that he would have cleared her misconceptions.

- Saleh Ibrahim, a graduate student in computer science and engineering