Today Islam is not compatible with democracy

With reference to the article:
"Islam? Perfectly compatible with Women Rights"

Ignatius Chamberlain

I disagree with the interviewee, Martha Nussbaum. Islam is not compatible in its current form with democracy. Her muslim friends in India do not fit any sterotype of oppressed women because firstly most of these women probably come from the elite or upper strata of society or at least upper middle class sections. Does she believe these women live in isolated pure Islamic enclaves that exist as parallel societies with no cross fertilization from other cultural groupings in India?

My contention is that there is an overriding Indian identity, an Indian civil society system of values that came about as a result of a reformation of Hindu society, certain intellectuals that were influenced by the Enlightenment in Europe, the fact that India a Hindu majority country opted for a secular democratic form of governance. These muslim women who do not fit these sterotypes -can it be that they can plug into this identity to assert themselves, can it be that Indian civil society values can be a moderating influence on certain aspects of Islam that are incompatible with modern cultural fundamentals like democracy or that these values allow these women to emphasize aspects of Islam that are more egalitarian and pluralistic, thereby ensuing that Islam has adapted to Indian conditions meaning what we have – are Indian muslim women and not Muslim Indian women.

Also she cites Bangladesh which is 85% muslim and that women head the two main political parties. In Islam it is forbidden for a woman to be the head of state.-and so the head of state is the President and will always be a man-the prime minister is technically not the head of state-so Bangladesh will never have a women President!

Dear Martha, you are wrong

With reference to the article:
"Islam? Perfectly compatible with Women Rights"

Elizabeth Powers

Martha Nussbaum is totally disingenuous. To take one issue, her objection to the ban on the "wearing of traditional dress", which she finds ridiculous because we deal all the time with people who are covered, e.g., surgeons. Let that surgeon wear a face mask into a bank and see if people don’t treat him as a security risk. She is good at using lots of words to stun people into accepting her sophistry.