Press Release
The Honour of Muslim Women is Optional in Liberal Democracies

On 3^rd October, CBS News reported that a Muslim woman was detained by Philadelphia police who removed her hijab. During the 20 hours of her arrest, she was left uncovered and was given no means to replace her clothing. She has now recruited a legal advisor from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and wants justice for her mistreatment.The sister was arrested following an incident at Temple University in September, where she was protesting against the oppression of the Muslims in Gaza. The sister said an officer removed her hijab and under-cap. Adam Attia, a legal director of CAIR Philadelphia, called it a "serious defilement of her religious beliefs and practices. We do want to work toward a change in these policies so that going forward Muslim women don't have to experience this. And we are more than willing to collaborate and work with whatever agency, police department, university that is willing to listen to us because this is something that deeply violates our religious beliefs.”

The Philadelphia Police Department (PDD) stated the following: “We recognise that our policies need to evolve to better respect and accommodate religious practices… The PPD is actively working to update our policies to allow for the wearing of religious head coverings during the booking process and while in custody, provided that it does not compromise safety or security protocols.”

What should be understood by the incident is that harassment and abuse of Muslim women is normalised globally and locally by the very same agencies that claim to be the world leaders in women’s empowerment and women’s rights. The blatant contradiction could not be more clear. However, there are still Muslim representatives that do not fully appreciate the lost cause that Liberal Democracy is.

With the War in Gaza spreading into the other areas of Ash-Sham, the firebombing and murder are spreading wider, engulfing the women and children of this Ummah in a way that is unprecedented in recent history. We can see that the life and honour of the mothers of this Ummah are irrelevant to those that have sold our blood to the highest bidders in the marketplace of power and corruption: the rulers and regimes of the Muslim lands.None of the Muslim rulers have an intention to serve the interests of this ummah and that is a fact that every non-Islamic authority knows well. Hence, it is open season to go hunting for the wealth and bodies of this Ummah to collect as trophies to show the world.

We need the Islamic authority to return in the form of the Khilafah based upon the method of the Prophethood to redress this imbalance of justice. The organisations that we have can only extend begging bowls to fill with policy changes that will never give Muslim women their rightful place as Allah (swt) ordered. Allah (swt) says: 

[أَنِّي لاَ أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِّنكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَى بَعْضُكُم مِّن بَعْضٍ]

“Never will I allow the loss of the work of any worker amongst you, male or female; you are of one another.” [Aali-Imran:195]

The high status by which Islam holds protecting the honour of a Muslim woman is reflected in the actions of our beloved Prophet (saw) who banished a whole Jewish tribe, Banu Qaynuqa from his state in Madinah Al-Munawwara due to their abuse of a single Muslim woman and the violation of her Islamic dress. And yet today, the dignity of Muslim women is violated in lands across the world with no state to defend their honour. We are long overdue for the correct measure of how the life and dignity of Muslim women must be managed. The leadership in the manner of the proper vision of the Quran and Sunnah: the Khilafah (Caliphate), is what is missing, not numbers of believers, money or charity causes. The sooner we as the Muslim Ummah realise this, the sooner our situation will change when we are not distracted by breadcrumbs of change.