Can someone explain Islamophobia to me?

[BaMamma]

I don't think I have an irrational fear of Muslims, but I think I have a reasonable concern about radical Islam, does that make me Islamophobic?

Don't dish out if you can't take it.

Again, really selling the cultural enrichment that Islam brings.

I also saw small girls from Muslim families at my daughter's primary school, covered head to toe, which I thought was a form of abuse as they couldn't run around and climb in their full-length skirts.

This is what I don’t understand, if these women cover themselves to protect their modesty against the gaze of men, why do little girls have to be covered up?

They do a pretty good job of that themselves TBF

It very much feels like a problem we do not need.

😬

What would make me radicalised? If anything does the veil you refer to make the individual woman stand out more?
Can I ask, are you educated? Are you cultured? Have you actually spoken to any Muslims or people different to you in looks/colour or culture in real life?
What makes you think woman are not allowed to speak? My mind is scrambled at the questions you ask, albeit could well be genuine.

Apparently Muslims Iran and Afghanistan are relevant to Muslims in the “Pacific NW” of the USA and “London” but not the Taureg in N. Africa, or Muslims in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Phillipines, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, UAE, Tajikstan, Turkey and Turkish Cyprus.

I have also wondered if anyone on this thread has actually met a Muslim woman irl. It’s so full of stereotypes.

The reason other countries in the Middle East don't want to take forcibly relocated people from Palestine has very little to do with levels of radicalisation or not among the general population of Gaza and much more to do with their own stability, their already very large refugee populations from other regional conflicts and importantly their belief in Gaza as Palestinian territory and as integral to a 2 state solution. Because they already have rather a lot of Palestinian refugees.

I really am sorry to everyone else, but there's a little spat here between me and @InWalksBarberalla .
Erm,
I suppose I could let her have the last word, but that's not really in my nature.

However, after a little contemplation, and wanting a more peaceful world, I'll admit that although I can dish it out, I am totally unable to take it, and then after that, I'll fall into a dignified silence.......
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Perhaps.

Recently went on a holiday to a destination popular with families from the middle east. I found it really upsetting to see families with the men and children wearing pretty much normal clothes, suitable to the weather, enjoying the activities, eating normally with the woman covered head to toe sitting out the activities and eating in this painfully convoluted way. And the saddest bit was knowing that at some point the little girls would also be covered up and restricted and their brothers would continue with their freedoms.

Yup, people were already forcibly expelled from their homes in order to form the state of Israel, and most of their descendants are still in neighbouring countries.

@peapeanutbuttertoasty what do you mean? Bring to where? No one is 'bringing' Islam to Burkina. It is a Muslim-majority country. Or did you mean something else, hmm?

Why does it sadden you? I just don't understand the sadness. Well maybe I do actually. When I see tween/teen girls/adult females wearing hot pants/ skimpy bikinis dressing sexualised well beyond their years that saddens me when men don't need to do that or feel it necessary to put all their bits on display so I guess I can empathise.

If the veiled woman is alone then she stands out from those who are not veiled, but she herself is invisible. If she is with other veiled women, she doesn't stand out and she is invisible.

I ask if you are allowed to speak because in Iran, where women are forced to wear the veil, they have recently been banned from speaking in public, so if you are veiled and following a repressive version of Islam, this could apply to you.

I am well educated and lived most of my life in London, working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. I have worked with Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, Trekkies, and others.

I'm not sure it's for me to say whether or not I am cultured, that's a very subjective issue.

I personally grew up and was schooled in a Muslim majority area and now live in another one so yes I have actually met a Muslim woman. Just one or two 😂.

um, because in Afghanistan women are not allowed to speak.In the name of Islam. And in other Islamic countries women are restricted in their freeedoms and education. In the name of Islam. Just because not all Muslims are like that , enough repression in the world goes on in the name of this religion to make right minded free women very wary indeed of the spread of this abhorrent sex discrimination/apartheid.

Thank fuck we live in a country where girls can ‘put all their bits on display’ as much as they like and have no fear of being stoned to death by not covering up. Long may it continue.

I have met and been friends with many lovely Muslim people. Doesn’t mean I don’t see the inherent incompatibility with western values, its capacity to become extreme and have perfectly rational fears about my childrens’ future in the UK.

I've worked with Muslims, men and women. The only time I remember it being an issue was during Ramadan, as some people found fasting difficult and got bad tempered, but we were all supportive and enjoyed the sweets handed out at the end of the fast.

i thought we were talking about Islamophobia in the UK? I can't speak for Iranian laws but being a British Muslim I can help answer any concerns you may have coming across an oppressed women who can't speak in the UK. Actually if you were to come across one please let me know and I will signpost her to the correct agency if you are unable to see the signs of domestic abuse, which is what I think your initial post refers to in regards to not having a voice.

And, anyway, what stereotypes?

How does it not sadden you? From 13 or so she can't feel the sun on her face, see the world clearly, jump in the pool, swim in the beach. But can sit on the sidelines and watch her brother through a veil.

getting HANGRY goes against the nature of fasting so these Muslims need to just practice patience a little bit more.

Having read your posts so far @BaMamma , I think you are Islamophobic as you come across as hostile and prejudiced towards Muslims.

You have said I don't see <<insert positive Muslim things>> a number of times. No offence, but that's on you. You want to know how Islam is a force for good? Look it up. It's a massive, global religion with over a billion followers. It must be getting something right.

As for the nonsense that criticism of the Taliban is Islamophobic. Seriously? Right thinking people all over the world find what is happening to women in Afganistan abhorrent. Including millions of Muslims. Even millions of Muslims in Afganistan.