Constructive Accomodation

Madame's Nightshirt
Mrs. Peperium

"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law." - Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, February 7, 2008.

Phoebe Fullerton looked at her surroundings. "My god, the hungry really are dreadful." she thought, quietly content that she did not require as much food as the rest of the eating classes. Her eyes, in need of refreshment, gazed acrosss the table to feed on what could be described, in Phoebe's mind only, as perfection, Emma Jane. Emma Jane was Phoebe's 10 year-old daughter and the consolation gift of the greatest mistake of Phoebe's life : Her marriage to Cameron Fullerton. Phoebe sat back in her seat, assuming a philosophical air to sip her non-fat white chocolate mocha latte. She pondered the old saying, ""To make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs." Surely the good prophet, whoever he was, had to be speaking of Emma Jane. All of Phoebe's friends routinely agreed that Cameron had broken all of Phoebe's eggs, not just the one it took to make Emma Jane. But rising out of those shell fragments, like the proverbial pheonix from the ash heap, was the great omelet known as Emma Jane.

"Are those nuns?" Emma Jane asked with a mouth full of Big Mac.

"Em, just because you are eating here doesn't mean you behave as if you eat here." Then she saw what Emma Jane had mistaken for nuns. Two Muslim women in the traditional long black jilbabs, wearing hijabs to cover their hair, surrounded by a sea of children. "My god there are days when you would think we were were in Abu-Dhabi," Phoebe thought, evincing a shudder. She cleared her throat and spoke, "No darling, they are not nuns. But they are very religious women."

She suddenly felt, she could not conceal it from herself, a slight frisson of panic. What on earth was she going to tell Emma Jane if the child asked her what "religious" meant?

"Oh." said Emma Jane happily turning her attention to her french fries. Phoebe relaxed again, her mind rocking neatly back into its accustomed groove.

Just then, the older of the two women, starting yelling like a falafel monger's wife at a boy who looked about six years old. The boy, acting like a falafel monger's son, yelled back at her. Phoebe watched as the woman raised her right hand and released it with a force that Phoebe had only seen once before: The day she and Cameron had been in the stands at Wimbledon watching Andre Agassi win his Grand Slam. How happy she was then. But now? Before the back of the woman's hand met its intended target, Phoebe looked down. What she saw reminded her how, to commemorate Andre's Grand Slam and his love for his bride-to-be, Cameron had whisked her off to the nearest jewelry bin. Sun caught the many small faces of dozens of diamonds. The light moved across her tennis bracelet the way she had heard "the wave" moved across the stands at football games. "That's the true beauty of diamonds," she thought, "they can't feel a thing. They always exist, beautifully, no matter what." Phoebe looked up to see the boy standing, with his feet apart, about 3 feet back from where he had been standing before the blow to his cheek. He was not crying. The only evidence of the hit was a large red mark on his cheek. The rest of him remained unmoved, just staring at the woman.

Emma Jane looked at her mother and said "Mom, she's not allowed to do that. You need to do something. Call child welfare services."

Phoebe looked around her. The rest of the diners were calmly eating their meals. She watched the other woman in the hijab, who seemed to be the boy's mother, confer with the other older one. Then, leaving the older one in charge of the children, the woman went up to order their meals.

Phoebe turned to look at her daughter. Emma Jane's eyes were open with a big questioning look. This must be what Phoebe's friends so effusively described as a "teachable moment". She decided to rise to the occasion,

"No darling, I don't need to do a thing. That's just part of their culture."

Comments

[MCNS]

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property (either as a child, a wife, or a concubine) must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science (the science against which it had vainly struggled) the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

-- Winston Churchill, 1899

[Debbie]

It's true, it is part of their culture. However, the Unites States, the UK, Canada, and other Western nations have their OWN cultures. We also have the right to maintain our culture and to keep immigrants from trying to change our culture.

Changing a country's culture will be it's downfall. When we go abroad, do the countries we visit change their culture for us? No. We are expected to adapt to their culture. Do you see Saudi Arabia, Iran, or any other Arab country allowing Americans to change what we don't like? Well, only when huge amounts of money are involved.

This was a teachable moment that the mother missed.