Islamifornia Dreamin’: Maha ElGenaidi Comes to Nashville

by Rebecca Bynum (September 2012)

I attended a lecture entitled, “Women and Sharia,” held at David Lipscomb University (a Church of Christ college) on August 23 in order to observe the latest manifestation of mass psycho-social delusion. After all, it is obvious to even the most reality averse that women are not considered the equal of men in Islamic countries all over the world. The doctrine of male superiority becomes obvious from the most cursory reading of the Islamic texts and yet there are apparently quite a number of people (over 300 in attendance) who are willing to set reality aside and suspend critical thought in order to believe a comfortable lie; men and women are “absolutely equal under Islam” and that “Muslim women actually enjoy more rights than American women.” This was the thrust of Maha ElGenaidi’s talk delivered in a soft voice tempered by a slight New York accent. She had come with her parents from Egypt to the United States at the age of seven and now lives in “the Bay area” which must be uttered with proper reverence given its status as the progressive capital of the known universe, second only perhaps to Boulder, Colorado. Mrs. ElGenaidi is the CEO of something called the Islamic Networks Group (to which she devotes a grueling 6 to 8 hours a week) and speaks under the aegis of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Ingrid Mattson, the current President of ISNA, provided the talking points for ElGenaidi’s power-point presentation, or so she said.

numerous accounts exist from Western women who have lived and worked in Muslim countries testifying to the extreme sexual harassment to which they were subject. “A degraded sensualism,” observed Winston Churchill, “deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.”

Edgehill United Methodist Church told us how important it is to “dispel stereotypes” and how difficult it is to “separate religion and culture.” How there are “extremist Methodists” out there we should be on the lookout for and we should “honor our similarities.” However, if we “explore our differences” we must only do so “through the eyes of the other.” And now that she sees the hijab through ElGenaidi’s eyes, she sees it as “liberating.” Turning to ElGenaidi she said, “Your understanding of God enriches my understanding … I need you for my fullness and my wholeness.”

world view given by Islam. And so the fact that we find similar attitudes and behavior across continents and across time in Muslim communities must be due to our own judgmental and prejudicial attitudes. To suggest that the core beliefs which lie at the base of all cultures might have some influence on cultural practices themselves is out of the question. Get thee behind me, cultural anthropology!

Some may further argue that our willful misapprehension of Islam has caused or aggravated two disastrous wars with no end in sight to the killing and maiming of our best and brightest young men along with the draining of our national treasury. An authentic Islamophobe might further caution America from going down the path of Europe and Great Britain which have allowed mass Muslim immigration on the optimistic assumption that whole-hearted belief in Islam is fully compatible with complete assimilation into Western society.

and others like her? Don’t we all worship the same God and revere the same prophets? Are we not one in soul and mind and heart? Do we not honor one another equally in love and respect and kindness? Anyone who thinks differently must be a horrible, intolerant reactionary, right?

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

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Rebecca Bynum contributes regularly to The Iconoclast, our Community Blog. Click here to see all her contributions, on which comments are welcome.