Advisor to Nobel-award winning POTUS says shari’a law “gender justice” for women

posted at 8:48 am on October 9, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Barack Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize on a nomination submitted ten whole days into his term of office in part due to his effort in “easing American conflicts with Muslim nations.”  Helming that effort is Dalia Mogahed, Obama’s advisor on Muslim affairs, who gave British television viewers a taste of how Obama won the Nobel.  She explained that the oppressive shari’a law that results in stonings, mainly for women, is actually “gender justice”, which might be news to women’s-rights groups around the world:







Gender justice?  Under shari’a, a woman’s testimony in court only counts for half of that of a man.  If a woman is raped, she needs four male witnesses to prove her case.  If she makes the accusation and doesn’t find four witnesses, the victim gets charged with fornication or adultery and faces death.

Under what definition of “gender justice” does that fall?  The laws of shari’a deliberately make women chattel to their husbands, fathers, or brothers.  Its application keeps women in some countries from being allowed to venture out in public on their own, without an adult male family member to accompany them.

Instead of defending the rights of women and secular application of law, which is the basis of our law, the advisor of the President of the United States fails to answer a demand for the imposition of an extreme religious code on free people. Mogahed also never rebutted the notion that women should not hold public office, which directly challenged her own status, but also insulted many women in American public life in both parties.  I wonder what Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton think about that performance.

If that’s the kind of outreach that wins Nobel Peace prizes, then the Norwegians must value the oppression of women in Muslim countries and the Western nations that appease that oppression.

Update: Apologies to all Swedes.  I know it’s Norwegians that hand out the award, but for some reason I wrote “Swedes”.  Coffee deficiency.

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