Posted on 02/06/2008 9:22:20 AM PST by forkinsocket
Two women who grew up in country New South Wales and converted to Islam decades ago have defended their beliefs in an extraordinary interview to be aired tonight on ABC television.
The women, neither of whom have ever faced terrorism-related charges, are speaking on camera for the first time, offering an insight into their lives and their dedication to their religion.
They both subscribe to Wahhabism, the strand of Islam followed by Osama bin Laden.
The two women defend their religion in the interviews, but know their beliefs make them suspect to non-Muslims.
Their movements have also been closely watched by security authorities,
Rabiah Hutchinson, an Australian woman who was once married to a confidante of bin Laden, was living in Afghanistan under the strict rule of the Taliban on September 11, 2001.
Her contacts and her religious beliefs have made her a figure of suspicion for the security services, and they have taken away her passport.
"I would defend Islam with my life, so that makes me a filthy, dirty, subhuman terrorist," she said.
"The same as if you asked me, would I die defending my children.
"Does that mean I'm going to go and lob grenades out of the bus in Lakemba? No, it doesn't. But you have just asked me a question that could very well have me put away for a long time."
'Victimised'
Ms Hutchison and her friend, Raisah bint Alan Douglas, speak on camera for the first time on the ABC TV program Jihad Sheilas, to be aired tonight at 8:30pm.
They did the interviews to explain their dedication to their religion, and claim they've been victimised in Australia.
While Ms Hutchinson is still in Australia, Raisah bint Alan Douglas now lives in Nairobi.
She has had eight children and been married five times.
Like Ms Hutchinson, she follows Wahhabism, the strand of Islam on which Saudi Arabia was founded, but whose most extreme devotees include Osama bin Laden.
"We hear a lot - 'they're oppressed those poor darlings? Are you hot in there?'," she said.
"I say 'look, it's hotter in hell, so you know what - I'd rather wear this now and if I am a bit hot, it's hotter in hell'.
"So I'll just do what God told me to do."
Her friend Rabiah Hutchinson has been referred to as the "grand dame of terror", a title she absolutely rejects.
Ms Hutchinson also spent time at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia founded by Abdullah Sungkar, and the man who many years later was accused of being the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombing, Abu Bakar Bashir.
She doesn't believe he was involved in that attack, and what she says about those who died has the potential to cause deep offence to survivors and relatives.
"Do I feel for the people that died? Not as much as I feel for those 200 Afghani people that gave me and my children shelter," she said.
"Why? Because they weren't holidaying in someone's country, sometimes engaging in child pornography or paedophilia or drug taking."
The women now regret speaking out and have withdrawn their support for the program.
They have threatened legal action, claiming they've been misrepresented.
ABC management says it is a powerful and confronting program, but fair.
ABC management says the program was never designed to vilify the women and the ABC stands by it.
-Jihad Sheilas will be streamed live on ABC News Online from 8:30pm AEDT.
A woman voluntarily becoming a Muslim sort of reminds me of that Lethal Weapon movie when Danny Glover tried to immigrate to South Africa during the apartheid days.
You got the first part correct; but about the second part:
it seems more likely you'd SEND your children off to die, with bombs strapped to them, than that you'd die yourself defending them.
[cue the koala]
“I hate Qaedas.”
“I would defend Islam with my life, so that makes me a filthy, dirty, subhuman terrorist,” she said.
&&&
Well, yes.
“I would defend Islam with my life, so that makes me a filthy, dirty, subhuman terrorist,” she said.
&&&
Well, yes.
Let’s see. Could it be because she and her ilk view the rest of the free world as satanic and to be killed if we do not convert to Islam? Could it be because she celebrates when homicide bombers slaughter innocent civilians in the quest to obtain life in an eternal bordello? Could it be because she justifies the inhumanity of Islam and then whines when outsiders just don’t see what is so beautiful about a faith that causes so much destruction world wide?
“I would defend Islam with my life, so that makes me a filthy, dirty, subhuman terrorist,” she said.
“The same as if you asked me, would I die defending my children....”
Yeah, that blind fealty to the Islamic cult makes you a terrorist. But, the real question is which would you defend if it was Islam come to kill your children?
“So I’ll just do what God told me to do.”
God told you? Or, you were told by a cleric with a seventh century mindset, who convinced you that he was a true conduit of the false prophet’s revelations from allah?
Sorry, this doesn’t wash. Islam is a cult; a political and social system that demands blind faith, punishes transgressions beyond the bounds of reason, and sees its right and proper destiny to be the subjugation of the entire world. Been tried before... And been stopped before.
Lock and Load.
Ha! God told her to do so? As interpreted by mad mo and his misogynistic followers?
The women now regret speaking out and have withdrawn their support for the program.
She's even dumber than I though she was! There's no shortage of stupid people is there?
Danny Glover needs a guardian...he’s to stupid to be in charge of himself.
Allah never told women they needed to dress in tents that covered their entire bodies. It wasn't until Wahhabism came along that THAT particular cultural norm was established. That's why not ALL Muslim groups follow it. So what's this tripe about Islam being unchanging? Somebody has changed it along the way, and it wasn't Mohammed.
I’m actually surprised that they were honest about their beliefs.
One of the basic tenets of Islam is that it is best to lie about Islam to the unbelievers if it is to your advantage.
There was just an article yesterday about a western woman that converted to Islam then regretted it - it wasn’t what she was told it would be.
I can just see what happened. This woman was in feminist studies or some other anti-western civ class and had it indoctrinated into her how bad the White Western Patriarchy was and how much better ANY “brown” culture is by comparison...
“So I’ll just do what God told me to do.”
And, the other fall back position that goes hand and hand is something like: only a cleric can really interpret the literature.
the point being => you can’t judge our hate filled book.
What a racket they have constructed in the name of god -the mercifull and all powerful.
Note: not American ABC.
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