Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Canning town was offended this week when he was asked to sit separately from his wife at a private Muslim wedding. He has taken the wrong fight to the right people.
Yesterday, the Evening Standard and the Daily Telegraph reported that Fitzpatrick was
outraged when he entered the London Muslim Centre to find that his
constituent's wedding was to be a gender segregated affair. He stated
that:
The segregation of men and women didn't used to be as much of a strong feature. We've been attending Muslim weddings together for years but only recently has this strict line been taken. It is an indication of the stricter application of rules that is taking place.
The London Muslim Centre is part of the East London Mosque (ELM), an institute
which has very strong ties with the clerical Islamists of the Jamaat e-Islami
(JI). There are many problems with the ELM's connections with the JI, but
gender segregation at weddings is not one of them.
I have attended a number of Muslim weddings, and gender segregation is
commonplace and at the discretion of those organising the event. It's not
what I would do, but this event was private and it is not for opportunistic
politicians to feign outrage about.
Fitzpatrick has managed to criticise the right place for the wrong
reasons, not something unknown from a Labour politician, or any politician for
that matter.
If Fitzpatrick really had the stomach to take on the ELM, he would have
criticised them for hosting the Saudi hate-cleric, Abdul Rahman
al-Sudais on the 5th of August. Sudais is well known for his
extreme rhetoric, and in 2002 he used a Friday jumaa prayer in Mecca to ask
God to 'terminate' the Jews. He is a man who has in the past rejected any
possibility of peace with Israel, and he believes that Jews are the descendents
of pigs and monkeys (incidentally, is it not strange that people who don't
believe in evolution say that they believe Jews were descended from apes and
pigs?).
It is puzzling that Fitzpatrick chose to ignore the presence of a
genocidal extremist in his constituency and instead decided to attack a private
wedding for observing a well known religious, as well as cultural,
custom.
In any case, the government has no leg to stand on in this matter as it
has sponsored and supported public events in public venues where
gender segregation was enforced. Last year, an event called the Global
Peace and Unity (GPU), which I have written about before, enforced gender segregation (click here for a picture of the seating plan). I
attended with my girlfriend and was told by some pimple faced cretin that I was
not allowed to sit with her. This was held at London's Excel exhibition
centre and was attended by ministers from all three major parties and included
a video message of endorsement from Jack Straw. The event organiser was
also given £10,000 by the Metropolitan Police.
Fitzpatrick's absurd outburst is both unhelpful and inappropriate and is
symptomatic of a political party in its final death throws.
Although I appreciate your thoughts, I am a Muslim, and irrespective of how many Muslim weddings may have gender segregation, it still is not a religious costum. Cultural yes, but not religious. There is no basis for it being religious in terms of Islam. On the contrary any seperation was only limited to the women (wives and daughters) of the Prophet Muhammad's household.
At the end of the day, how people wish to conduct a wedding, is their own business. But to claim something is religious, is not acceptable but misleading. This entire gender segregation is detrimental in more than one way. The argument for gender segregation goes against my belief and the God I believe in.
At more importantly, if gender segregation at weddings, mosques, really was religious, then there would be gender segregation during Hajj and Umrah. The logic behind gender segregation is flawed and culturally derived and it all comes down to one thing. If women are present, then men will not be able to focus, or they will be aroused. That is insulting not just to women but also men.
Best wishes