Religions > Atheism > INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF "COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS" "Not Possible to Modernize Islam"
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
01 Mar 2007 04:24:01 PM |
| Object: |
INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF "COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS" "Not Possible to Modernize Islam" |
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,468828,00.html
February 27, 2007
INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF "COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS"
"Not Possible to Modernize Islam"
Human rights activists have formed a "Central Council of Ex-Muslims in
Germany" to help women renounce the Islamic faith if they feel oppressed
by its laws. Its Iranian-born founder Mina Ahadi, under police
protection after receiving death threats, talks to DER SPIEGEL about its
goals.
An Iranian human rights activist living in Germany has formed a "Central
Council of ex-Muslims in Germany" with 40 others and has received
anonymous death threats after declaring she wants to help people to
leave the religion if they so desire.
Iranian-born Mina Ahadi, 50, said she set up the group to highlight the
difficulties of renouncing the Islamic faith which she believes to be
misogynist. She wants the group to form a counterweight to Muslim
organisations that she says don't adequately represent Germany's
secular-minded Muslim immigrants.
Ahadi has been put under police protection in recent days. Renouncing
Islam can carry the death penalty in a number of countries including
Iran, Saudi-Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania. In
other countries people who turn their backs on the faith aren't punished
by courts, but they are often ostracized by family and friends. It's a
difficult subject among Muslim communities in Europe too.
Ahadi said she wants the new organization to help women who feel
oppressed by the rules of the faith to find a way out. The Council will
hold a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday to outline its goals.
DER SPIEGEL spoke to Ahadi.
SPIEGEL: Together with 29 other immigrants from Muslim countries you
have declared that you have renounced Islam. The campaign is similar to
one launched in the 1970s by women who declared publicly that they had
had abortions. What is your purpose?
Ahadi: I haven't been a Muslim for 30 years. I'm also critical of Islam
in Germany and of the way the German government deals with the issue of
Islam. Many Muslim organisations like the Central Council of Muslims in
Germany (ZMD) or Milli Görüs engage in politics or interfere in people's
everyday lives. They were invited to the conference on Islam (hosted by
the government in Berlin last year). But their aims are hostile to women
and to people in general."
SPIEGEL: Why?
Ahadi: They want to force women to wear the headscarf. They promote a
climate in which girls aren't allowed to have boyfriends or go to discos
and in which homosexuality is demonized. I know Islam and for me it
means death and pain.
SPIEGEL: What will your organization do?
Ahadi: One example: One representative of the Central Council of Muslims
in Germany said that a carnival procession float (during the recent
carnival in Germany) showing Islamists with explosive belts had offended
Muslims. But there was no evidence of that. The associations pretend
that they represent everyone and to some extent are acknowledged as such
by the German side. That's bad. We have to give a signal against that
and say: Not in our name. We are secular humanists. We want to give
these people a voice. Someone has to make a start. We're advocating
human rights.
SPIEGEL: Some of your members are also active in communist organizations
in their home countries.
Ahadi: Yes, many were active in left-wing groups. We have received more
than 100 membership applications in recent days. We want to create a new
movement, in other European countries too. We hope that soon there will
be 10,000 of us representing many more people.
SPIEGEL: Won't your campaign just harden the battle lines?
Ahadi: I don't think it's possible to modernize Islam. We want to form a
counterweight to the Muslim organisations. The fact that we're doing
this under police protection shows how necessary our initiative is.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
|
|
| User: "Smiler" |
|
| Title: Re: INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF "COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS" "Not Possible to Modernize Islam" |
01 Mar 2007 08:42:38 PM |
|
|
"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:4hkeu2t92i2nf8p04qkefl8unlq5kam2sv@4ax.com...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,468828,00.html
February 27, 2007
INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER OF "COUNCIL OF EX-MUSLIMS"
"Not Possible to Modernize Islam"
Human rights activists have formed a "Central Council of Ex-Muslims in
Germany" to help women renounce the Islamic faith if they feel oppressed
by its laws. Its Iranian-born founder Mina Ahadi, under police
protection after receiving death threats, talks to DER SPIEGEL about its
goals.
An Iranian human rights activist living in Germany has formed a "Central
Council of ex-Muslims in Germany" with 40 others and has received
anonymous death threats after declaring she wants to help people to
leave the religion if they so desire.
Iranian-born Mina Ahadi, 50, said she set up the group to highlight the
difficulties of renouncing the Islamic faith which she believes to be
misogynist. She wants the group to form a counterweight to Muslim
organisations that she says don't adequately represent Germany's
secular-minded Muslim immigrants.
<Snip for brevity>
What a brave woman.
Smiler,
The godless one
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
