Severed Heads And Righteous Religion: Not In My Muslim Name

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/09/02/severed-heads-and-righteous-religion-not-in-my-muslim-name/

9/02/2014 @ 10:41AM

GUEST POST WRITTEN BY
Nabil Echchaibi
Mr. Echchaibi is Associate Director of the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture at the University of Colorado.

Two pictures from Morocco have haunted me this summer but for wildly different reasons. One made me laugh because it was silly, the other made me sick because it’s the most repulsive thing you could ever see. I write this column because the disproportionate reaction these pictures have generated has made them even more tormenting.

I will start with the silly picture. A recent ceremonial photo of Morocco’s prime minister and his wife with Barack and Michelle Obama during a formal reception at the White House has caused a firestorm of criticism. At the heart of this fatuous controversy was the prime minister’s wife’s wardrobe choice. Her traditional attire was fiercely mocked on social media as inappropriate, too conservative and inelegant. A Moroccan fashion designer was outraged that the first lady looked like a “sack of flour.” Another quipped that she looked like “Lala from the Teletubbies”. And others commented on her lack of style and asked why she didn’t wear a “gorgeous kaftan” instead. Many also defended Mrs. Benkirane and commended her for not forsaking her traditions. Since then, the first lady has replied to her detractors by accusing them of waging a cultural colonialism that devalues the national dress of Moroccan women and scorns the creativity and modesty of local artisans.

You could think of this whole wardrobe pseudo-affair as a silly blip in a summer news slump, but there is plenty Moroccans could be outraged by these days and the first lady’s choice of dress should not be one of them: high youth unemployment, poverty, crippling corruption, a slow political process, crime, and particularly a disturbing rise in religious radicalism. And that’s where the second picture comes in.

Back in April, a picture circulated on Facebook and Twitter TWTR +2.55% of a Moroccan jihadist in Syria proudly posing behind five severed heads of Syrian soldiers he reportedly decapitated himself. The smirk on his face as he paraded the spoils of his macabre hunt should haunt everyone, but it should torment Moroccans a lot more to ask what kind of environment can produce such a despicable monstrosity. Sadly the outrage has been minimal and reactions have been limited to the usual platitudes that Islam does not condone violence. Yes, surely Islam is a religion of peace, but a festering climate of fanatically blind religiosity coupled with despair and lack of self worth has made this savagery possible. I think it’s about time we turn our closeted moral outrage into veritable action.

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