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She suffered horrors in Africa under strict Islamic laws. She became a member of the Dutch government and has spoken out against Islam based upon her life experiences. An American university was going to honor her with an honorary degree. Professors and muslim students protested loudly and the university backed down.
She suffered horrors in Africa under strict Islamic laws. She became a member of the Dutch government and has spoken out against Islam based upon her life experiences. An American university was going to honor her with an honorary degree. Professors and muslim students protested loudly and the university backed down.
She suffered horrors in Africa under strict Islamic laws. She became a member of the Dutch government and has spoken out against Islam based upon her life experiences. An American university was going to honor her with an honorary degree. Professors and muslim students protested loudly and the university backed down.
It's no surprise that CAIR is behind this. The University should be ashamed for bowing to these Muslims. Disgusting!
She's not just protesting against her personal experience as a Muslim girl/woman in the Sudan, but against Islam as an entire religion. If the entirety of her story was someone who fought against female oppression, there wouldn't be a problem. But, she goes on the record referring to Islam as “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death.” No American university is going to be handing her an honorary degree with that on the resume.
She's an atheist. What if she had said that Christianity was a destructive, nihilistic cult of death, and it wasn't just a quote taken out of context, but a theme to which she returns again and again in public speeches? Would we be okay with handing her an honorary degree? I hope not.
Also, the original poster states "she suffered horrors in Africa under strict Islamic law", referring to genital mutilation, beatings, and an arranged marriage. NONE of these items are required in Islam. I don't deny that they occur in areas of the Middle East in and Africa, where the population is predominantly Muslim, but it is a cultural tradition, practiced by some Christians and tribal religions in the area as well. I've worked and been friendly with many European-background Muslim women; not a single one of them has had these experiences.
If Ali had voiced her opinion on these specific cultural practices rather than the religion as a whole, she'd have my support.
Double standard - and afraid of Islamic nutbars. Would they ban an atheist making the same statements about Christianity?
A few years ago they gave an honorary degree to Tony Kushner who said "“The biggest supporters of Israel are the most repulsive members of the Jewish community". At the time the university President explained:
"Brandeis bestows honorary degrees as a means of acknowledging the outstanding accomplishments or contributions of individual men and women in any of a number of fields of human endeavor. Just as Brandeis does not inquire into the political opinions and beliefs of faculty or staff before appointing them, or students before offering admission, so too the University does not select honorary degree recipients on the basis of their political beliefs or opinions.
She deserved the honor because of how far she's come to reach the position she holds today. One should understand her islamaphobia because of the horrors she endured scaring her both mentally and physically. Instead of rejecting her in protest, they should have invited her to a civil discussion. Wasted opportunity.
She's not just protesting against her personal experience as a Muslim girl/woman in the Sudan, but against Islam as an entire religion. If the entirety of her story was someone who fought against female oppression, there wouldn't be a problem. But, she goes on the record referring to Islam as “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death.” No American university is going to be handing her an honorary degree with that on the resume.
She's an atheist. What if she had said that Christianity was a destructive, nihilistic cult of death, and it wasn't just a quote taken out of context, but a theme to which she returns again and again in public speeches? Would we be okay with handing her an honorary degree? I hope not.
I hope so. It doesn't matter if someone is speaking out against Mormon, Christian, Hassidic or Muslim fundamentalism; it shouldn't preclude them from getting an honourary degree.
She deserved the honor because of how far she's come to reach the position she holds today. One should understand her islamaphobia because of the horrors she endured scaring her both mentally and physically. Instead of rejecting her in protest, they should have invited her to a civil discussion. Wasted opportunity.
I read another article on this subject where a university admin pretty much did that - said he'd welcome her on campus because they don't shy away from controversial figures or discussion, but they didn't think it appropriate to give an honorary degree. I think that's reasonable, BUT...
It's kind of ridiculous is that it got to this point. Supposedly the university didn't know about her hate-filled rants against Islam when they offered the honorary degree. That seems somewhat suspicious, though, since the info is easily obtained in a 2-second Google search. You'd think somebody might have done a teeny bit of due diligence background checking, prior to offering up the honorary degree.
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