Ruth Dudley Edwards on the "spreading rash of Islamism"

Ruth Dudley Edwards, whose comment piece on Cameron’s speech on immigration in last week’s Daily Telegraph was inadvisedly illustrated with an image of a Muslim woman in niqab, further embellishes her perspective of the “spreading rash of Islamism” with an article on the French niqab ban in Ireland’s Sunday Independent.

She writes:

“I loathe burkas, which cover a woman’s entire face and body, leaving her a mesh screen to peer through. I hate niqabs, face veils that leave just the area around the eyes clear. I really dislike grim, shapeless full-body cloaks such as abayas and chadors, and I’m not a great fan of the hijab, the enveloping headscarf, though at least that leaves the face clear.

“In short, I’m repelled by the various uniforms donned by an increasing number of Muslim women and outraged when I see children being stuffed into coverings that deny them sunlight. Face coverings aggressively put two fingers up to the Christian or secular cultures of Europe where millions of Muslims have settled; they signal that integration is being actively resisted. To cover your face is to say: “I rejoice in being different from you and I don’t want to know you.” (Shades of Ian Paisley before he became cuddly shouting at his faithful: “Come ye out from among them; be ye separate.”)

“To those of us who know something of Islam, it is even more offensive that there is no religious requirement for such dress; it’s just a depressing Arab cultural practice taken to extremes. The Koran simply enjoins modesty for men and women alike: Muhammad wouldn’t make a fuss about my wardrobe.

“To most Europeans, these horrible black garments are a visible and offensive sign of oppression of women, and indeed it is true that over the centuries and still today, many Islamic clerics have been chauvinist bullies determined to control women rigidly. In the name of sexual purity, they have kept men and women apart and women hidden from public view. One result in communities where that is common practice is that men have never learned self-control and believe that any woman showing any flesh whatsoever is a whore who deserves what is coming to her. In Britain, we are seeing gruesome consequences in cities where Muslim mosque-going men groom for promiscuous sex vulnerable, non-Muslim teenagers whom they despise.”

“With the rise of Islamism, murder in the name of Allah and venomous West-hating, anti-semitic preachers radicalising the vulnerable, European countries with large Muslim populations are becoming frightened that there is an enemy in their midst intent on imposing an alien culture. Politicians who did nothing to control immigration or demand of newcomers that they toe the cultural line are wringing their hands as voters threaten revolt. In the UK, coming up to the local elections, David Cameron has made tough speeches about the failure of multiculturalism and the downside of mass immigration. Ireland may think it hasn’t a problem, but it’s only a matter of time.”

So there you have it, a Muslim woman’s right to exercise freedom of religion is equated to “Islamism”, “murder in the name of Allah” and “venomous West-hating, anti-semitic preachers radicalising the vulnerable”, while European Muslims stand accused of inciting fear in their respective societies as “an enemy in their midst intent on imposing an alien culture”.

Dudley Edwards also remarks on Britons who are “absolutely fed up with creeping Islamification of many parts of their towns and cities.” Scarcely discernable from the sort of language and ignorant commentary propounded by the BNP wouldn’t you say?

Perhaps the producers of the video “Hijab – The Light Behind the Veil” might pop a DVD in the post for Ms Dudley Edwards?