Behind the Veil: An outbreak of militant Islam contained in a British medical school

City Journal ^ | 30 July 2002 | Theodore Dalrymple

[aculeus]

I had dinner with a medical school dean last week. A virologist of distinction, he told me that there recently had been an outbreak of Muslim fundamentalism in his medical school.

Female Muslim medical students had suddenly started to appear at classes clad in a full veil, with only a narrow slit for the eyes. Alarmed, the medical school authorities consulted the General Medical Council, the official body that supervises medical education in Britain. Fortunately, a pre-existing rule that the whole of a student’s or doctor’s face must be visible to patients undergoing examination allowed the school authorities to tell the veiled students that they must remove their veils or cease to study medicine.

They complied; and it subsequently emerged that they had never wanted to veil themselves in the first place but were pressured—or blackmailed—into adopting the custom by male Muslim medical students, among whom was a cleric. They were susceptible to blackmail because, just as intellectuals were once afraid to appear insufficiently left-wing (pas d’ennemis sur la gauche), so Muslims now fear appearing insufficiently rigorous and orthodox in their observance. The woman who does not comply with the most rigid interpretation of the rules easily can find herself depicted as someone of loose morals, virtually a whore. Given such pressures, who knows what passions might be found beneath the burkas and veils of Muslim women, not just in the West but across the Middle East? There may be a ferocious pent-up yearning for freedom.

At the same time as the epidemic of veils broke out, Muslim medical students met with the dean to request that the school set aside a prayer room for the use of Muslim students. An outright refusal would, of course, have ignited claims of prejudice and condemnation by the the liberal press, ever on the lookout for a stick to beat established institutions.

The dean answered, yes, they could have a prayer room, provided that they shared it with students of other faiths, such as Christians and Jews. This was the last he heard of the request for a prayer room in the medical school, which has thus remained secular, whatever the private religious views of its staff and students. The Muslims did not wish to share with others: so much for their participation in our glorious new multiculturalism.

[dennisw]

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[thegreatbeast]

...Given such pressures, who knows what passions might be found beneath the burkas and veils of Muslim women, not
just in the West but across the Middle East? There may be a ferocious pent-up yearning for freedom. Theodore Dalrymple, author.
Yes, Mr. Dalrymple, there may be much passion behind the veil! Maybe these muslim women are anxious to snog you, hmmm? Ever thought of that?
Or perhaps they just want to eviscerate you and drape your intestines over your shoulders.
What do 'ya think?

[Shermy]

You have a bad week at work?

[xJones]

You have a bad week at work?

Well, it would sound like that, but you have to admit that this whole story is incredible. Seemingly intelligent womem are now walking around in bags with eye-slits. This increasing radicalism is alarming.

[xJones]

"womem" = women.

Ya know, I think I need to get eye glasses, even though I can still pass the Texas State Drivers license exam. :)

[knighthawk]

The Muslims did not wish to share with others

Who would have thought that.

[thegreatbeast]

No, it wasn't my week at work. It was this terrible piece of reportage. The guy's telling a story about events at the medical school and then, BAM!, he's speculating on what is in someone's head. It just seemed silly and over the top. If he can speculate, why can't I?

[jimtorr]

""I think I need to get eye glasses""

What, you need a glass for your eyes, too? That's some drinking problem you've got there, buddy. :-)

[crypt2k]

Muslim Statistics in Britain

[swarthyguy]

>provided that they shared it with students of other faiths, such as Christians and Jews

HA! Gee, are these the "peoples of the book" that islam means no harm to.

[Savage Beast]

"Given such pressures, who knows what passions might be found beneath the burkas and veils of Muslim women, not just in the West but across the Middle East? There may be a ferocious pent-up yearning for freedom."

Forget it. If Muslim women wanted to be free from that devil-worship, they would renounce it.

How's that? Their fellow Muslims would murder them if they did?

Of course they would. But some women, in the safety of the West, would renounce the Satanic cult of Islam--if they wanted to.

Muslim women are just as committed to Islam as Muslim men are.

[wretchard]

The med school administrators acted cannily and they were ultimately successful. First, they gathered up the intel and found that the veil stunt was really coerced upon the women. Then they cast the mosque ploy in terms which put the Islamists in a position of having to sit on the potty or use it. Basically, they closed with Mr. Jihad Wannabee and found that he was just a man like any other, and a little more stupid than most.

The liberals are overawed by the Jihad mystique: the knitted brows, the towel suit, the spittle-flecked lips. Liberals are looking for something to believe in. As G. K. Chesterton so ruefully observed, an atheist is not a man who believes in nothing, but a man who will believe in anything. And liberals go from pillar to post, Castro, Kim Il Sung, Khomeini, and now Bin Laden, snuffling from one set of smelly feet to the other.

But the enemy once seen at close quarters, suddenly becomes less worthy of idealization. Reality cures liberalism, which is such a pleasant disease.

[FITZ]

When it's a choice between their religion and money ---like the money they hope to make being a doctor, a Muslim will choose the money every time. They aren't even supposed to be in infidel countries according to the Koran but they'll do it for money.

[swarthyguy]

IMO, the intensity of the faith is also what attracts/repels the left. They in a certain sense admire the singlemindedness of islam, something they don't have or have lost; perhaps it reminds them of the way the old Soviets referred to Communism; the "inevitablity" of it.

The peace of mind that comes from allowing someone or something else to make all your decisions and life choices for you.

[dennisw]

The liberals are overawed by the Jihad mystique: the knitted brows, the towel suit, the spittle-flecked lips. Liberals are looking for something to believe in. As G. K. Chesterton so ruefully observed, an atheist is not a man who believes in nothing, but a man who will believe in anything. And liberals go from pillar to post, Castro, Kim Il Sung, Khomeini, and now Bin Laden, snuffling from one set of smelly feet to the other.

I could say it no better! The liberal hollow man fills up on 3rd worldism once he abandons and stops believing in his own culture and his own G_d. He is in awe of the latest flashy 3rd worlders, their strictness, their cruelty, their lack of doubt and the wars they make. Islamics perfectly fit the bill.

[dennisw]

They in a certain sense admire the singlemindedness of islam, something they don't have or have lost;...........

They are entranced by the lack of self doubt the Islamics have or appear to have. How they always blame others.

"Few blame themselves until they have exhausted all other possibilities"

[Let's Roll]

The Muslims did not wish to share with others

Who would have thought that.

I know I'm sure surprised.

[aristeides]

It's not such a good idea to have Moslem students in medical schools while this war is on. Have these guys ever heard of biological warfare?