Most Women Edited Out Of Halal Version Of "Happy British Muslims"

The Honesty Policy decided to put together a video to show just how happy British Muslims are. So they filmed a panoply of British Muslims- young, old, males, females with and without head covering- dancing to Pharrell Williams popular song Happy.

The response has been, as expected, both positive and negative. The usual suspects are condemning it for the usual reasons, including the use of adult females.

While its supporters applaud the diverse array of Muslims featured and simple, positive message of happiness, its detractors have an array of complaints that range from the depiction of co-ed dancing to the use of a pop song, Pharrell Williams' "Happy."

Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf believes those trying to show "happy" Muslims are the polar opposite of terrorist/extremists.

So, someone put together a halal version with all the females edited out. The few left in the video are kids. None of the unveiled women are featured.




But many Muslims are just as outraged by this new version.

The original video featured a variety of well-known British Muslims, with scholars like Cambridge University lecturer Sheik Abdul Hakim Murad and Radical Middleway scholar Fuad Nahdi, as well as hip-hop artist Tanya Muneera Williams and journalist and academic Myriam Cerrah.

Cerrah told The Huffington Post via email, "This new video reflects the persistent attempts by a small but vocal band of misogynistic muslims who believe women have no place in the public sphere, to literally erase women from history. Despite what they may think, they're the real embarrassment to our faith." She emphasized that The Honesty Policy has nothing to do with the censored video.

It's always something.

Legalized Marital Rape and Child Marriage Part Of Proposed Iraqi Law

It appears we wasted a heck of a lot of precious U.S. blood in Iraq. Not only has the country continued to be a hotbed of sectarian violence after US troop withdrawl, it's now considering passing a barbaric law that will set women back centuries, and rights activists are hopping mad. 

The current legal age to get married there is 18. With the okay from your parents you can marry at 15. That will all change if the Jaafari Personal Status Law (named for the sixth Shiite imam Jaafar al-Sadiq) is introduced.  Although it does not specifically mention a minimum age that girls can marry, it does refer to a specific age in the "divorce" section. The age of Mohammed's child bride Aisha- 9.

.. setting rules for divorces of girls who have reached the age of 9 years in the lunar Islamic calendar. It also says that's the age girls reach puberty.

Since the Islamic calendar year is 10 or 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, that would be the equivalent of 8 years and 8 months old.

Other parts of the bill that encourage male-domination:

Men will have all the control when it comes to marriage proposals for their daughters.

Men will have all control over their wives when it comes to sexual relations. Raping wives will be legal.

Women will need permission from their husbands to leave their homes.

Women will have fewer rights when it comes to post-divorce child custody.

Men will have an easier time taking on more wives.

The bill is apparently catering to the majority Shiites who were persecuted under Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, and some believe tied to the upcoming elections.

Baghdad-based analyst Hadi Jalo suggested that election campaigning might be behind the proposal.

''Some influential Shiite politicians have the impression that they should do their best to make any achievement that would end the injustice that had been done against the Shiites in the past,'' Jalo said.

Naturally, Sunni females aren't too happy about the proposal.

.. lawmaker Likaa Wardi believes it violates women's and children's rights and creates divisions in society.

''The Jaffari law will pave the way to the establishments of courts for Shiites only, and this will force others sects to form their own courts. This move will widen the rift among the Iraqi people,'' Wardi said.

Secular Shiites are just as opposed.

Qais Raheem, a Shiite government employee living in eastern Baghdad, said the draft bill contradicts the principles of a modern society.

''The government officials have come up with this backward law instead of combating corruption and terrorism,'' said Raheem who has four children, including two teenage girls.

''This law legalises the rape and we should all reject it.''

Hopefully they will reject it, but who knows.