Is it time to repeal Islamophobia; the fear of saying something negative about Islam? We have no qualms criticizing Christianity and no problems attacking Judaism. I doubt anyone has been called racist for critiquing Buddhists or Confucianism, or made to feel terrible for commenting on Communism, socialism, Marxism, fascism, capitalism, liberalism….what have I left out?
Yet, we in the West, in the name of tolerance, tolerating the intolerable, have agreed to keep our comments about Islam to ourselves. A self-imposed silence;well, maybe not self-imposed. Bullied.
In Canada we have Motion 103 which is a non-binding motion;I have no idea what that means. It’s not a law. Is it a suggestion or a commandment, a request?
There was concern raised when the Motion came to the floor of Parliament about the definition of Islamophobia because 26 different definitions of the term Islamophobia had been provided by different witnesses who appeared before the committee discussing the Motion. “The concerns raised, regarding the dangers of an over-broad definition, or of attempting to condemn ‘Islamophobia’ without defining which thoughts and actions are thereby also being condemned, were widespread,” reads the Conservative report.Ultimately, the Committee to define Islamophobia was unable to establish a working definition. Although they didn’t know the definition the government still voted for it.
Paraphrasing Donald Rumsfeld: you don’t know what you don’t know. But we do know that criticizing Islam in any way leads to personal attacks: You must be Islamophobic!
Our PM has told us that Islam is not incompatible with the West. I don’t understand why he chose the double negative. But it seems his government has just impugned Islam. He brought in 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun as a refugee from Saudi Arabia via Thailand. 
Alqunun was trying to escape her family, who abused her physically and psychologically, and at one point locking her up in a room for six months after she cut her hair. She refused to meet with her father and brother who flew into Thailand to see her. She felt threatened by her parents, I assume in particular her father, because Saudi Arabia subjects women to the control of men in a whole host of areas including applying for a passport, travelling and getting married.
PM Trudeau said “Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world, and I can confirm that we have accepted the UN’s request.”
Chrystia Freeland, minister of foreign affairs echoed the Prime Minister.“Canada believes strongly that women’s rights are human rights”
Not everyone agrees with the Prime Minister.
Mufleh Al-Qahtani, the head of the Saudi National Society for Human Rights, said Canada’s action was “an attack on the rights of the families of these girls, who are severely harmed by the defamation following their daughters’ action that pushes them into the unknown.”
If PM Trudeau can comment negatively on Islam, why can’t the rest of us? He recently said:
“democracy only works in a country like Canada if people are free to express their fears, their concerns, their opinions, and we get an opportunity to respond to them.”
If PM Trudeau can comment negatively on Islam, why can’t the rest of us? I don’t hear anyone calling him an Islamophobe or racist for his comments about Islam. One might say they are blasphemous.
What if I were to point out that this Hadith is hateful to the Jews. Would that be Islamophobic? I mean I have to assume not because Trudeau just took in a Muslim teenager running for her life from her parents for fear of retribution because she renounced her religion.
“[Hadith] 1820. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah(PBUH) said, “The Last Hour will not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: `O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him,’ but Al-Gharqad tree will not say so, for it is the tree of the Jews.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].”
Perhaps it is time to repeal Islamophobia and Motion 103.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
