The following is a disturbing story based on an interview I conducted with a student from UC Irvine who chooses to remain anonymous.
What if you were forced to shut down your blog because you feared that your voice could put your family in danger? Such was the case of OC Apostate, an ex-Muslim blogger whose philosophical journey has estranged herself from UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union.
I started a blog as way to express myself. Word finally got around that it was me and my family got threats that if I didn’t shut up something might happen. I didn’t want them to suffer for something I had done. So I deleted everything.
What business does a student group have in bullying or quelling free speech? Such a threat is implied and insidious, but nevertheless is worrisome to immigrant groups who fear going to the authorities and whose religious community is central to their individual lives. In some Islamic cultures, the retribution for apostasy is to hold the collective family unit accountable for the actions of an individual; hence her deviation from the Muslim faith is being utilized by the MSU to pursue self-serving goals to intrude on and destruct the personal lives of her family.
I don’t underestimate them. When I backtrack in my past mentality, it would seem very offensive. The notion of a traitor in your own community is the worse thing that could possibly happen. There is no room for ex-Muslims in a Muslim society. The punishment for being an apostate is death.
While she acknowledged that the MSU’s issuance of fatwas might be a stretch, the very fact that her alleged spread of negativity about Islam was part of an action item at one of their meetings is another example of the lurid and secretive record of the MSU this recent year. Such a record includes inviting the most radical and repulsive speakers to campus who pledge for the divestment of Israel, while silencing sources of their disrepute; funny for a group who accuses the FBI of unwarranted surveillance.
The MSU has a history of carrying out vendettas against critics who are largely Jewish or conservative. Hardly established on the basis of sound theological reasoning, the MSU has rapidly created a culture of militancy to intimidate and instill fear against anyone who discredits their zeal and agitation. As ardent supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah, their hatred of Israel carries over into their disdain of Jewry.
There are a lot of old world stereotypes. They often complain that Jews have their hands on everything. I’ve also heard of an incident when a member of the MSU threw rocks at a Jewish student.
The Case of an Apostate within their Organization is Unprecedented
OC Apostate’s philosophical journey is a very interesting one. She says that she grew up in a very religious household and was often more dogmatic than her parents in practicing customary rituals. Like every devout Muslim girl, she wore a hijab and prayed everyday, and had a burning desire to become more fluent in her spiritual education. In high school she became president of the campus Muslim organization, and in college she became a popular writer for one of the most widely read Muslim-American publications.
But as her education surpassed the restricted sphere of Islamic scholarship, so did her own personal constitutional test.
Before, if something didn’t make sense to me. I simply made the justification that we were mere mortals, and there are certain issues that are just beyond our realm to solve and realize.
I began to read other philosophic and religious authors like St. Augustine, Descartes, and Plato, and I just started to have doubts and I am now an ex-Muslim. I thought I could fake it out until I graduated, but my grief made my grades slip in school and I often felt sick and paralyzed. The last thing to go was my outward appearance.
OC Apostate’s unveiling of her hijab was immediately offset with contempt in her community.
They saw me with my hair out. They knew who I was. The reaction was a lot of gossip and speculation about my upbringing. Women who I didn’t know gave me dirty looks. I often wondered do they have a webpage dedicated to me called “Persecute this Girl!”
While OC Apostate is beginning to take steps towards her future, she pledges to remain inconspicuous about publishing her thoughts and increasing her visibility as an activist against Islamic extremism, but she remains proud of what she’s done.
I can say with authority that I was sincere (in my conversion). Being an activist within the Muslim community is a collective risk. I feel bad for my Muslim friends because they get ridiculed for hanging out with me.
The silencing of OC Apostate is a startling and yet another example of a criminal threat committed by the MSU. Of all places, students at an American university have an inalienable right speak their mind. If they can’t handle a blog that counters the claims of their faith, what right to they have defending it?
15 comments.:
What a shame. Thanks for reporting this story.
Unfortunately situations like this seems to be an increasing trend.
At Wayne State a Muslim student joined Students for Israel and at a pro-Israel event he was surrounded by Muslim students, pushed, threatened, and told never to associate with pro-Israel students again.
