We will never agree on this Sam, despite the fact that I know from first hand experience how some (I never said all at any point) Muslim women feel about the Hejab (just a headscarf in their case, so they do wear makeup and have their hair done - because they want to), and it isn't with any pleasure.
Just as there are SOME Christians who are very devout and follow the letter of the bible's teachings, there are many others who simply pay lip service to religion.
I do however stick by my beliefs that in certain countries (and in certain communities within the UK) there is no dress freedom from women, they have to do as they are instructed, there is no free will.
We will never agree on what? – That Jewish women wore veils 2000 years ago or that you can’t just go round deporting people to countries of their choosing?
As for your ‘first hand experience’…
I don't need to click on Wikipedia Sam, because I have been studying the Middle East, Iran, Israel and Islamic extremism for the past twenty years. I have been to the Middle East several times and have friends and family there...
Obviously we both know you used Wikipedia.
I’m not Muslim and I’ve never been to the Middle-East. However, I can provide reputable sources and give my reasoning for the comments and opinions I share, and I haven’t tried to elevate myself to some kind of ‘academic superiority’ so as to make what I say unchallengeable. However, for someone who claims to have studied extremism for over twenty years, there seems to have been a few things which have cropped up that you’ve been wrong on. Therefore, I’d prefer to see reputable sources rather than what I see as some rather dubious anecdotal and hearsay ‘evidence’, if that’s okay?
It appears you’re now trying to specify… interesting, particularly as we were talking about the wearing of hijabs and whatnot in the UK and ‘them’ not fitting into our Western traditions and dress. In fact:
In certain communities, that may be true of the males, but for females in closed, conservative families (of which there are many up and down the UK, and particularly abroad from North Africa across the Middle East to Malaysia and Indonesia), the reverse is true. They are sadly controlled by a culture which forces them to adopt the Hejab.
First of all, what is your evidence of this (or shall I just assume you know what you’re talking about because you’ve ‘studied’ it for twenty years?)?. Secondly, if this was the case, of what proportion of UK Muslims are of this denomination? – I suspect they’re proportionally very few (just like extremists) and, therefore, why do you feel this ‘fact’ is relevant?
… I think that you will find that even in the UK, most girls and women from certain (Sunni Wahhabi) Moslem families have no choice over what they wear, as long as they stay within that family.
‘I think that you will find’? Why? Because you said so?
So, Sam, you really think that a woman would choose to wear a burkha/hejab in 40C heat?
In an attempt to show your chivalrous nature, you’ve posed the above question - I answered you but you again decided to ignore it.
There are loads of documentaries you can watch on Youtube and many interviews of young Muslim women (even some which are converts or ‘reverts’ as they like to call them) who speak of how liberating they feel the veil (of whatever their preference is) is to them. Make up and hair was definitely mentioned. However, who are they to say what they do and don’t like? - You obviously know what’s best for them!
So what do you reckon we should do? ‘Ban the Burka’? because you feel it doesn’t ‘allow women to express themselves’?... How about those women who – despite your assumptions – actually want to wear one? Can they not wear one without Crown permission or a permit?
I have to say Sam, the more you post, the more it seems that you are an "apologist" for Islamic dress code, and even for the extremists who go off to fight for ISIL, because they may not agree with the way we live in the UK.
As a non-Muslim, I can’t see how the Islamic dress code can ever be an issue of contention for any other non-muslim. Therefore, how do you see me as an ‘apologist’ – Is it just because I don’t agree with what you’re claiming? I can see how Muslim men may be subject to the ‘beard-length police’ and maybe some women have debates over their head coverings… but why is that a concern to anyone else? Who cares? Personally, I think you argument is running out of steam and you’ve moved on to the finger-pointing. FYI, no I’m definitely not a leftie, I don’t own a tie-dye shirt and I don’t have lentil smoothies.
Secondly, why do you think I’m making excuses for the girls in question?.. Because I suggested that they may have been groomed?
However, it doesn't alter the fact that they are murdering people who do not agree with them - they are trying to FORCE people to convert, and these people include totally innocent aid workers from Western countries, who have travelled to Syria to help the poor souls languishing in refugee camps.
Yes, I know what ISIL are doing. How is this relevant to the (EDIT: 'our') debate? In fact, how is it relevant to any other regular Muslim in the UK?
Finally, to get back to the point of the original post, I truly believe that anyone who goes to join them for whatever reason (becoming a "warrior bride" falls into this category) deserves everything that happens to them - either over there or when they attempt to return.
Well that’s your opinion, but you still can’t go round deporting people if it renders them stateless.