Category: Notes
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Sharia courts are a human rights scandal, The Freethinker
Here is my monthly column entitled Sharia courts are a human rights scandal in The Freethinker, 29 July 2016. You can also read it below. It is a human rights scandal that Sharia “courts” exist in Britain; it’s where the greatest abuses of minority women takes place. For example, under Sharia rules, a woman’s testimony is worth half…
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Concerns over the inquiry into Sharia Councils must not be dismissed
My piece on the Theresa May inquiry into Sharia Councils published on Sedaa on 21 July: Over 200 women’s rights campaigners and organisations recently signed a public letter to Theresa May criticising the government inquiry into Sharia councils chaired by Mona Siddiqui. Whilst a review into Sharia bodies and their impact on gender equality and…
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Fast-Defying during Ramadan: A challenge to the Islamists
The following piece was published in The Freethinker on 21 June 2016 where I will be writing monthly. On June, 24, 2016, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is calling for a day to defy fasting rules in solidarity with those who face persecution for eating during fasting hours in Ramadan. We will be having…
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Reason Rally 2016: Out, proud and loud for secularism
Below is my speech at Reason Rally 2016 on 4 June 2016 in Washington DC. I’m very happy to be here. Thanks to the organisers for this wonderful event. Thanks to all of you for coming out today. I think you should give yourselves a huge round of applause. It’s well deserved. In the age…
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Do sharia courts discriminate against women?
The accommodation of arbitration systems to govern private and family matters had led, arguably, to the greatest human rights violations of minority women in the UK. An open letter by an unprecedented number of women’s rights campaigners and organisations raised serious concerns about a government inquiry into the courts and called it a whitewash. See…
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Multiculturalism rots the brain
Here’s an interview I did with Current Affairs entitled “MULTICULTURALISM ROTS BRAINS”: Current Affairs: Most of those who are vocally critical of Islam and Islamism today seem to come from the far right. You come from the left. What is the substance of your criticism, and how does it differ from that which we hear…
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Sheffield ASH doesn’t like my anti-Islamist stance
Updated at bottom of post A student at Sheffield University messaged the University’s Atheists, Secularists and Humanists Society suggesting that they invite me to speak there. The message the student received is below. Let me just say that I didn’t realise one could be too “hard” on the Islamist movement. Far be it for me…
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Secularism is the way to defend women’s rights
My opening remarks on Women in Islam in a discussion with Tehmina Kazi of British Muslims for Secular Democracy at AHS University Of Birmingham conference on Religion in 21 Century. Women in Islam have no rights. It’s the same in any religion. Even if was “progressive” for its time – which I don’t buy –…
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Charlie Hebdo’s Mohammed cartoon was not Islamophobic
My opening remarks at Oxford Union debate with Tariq Ramadan on 29 February 2016 Criticism of religion – however offensive – is not racism against believers. Islamophobia is in fact used to conflate blasphemy with bigotry in order to impose Islamist norms on the wider society. Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of Mohammad are no more “bigotry”…
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Confronting Islamism with Secularism, Free Expression and Citizenship Rights
The below is my speech prepared for European Parliament meeting on 23 February 2016. Today, I would like to focus on the importance of defending secularism, universalism, free expression, and citizenship rights in confronting Islamism. To begin with, let me clarify the distinctions between Islam (an idea), Muslims (people) and Islamism (the religious-Right). The three…
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Free Speech: It’s not free unless it’s free for everyone
The below is Maryam Namazie’s opening remarks at Spiked Conference: The New Intolerance on Campus on “No Platform: should hate speech be free speech?” Freedom of speech in British universities is under heavier assault than ever before in large part due to the proclaimed desire by the National Union of Students (NUS) to maintain student…