A new group is formed in Germany: "The National Council of Ex-Muslims" (link in german language). Their goal is to help women and men to leave the religion of peace without being stoned to death. Or anything similar. And, of course, they've already received death threats from RoP-worshippers...
Islam is inherently radical:
Arzu Toker, deputy chairwoman, used a news conference to announce her separation from Islam: 'I herewith resign from Islam. That's it.'Death threats:
Toker, a journalist who was born in 1952 in Turkey's eastern Anatolia region, is radical in her criticism of Islam. She does not accept its Sharia system of rules at all, saying they contradict both human rights and the values of the German constitution.
She added that Islam was anti-woman.
'It humiliates women and turns them into servants of the men,' she said, adding the Islam was anti-man as well.
'It reduces men to breeding animals controlled by their urges,' said Toker. She quoted the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: 'He said, God is dead. One can live fine by taking one's own responsibility.'
She said she did not distinguish between Islam and fundamentalism.
'Islam is inherently radical,' she said.
Ahadi described her life to reporters and said, 'Political Islam has afflicted my life.' Born in Iran in 1956, her support for human rights had rapidly put her in opposition to the Islamic Revolution. She refused to wear a headscarf and was expelled from university.
Later her husband was executed. She had lived in Germany since 1996.
'I know all about political Islam,' she said. 'It ends up with us being stoned to death, even here in Germany.'
Ahadi has been put under police protection in recent days. Renouncing Islam can carry the death penalty in a number of countries including Iran, Saudi-Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania. In other countries people who turn their backs on the faith aren't punished by courts, but they are often ostracized by family and friends. It's a difficult subject among Muslim communities in Europe too.Chairwoman Ahadi criticizes the Central Council of Muslims in Germany:
SPIEGEL: Together with 29 other immigrants from Muslim countries you have declared that you have renounced Islam. The campaign is similar to one launched in the 1970s by women who declared publicly that they had had abortions. What is your purpose?More clear-sighted women.
Ahadi: I haven't been a Muslim for 30 years. I'm also critical of Islam in Germany and of the way the German government deals with the issue of Islam. Many Muslim organisations like the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD) or Milli Görüs engage in politics or interfere in people's everyday lives. They were invited to the conference on Islam (hosted by the government in Berlin last year). But their aims are hostile to women and to people in general."
SPIEGEL: Why?
Ahadi: They want to force women to wear the headscarf. They promote a climate in which girls aren't allowed to have boyfriends or go to discos and in which homosexuality is demonized. I know Islam and for me it means death and pain.
SPIEGEL: What will your organization do?
Ahadi: One example: One representative of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany said that a carnival procession float (during the recent carnival in Germany) showing Islamists with explosive belts had offended Muslims. But there was no evidence of that. The associations pretend that they represent everyone and to some extent are acknowledged as such by the German side. That's bad. We have to give a signal against that and say: Not in our name. We are secular humanists. We want to give these people a voice. Someone has to make a start. We're advocating human rights.
SPIEGEL: Some of your members are also active in communist organizations in their home countries.
Ahadi: Yes, many were active in left-wing groups. We have received more than 100 membership applications in recent days. We want to create a new movement, in other European countries too. We hope that soon there will be 10,000 of us representing many more people.
SPIEGEL: Won't your campaign just harden the battle lines?
Ahadi: I don't think it's possible to modernize Islam. We want to form a counterweight to the Muslim organisations. The fact that we're doing this under police protection shows how necessary our initiative is.
Update: More about Chairwoman Mina Ahadi:
Mina Ahadi was born in Iran in 1956. She started her political activities when she was only 14, by setting up discussion clubs and libraries and performances. In the Iranian revolution of 1979, she who was by then a university student was actively involved. When the Islamic government got to power and with Khomeini’s Fatwa for compulsory Islamic veiling, she did not hesitate organizing meetings and Demonstrations against this government. Her first major public speech was in a gathering of more than two thousand women in the city of Tabriz and soon after that she was expelled from University.Technorati Tags: germany, europe, feminists, islam, intolerance, mohammad, muhammad, Muhammed, muslim, religion,
Mina, who had been recognized by authorities, had to go underground and a year later her house was raided and her husband and some other friends were arrested. She escaped only because she was not at home at that time. Her husband was executed soon after and she had to leave her home town and go to liberated areas of Kurdistan in 1980.
She stayed in Kurdistan continuing her struggles against the Islamic Republic of Iran for ten years and in 1990 she went to Vienna. Mina Ahadi has lived in Europe ever since and has been actively involved in struggles against the Iranian government and for women’s rights.
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