Posted on 01/31/2004 9:55:06 PM PST by miltonim
Dr. Omar Adul Kadir, a gynecologist whose has worked in Florence, Italy for a number of years, is about to expand his practice. He has developed a type of surgery that satisfies the cultural needs of Muslims, mostly from African countries, who practice female genital mutilation. The procedure is a sort of “mutilation light,” according to a report in The Star and posted on Robert Spencer’s website, “ Jihadwatch .” Local health authorities have accepted his proposal for the procedure, which will be performed with a local anesthetic in a hospital setting. Regional health authorities will meet in March with a bio-ethic committee to discuss final approval of the procedure and its administration at hospitals in the Florence area.
A councilor member for Florence’s health authority, Enrico Rossi, stated in an interview that the women from the local immigrant communities will be consulted on the issue and proposed procedure. Dr. Kadir claims that he has already received much support and positive feedback from immigrants. He also said that his new procedure will actually prevent the more severe form of mutilation from being performed on young female immigrants. To present the surgery in a more palatable form for non-Muslims, i.e., incredulous Italians and, in particular, women’s rights groups, Dr. Kadir labeled his surgery as a type of ‘baptism’ that can be celebrated by his patients and their families as they return home with blood evidence.
Islamists may have lost one battle to Islamicize Europe with the proposed headscarf ban in France, but it seems that they may be able to open up a whole new front in Italy, thanks to the ingenuity of Dr.Kadir and the wishy-washy reasoning of local health authorities. Of course, “cultural and religious sensitivities” will play heavily in the public discourse on the subject of “mutilation light.” Serious weight and walking-on-eggshells considerations will be afforded those in the minority/Islamic community who want to see the barbaric practice justified and continued in their newly adopted country. Italians will lose if this practice is allowed to flourish, as a part of their culture is chipped away, replaced by a bizarre and cruel piece of transposed Islamic culture. The ultimate losers, of course, will be the young female victims, who deserve a chance at a different and better life than their mothers and grandmothers had “in the old country.”
Cultural sensitivities and minority concerns appear to be absent in a recent ruling in Iran against one of its non-Muslim groups. Members of the tiny Iranian Mandaean community have little chance at higher education, due to the overwhelming restrictions and hostilities of the larger Muslim society in which they are forced to live. Job possibilities, as well as educational opportunities, are also very restricted for Mandaeans and other non-Muslim minorities in the model Islamic state of Iran. Because of their status, by virtue of their religion, Mandaeans are considered unclean and cannot be employed in any job related to the production or sale of food. One occupation long open to Mandaeans has been jewelry making. Although the majority of jewelers are Mandaeans, the Jewelers’ Association is comprised solely of Muslim jewelers. Mandaeans need never apply, even to an association that represents their trade.
Recently, the Jewelers’ Association, who exercises control over the issuance of official licenses, has decided to issue new job licenses to Muslim jewelers only. Mandaean jewelers are not allowed to apply for new licenses, thus depriving young Mandaeans of one of the few occupations that their Muslim overseers allowed them to have. Since many Mandaeans pass on their trade to their children, and the number of trained Muslim jewelers is quite small, Iranians are suffering collateral damage from the new ruling as they are stuck with inferior jewelry produced by untrained jewelers.
Where are the objections from the international human rights groups about this harsh economic blow to a minority community? Most importantly, where are the voices of moderate Iranian Muslims about this devastating situation? Will Shirin Ebadi, recent Nobel Peace Prize winner and famed Iranian human rights lawyer, offer her protest to this latest injustice against dhimmis in Iran? By all recent accounts, Iranians, especially the under-25 group, are chafing against the iron-fisted rule of the mullahs who have run their once beautiful country to the ground in the past 20 years. They long for the basic freedoms denied them by the tyrants of Tehran. However, many of these same freedom seekers seem to give their overt or tacit consent as bare human rights are cruelly stolen from the non-Muslims living in their midst.
If all goes his way, Dr. Kadir and those of his ilk will have succeeded in opening up a whole new industry in Italy, with other European states sure to follow. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Mandaeans and other dhimmis living in Iran, as they continue their struggle to survive in an unyielding and uncaring Islamic society.
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