On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:48:16 +0700, Firouz Anaraki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Gilberto: > > HRH, The Prince of Wales, Islam And The West > > Islamic countries like Turkey, Egypt, and Syria gave women the vote as > > early as Europe did its women -- and much earlier than in Switzerland! > The constitutions of all these countries are very secular and not based on > Sharia unlike Saudi Arabia or Iran and a few other Islamic countries. In > Turkey girls cannot attend the government universities wearing Islmaic > Hijab.
Yes, Turkey is *extremely* secular to the point of repressing religious freedoms. A Muslim woman was elected a member of parliamant and was campaigning wearing hijab but after winning the election and showing up in parliament with her hair covered people in the government objected and she was ultimately stripped of her citizenship. I don't think Turkey is a good model for how Muslim countries ought to become more secular. The military, especially, represses religion > I think when you talk about Muslim countries you should distinguish between > the two groups of Muslim worlds. For example, Iran is a Muslim country but > the women rights and many other laws were very different during Shah's time > from today under Islamic government. Many Muslims in Iran (men and women > alike) yearn for the good old days under Shah. Actually majority of Iranian > today would like to have a government similar to Turkey, a secular > government with very clear separation of mosque and state. And in Turkey and in other countries, the religious parties tend to do really well in the elections. I think the grass is always greener. Actually it seems like a majority of Iraqis would like a religious-type government. Personally, I think that if you are in a country where the majority of the population are religious Muslims and they have a good democratic-type government which respects the will of the people and is accountable, then Islamic values and principles would naturally be incorporated into the structure of the government and the society. And there is more than one way which that can happen and there is more than one way that can look like. Peace GIlberto -- "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