Of course the school does nothing about this kind of harassment.
Unfortunatley Jews aren't the ones who suffer from Islamist extremism.
Aren't the only ones I meant.
how utterly disgusting. maybe the msu is exercising their free speech by harassing jews, conservatives and their ex-members.
Has this been forwarded to Drake? Does the faculty know this happened? Can we get this in the NewU? I'm sure 90% of the people don't care, but there are a few that would. How can we get this out?
This is a shame and I feel awful for this poor woman who made a choice to express herself and is harassed by idiots.
all because she didnt want to celebrate crapadan?
Geegee
oh the hypocrisy!
students who are so-called humanitarians and open to ideas will belittle and attack those who disagree with them.
it's terrible what this brave, young lady is going through. it's also unacceptable.
This should be reported to Drake. It is just another example of intolerance and hooliganism.
People like this women need to be supported-Same for others like Mirsa Ali etc
gary fouse
reut, you're such a cutie. you wouldn't believe what's going on here now. wish we had someone to monitor this stuff like you did......
Muslim Heretics-If You Don't Know These Names, You Should
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish and Irshad Manji. Have you ever heard of these women? If not, I hope you will read on because everyone should know who they are. They have certain things in common: They were all born Muslim, yet, they are very vocal critics of Islam as it is being practiced today. Two of them have renounced Islam entirely. All of them live under the threat of death for the things that they say about Islam.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia in 1969. The family had to move several times because her father was a political opponent of the regime. They went to Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, then settled in Kenya. Her split with Islam began as a result of her desire to escape a forced marriage to a man she did not know. During a 1992 vist to Europe to visit relatives, she found asylum in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, Ali went through a transformation that turned her against Islam. (She now considers herself an atheist.) She was disillusioned to see how many Muslim communities in the Netherlands were practicing their traditional forms of subjugation of women while Dutch police were afraid to even enter Muslim neighborhoods.
It was her work with Dutch film producer, Theo Van Gogh on a film about the subjugation of women in Islam (Submission) that led to Van Gogh's stabbing death in 2004 by a Muslim on a Dutch street and her own life being put in imminent danger. As a result, Ali was placed under Dutch Government protection. While in the Netherlands, Ali became a politician, but as a result of the circumstances of her initial immigration (she used a false name), Ali was eventually forced out of Dutch politics, and her Dutch citizenship was taken away (2006).
Subsequently, Ali was forced to leave the Netherlands due to her situation. In recent years, she has been living and working in the United States for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank, under protection of security paid for by the Dutch Government. Presently, however, she is in the Netherlands due to the fact that the Dutch have stopped paying for security outside of their own country. This situation is still in the process of being resolved.
Ali is the author of a book entitled: Infidel. She has also been awarded several human rights awards and been named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential people in the World (2005).
Nonie Darwish was born in Cairo and has also lived in Gaza, where she was raised in the 1950s. Her father was killed fighting Israelis, which initially caused her to hate everything about Israel. Back in Egypt, she found that this attitude was actively fostered in that country under Nasser.
Events in recent years, such as 9-11, have caused her to break with Islam. She considers herself a supporter of the US, Israel and the War on Terror. She is also critical of the so-called moderate Muslims, who she accuses of being silent after 9-11. Darwish claims that Muslim mosques in the US are preaching a radical, Wahhabi version of Islam.
Darwish appears as a speaker at various locales, including university campuses in the US. She is the author of a book published in 2006 entitled: Now They Call Me Infidel- Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror. Darwish is currently involved with an organization called Arabs for Israel.
Irshad Manji was born in Uganda in 1968, the daughter of an Indian family. At the age of four, her family was forced to leave that country for Canada when dictator Idi Amin expelled all Indians. As a feminist and lesbian, she still considers herself a Muslim though she is an outspoken critic of Islam and orthodox interpretations of the Koran. A friend of writer Salmon Rushdie, Manji calls for reform within the religion. She is the author of a book entitled: The Trouble With Islam Today- A Muslim's Call for Reform in her Faith.
