It’s late, I’m supposed to be off, but I feel like I had to write this post.
If you read my post of Sept. 10, "Radical Islam Speaks" (or just type Sania Mirza in the “search” box on the right)—and the string of comments it generated, you know that many people felt I overreacted to the news of a fatwa being issued regarding Mirza’s western ways.
Oh, some TW readers claimed, don’t worry about these Islamic clerics, they’re just publicity hounds! Others suggested that extremists were just a fact of life we all had to live with (ho-hum, there goes another train station—sure hope Uncle Mike called in sick today!), less like potential killers than the model railroad nut next door, except with long flowing robes and beards hanging down to their kneecaps.
Besides, while India is home to millions of Muslims, they’re not the proverbial True Believers—they’re liberal, secular, live-and-let-live folks who couldn’t give a hang about conservative doctrine.
Well, guess what. It turns out that at least one of these benign, not-to-be-taken-seriously outfits has upped the ante and threatened to stop Mirza from playing because of the dishonor she brings to Islam with her racy outfits (details here).
Oh, some of you will still say, don’t worry about that, it’s just some uptight, largely harmless conservatives blowing off steam. Nobody takes this stuff seriously . . . . Well, without going overboard (something I’ve studiously avoided doing on this subject so far), let me say that I take this stuff seriously.
Fact 1: Mirza claims she’s an observant Muslim.
Fact 2: Mirza is a wonderful, gifted tennis player, given to exhibitionism, flounting convention, and drawing attention to herself as if her role model of choice is Britney Spears (or, come to think of it, Martina Navratilova) rather than, say, Benazir Bhutto, or Indira Ghandi.
Fact 3: Many, many Muslims believe that Facts 1 and 2 are mutually exclusive.
You know what? I saw this coming from a mile away. Oh sure, I was one of the “Western journalists” who reveled in coming across a Muslim woman who didn’t make everyone panic and wonder, “Gee, what’s really in that backpack?” I confess, I seized on Mirza as something like a good news story out of a part of the world where so much of the news for free, tolerant societies, especially those in the West, has been bad.
But here’s something else—I waded into this scenario because I felt all along that this could add up to trouble. Because, in the end, I see no way that you can square conservative Islamic values with Mirza’s style—exuberantly youthful and transparent as it is. I understand the conservative mind; I have one of my own.
The Islamic fundamentalists who have worked so hard to sieze the moral high ground in the eyes of restless Muslims believe—and know—that they must walk the walk as much as they talk the talk. They have no interest in being like the "nice" secular, tolerant Muslims—the "useful idiots," to use the phrase coined by Lenin to describe dewy-eyed liberals—who comprise the majority.
This is a terrible problem, and one that, to me, exposes a horrible reality. The trend in Islam is toward beliefs that that simply cannot co-exist happily with secular, Western ways—the mores personified by a loose cannon like Mirza. In a way, it's awfully simple.
In an attempt to open my eyes to the ethical nuances of Mirza's situation vis a vis Islam, an earnest and reasonable poster, Shibi, steered me toward this article. It’s ironic, because I get the feeling Shibi wanted to enlighten me; all the article does is underscore my own basic feelings about the situation.
Mirza and and conservative Islam are incompatible. End of story. The real issue is, how much of a threat does conservative Islam pose to Mirza—or she to extremist Muslims?
Those who think I’m an alarmist, a myopic American who isn’t sophisticated enough to understand the nuances of Islamic politics, will surely think that I’m overreacting. I hope you’re right, but I also wonder what it will ultimately take to make you change their minds about the potential threat posed by Islamofascism.