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April 28, 2006

Sweden: Islamic Association Demands Special Laws For Muslims

News from The Local and Associated Press via Nasdaq News reports that Mahmoud Aldebe, who is head of the Swedish Muslim Association, (SMF), has written to Sweden's parliamentary parties, demanding special laws for Muslims in Sweden.

The SMF is Sweden's largest Islamic group, which represents 70,000 Muslims. Aldebe (pictured) sent the letter yesterday, in which he said that imams should be allowed into state schools to give Muslim children separate lessons in Islam and also the languages of their parents' countries. He demanded that swimming lessons in schools should have boys and girls segregated, and also said that in cases of divorce for Muslims, these should be approved by an imam. He also demanded that separate burial grounds be provided for Muslims.

On the swimming pools issue, he advised that laws should force swimming pools to have female-only evenings once a week, because Muslim parents would not allow daughters to bathe with males for "ethical and religious reasons." He wrote: "Many Muslim girls finish their high school education without knowing how to swim at all."

Aldebe's letter was vehemently dismissed by Jens Orback, Sweden's integration and equality minister, who said: "We will not have separate laws in Sweden. In Sweden, we are all equal before the law. In Sweden, we have fought for a long time to achieve gender-neutral laws, and to propose that certain groups should not be treated like others is completely unacceptable.....We have freedom of speech, we have the right to opinions and we have the right to make proposals - but if a law is going to be changed, it must be the same for everyone."

Orback said he had spoken to representatives of the Swedish Muslim Council who said they did not agree with Aldebe's proposals. Speaking on Swedish TV's Rapport programme, Orback was asked if Aldebe's suggestions added fuel to the agenda of racists. He replied: "I think it is very problematic and unfortunate that people who have been in Sweden for so long make proposals such as this that are so opposed to our intentions, when we are fighting for women's rights and the right to divorce."

There are five Islamic organisations in Sweden. Abd al Haqq Kielan (formerly Leif Larsson) converted to Islam thirty years ago, who believes Islam should be integrated within Swedish society. He is now the chairman of the Swedish Islamic Association. He was scathing of Abdele's propositions, calling them "absurd", and suggested they would lead to a "sort of Mullah-rule that people are scared of."

"He is lucky if he speaks for 70 of his members," Keilan said. "If you open the gate for separate laws for different minorities, where will it end? We have to have one law for all citizens. That is so obvious that I don't understand how he can come up with such an idea."

Other Muslims criticised Aldebe's suggestions. Mariam Osman Sherifay, a lawmaker within the ruling Social Democratic Party, said: "If we are going to live here, we should adapt to the laws that exist - we should not have a separate law just because we have a different faith."

The leader of the Liberal Party, Lars Leijonborg, wrote: "Sweden has equality between men and women. To introduce exceptions for Muslims so that women can be oppressed with the support of the law is completely unacceptable to me."

Following the widespread condemnation of his proposals, Mahmoud Abdele earlier today changed his tune. Speaking on Swedish radio, he said that he only intended that Swedish laws should be altered to make Muslims feel safe in Swedish society.

Aldebe is being disingenuous, as he is known to advocate Sharia law in Sweden. His group, according to EuroIslam has the following objectives: "The specific missions of the SMR are the creation of mosques and Islamic schools, inform non-Muslims about Islam and to take an active part in public debate."

In 2004, he said that there was not "a single Muslim in Sweden who deserves to be called terrorist". He obviously was not then aware of Mirsad Bektasevic.

UPDATE: Saturday, 29 September: Sweden's The Local reports that another Islamic organisation, the Muslim Council of Sweden, an umbrella body for smaller Muslim groups, has joined condemnations of Mahmoud Aldebe's suggestions. Mehmet Kaplan, the Council's spokesman, told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that: "This has absolutely no support in any of our organisations. It's a non-issue for us. I have also spoken to the vice-chairman of the Swedish Muslim Association and he didn't know anything about it either. This is sad. There are other important issues which are now being obscured."

Yesterday a crisis meeting was held by other Muslim groupings, who confirmed they did not support Aldebe's ideas.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 28, 2006 9:12 PM

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