Muslims for Peace Demands that Wicked Course be Abolished

What happens when a university lecturer wants to teach information about religious history or culture which adherents of that religion don't like and would like to pretend does not exist? Well, in Australia this has prompted howls of complaints and demands that the lecturer be fired. This could conceivably occur in the context of any religion, but this case involves Islam and Muslim leaders.

Apparently, the only teaching about Islam which should be permitted is teaching which is approved of by conservative Muslim leaders. If that were the case, then I'd say that we'd be better off not knowing anything about Islam than only knowing what Muslim leaders want us to know. Fortunately, though, secular educators are not being deterred.

The imams council has circulated a petition recording its "deep concern with regards to the course structure and content", saying it involved "repeated and unjustified attacks upon Islam".

Another group, Muslims for Peace, has branded the centre as "evil" and demanded lecturer Samar Habib be dismissed and the course abolished.

"Now that its wicked nature should be crystal clear for all to see, Muslims should fear Almighty Allah and break all connections with this diabolical centre of Kufr (non-believers)," a bulletin on the Muslims for Peace website reads.

Source: The Australian

What's so awful about this course? Entitled Women in Arabic and Islamic Literature, it dares to tell students the truth about women and literature:

The course includes excerpts from The Perfumed Garden by Sheik Nafzawi, a book on Arabian erotica written in the 16th century and translated into English in 1886 that has been likened to the Indian Kama Sutra.

Dr Habib, who has written her PhD thesis on female homosexuality in the Middle East and has written an introduction in an erotic lesbian novel published overseas entitled I Am You, has been accused of promoting lesbianism.

So, the course uses an Arabic text which Muslim leaders don't like and the teacher has been accused of nasty things in the past. Wow. How awful. This, however, is why teaching about religion or any other subject cannot be placed under the control of sectarian religious leaders: doing so ensures that some of the truth will be suppressed and replaced by theological propaganda. Truth about religion, like liberty in religious matters, depends upon a secular context in which no one religion is privileged and no religious beliefs are treated as especially deserving of deferential treatment.