Manji has made numerous appearances to spread her message of reform. She has been interviewed by Al-Jazeera, CBS, CNN, BBC, Fox and the CBC (Canada), among others. For her work, she has received a number of awards, such as the Oprah Winfrey Chutzpah Award (for courage). Ms. Magazine has described her as "a feminist for the 21st century".
Manji's work has come at a price. She has received numerous death threats for her critical comments about Islam. Her residence is equipped with bullet-proof glass.
Why should we care about these three women? We should care not only because they have placed their lives on the line to speak out, but also because they are living among us (the West), no longer being able to survive in their countries of origin. We should care because there are those who have sworn to kill them for their apostacy/heresy-kill them right here in our own countries where we enjoy freedom of religion, the right to change religion or renounce it entirely. This we can never permit or tolerate. We owe it to these women to protect them and support them- not because they are bashing Islam, but because in our societies, death is never the penalty for going against one's religion.
They are not the only ones, only the most prominent. Indeed, there are many more-some nameless-who have lost faith in a version of Islam that preaches death and hate. Many have made steps to break away, only to be intimidated into silence by threats. Sadly, some of these cases are happening in the West-even in America.
One of the reasons that Ayaan Hirsi Ali had to leave the Netherlands was because many of her neighbors protested her presence, afraid that they might be placed in danger by her being in their neighborhood even with all the security. That's about what I would expect from the Dutch, but shame on us if we let it happen here.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
Let's not forget that these women are the victims, or rather the survivors, of patriarchal regimes and dictatorships the likes of which we see reciprocated throughout the world, including our own nation. I too am a Muslim woman who has survived patriarchal exploitation of women and abuse of power, but I am extremely proud of my spiritual tradition as a Muslim and I see these challenges as a spiritual test. My spirituality has helped me overcome these challenges, and I respect these women who chose their own path. Surely whether we are Jewish, Christian, or Muslim women, we can all attest to similar triumphs.
Hate speech against Muslims and belittling, unintelligent comments like anonymous's "crapadan" comment are offensive and hateful and I see now why the students of MSU and Hillel are so reactionary against such threatening intimidation from both sides.
Coming to a campus near you: Overly-privileged jews VS. overly-privileged muslims...cheered on by clueless but equally as overly-privileged whites and asians. At the end of the day you're all going to get in to your luxury cars and SUVs your parents bought for you, listening to coldplay and lenny kravitz on your way home where you will eat microwaved food and watch lots of great television programming. One field of study most UCI students are familiar with regardless of race or creed is unbridging the gap between rich and poor. Thank god for the administration and the UCI police dept though, without them who would do the babysitting??
hey, anonymous,
that's not exactly fair. it's presumptuous of you to jump to conclusions about students that you don't know. i worked my way through college. my parents didn't give me a dime.
how about if i made the case that you aren't exactly underprivileged. i mean, you're using a computer, aren't you?
as for the whole muslim vs. jew thing... i think you're out of line. most of the kids that take issue with the msu on campus (not muslims in general) are not even jewish.
many of them are agnostic, atheist, whatever.
whatever they are it's all the same. It's your secure little microcosm of the real world where you get to play out real-styled dramas in a safe environment where cops will intervene when things get too crazy.
Unfortunately you are so busy finger-pointing at every opportunity and generally being polarized that you miss it entirely. I don't care about the msu or atheists or jews or whoever else. My point is exactly that when you take away the cosmetics its all the same embarrassed skeleton waiting in line at starbucks for its latte. I've been on and around the UCI campus for the last 9 years(most of them without a thing, especially not money), long enough to be entirely bored by pre-fabricated, narcissistic social interactions. Funny thing is that I bet the university likes all this hooplah because it gives an air of legitemacy, as if this were the late 60s or something. So keep fighting, keep inflating your fevered little egos, certainly keep wearing designer clothes, and most of all keep ignoring that half the united states is a third world, because this stuff is WAYYYYY more important.
Did you hear about the guy in frisco that named his blow up doll mohammed?
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