My message to these people, if you are reading this, is that you will never silence me.
There are many great things about Twitter. For one, I’ve gotten to interact with people who I would never have been able to otherwise.
The downside, however, is the vile abuse one can be on the receiving end of from trolls. You know the type: nameless, faceless keyboard warriors who resort to name-calling and insults behind the safety of a computer screen.
About a month ago, I experienced my first interaction with trolls. One made a bogus account of me with a bio stating that I like to “drink alcohol, eat pork and sleep around”. I was also described as a “Quilliam stooge”, despite the fact that I don’t work for the Quilliam Foundation. But hey, why allow facts to get in the way?
I did, however, note something sinister and worrying behind the whole thing, aside from the atrocious spelling.
I am the latest in a bunch of women, specifically Muslim women, who have come under attack from a group of misogynist men. Their aim is supposedly to combat Islamophobia yet ironically their appalling behaviour is unIslamic and actually fuels anti-Muslim sentiment.
It’s rather funny how our ‘Muslimness’ is questioned to destroy our credibility. Accuse a Muslim person of drinking alcohol or eating pork and you have instantly ruined their reputation. And if you’re a woman, well, that’s ten times worse. The combination of being an ex-Muslim (which I am not by the way) and a ‘whore’ is lethal.
When Lejla Kuric, a Manchester-based artist, wrote an article on her meeting with Tommy Robinson, she was accused of being ‘Islamophobic‘, despite the fact that she is a Muslim. My theory is because she does not ‘look Muslim’ i.e. she is white and does not wear a headscarf she is an easy target.
Sara Khan, of Inspire, is regularly called a ‘government stooge’ and all the usual stupidity, including people spreading rumours that she drinks alcohol – she doesn’t, but why should it matter?
She says:
“I’ve been called an ex-Muslim, that I work with or get into bed with zionists and Islamophobes, that I’m creating Islamophobia for addressing gender injustice within Muslim communities etc. None of this surprises me in one sense because I’ve spent 20 years working within Muslim communities and I know the score. I know that if you speak out as a Muslim woman you need a thick skin and you need to be prepared for a big backlash.”
Of course, men, too, come under attack. Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation is constantly hounded, even by moderate Muslims. But when you are a woman, it is easier to be attacked. Men are not labelled as whores who sleep around. That delightful label is reserved for us females alone.
More worrying is if you look through their tweets, they are followed and re-tweeted by even moderate Muslims – they seem to unite against anyone who is ostensibly liberal, even if it means to side with a troll online.
Try and get some support or solidarity from prominent Muslim commentators or writers – forget about it. The only solidarity we seem to receive is from those on the right who ‘hijack’ issues such as the university gender segregation, yet if there was solidarity from those on the left, the right wouldn’t need to ‘hijack’ the debate.
Takes Mohammed Shafique, of the Ramadan Foundation. Despite being told repeatedly of the bogus account, he continues to interact with such troll as they praise him constantly – and they say flattery gets you nowhere.
Catherine Heseltine of MPAC UK also confronted and began to harass Sara Khan after a troll who goes by the name ‘Barry Winner1’ asked her to intervene . She knew nothing of Sara’s stance on gender segregation at universities, yet felt more inclined to believe the words of a faceless troll on Twitter. Sara resorted to protecting her account for a while, shortly after facing much abuse on her stance against segregation.
Lejla certainly believes that there is a problem with misogyny directed against women online, and it is something that has been highlighted in the media more recently.
She said:
“Muslim women who speak for women rights and against gender inequality within their own community or express political or theological dissent are ‘slut-shamed’ by some Muslim man who do not approve of their opinions. Our sexual morality is questioned and we are deemed ‘sluts’ and ‘whores’ as a way of silencing us.”
Like me, she is labelled a “Quilliam whore”, ugly, and other vile insults, especially after she writes an article. Does she receive any assistance or help from anyone or other Muslims? “Sometimes from Muslim women, never from Muslim men, not once,” she says.
My message to these people, if you are reading this, is that you will never silence me. I have an opinion, a mind and a voice and I will be damned if I am going to let cowards hiding behind their computer screens scare and bully me into silence and submission.
As long as there are issues in this country that we need to tackle, I will be there, ready to speak out. And if that means being labelled a whore or stooge, then so be it.
52 Responses to “Muslim women must not be driven off the net by trolls”
Atiff Ghafar
Whilst i agree the blatant name calling and accusation of apostasy are uncalled for and have no basis in debate and people from both sides of the argument should dis-engage from this rather petty and low form of discussion and debate.
However trying to champion the discourse of “Progressive Islam/Muslim’s” which calls for the changing and re-form of the foundations of the religion be it Shariah Law,,Fiqh, Hadith, Quran etc its a very dangerous and slippery road. Especially after all when one has no sound knowledge of the religion nor has studied the Islamic Sciences. And then to write blogs on such deep rooted issues? It’s like a car mechanic trying to do brain surgery.
My message to you is no one silencing you out .. But when you begin to speak out align yourselves with likes of Quilliam (who have no grass roots support) and Tommy Robinson, Don’t expect everyone to clap with you. The worrying thing is these people and organisation champion “thought crime”. You just need to look the history and background of these two people to realize from what platforms they are speaking on.
Your supporters are calling you to change your religion or become an atheist. Water down Islam..a diluted version or better yet leave the religion..
Also i apologies for anything i have said to you which may have been construed as rude or defamatory. You felt the need to block me on basis of the people i follow.
swatnan
Surely they are in breach of basic Human Rights and should be taken to Court. Perhaps legal address is the one solution to make them change. 2014 is going to be a decisive crunch year for Islam. I feel the tide is definitely turning against that Religion even amongst us liberal minded observers. Things can definitely not go on as they are.
Dave Roberts
I think that you are reading too much into this. Like the far right and the far left there are people who have nothing better to do than insult others, you will just have to live with it I am afraid. The real danger is a person like Laurie Penny who is now a spokesperson for the liberal left on Islam.
Like so many of her kind she has never had a proper job in her life, graduated from somewhere with a useless degree and landed a job writing to a script for outlets like the Guardian. Her latest offering, I’ll dig it out later and give the link, is the worst piece of self aggrandizement and promotion that I have seen for a long time, she is a female Owen Jones in her disconnection with the real world but I suppose that will prove no obstacle to being parachuted into a safe Labour seat sometime in the not too distant distant future.
Actually the situation isn’t as bad as some think, as with the latest claims from Tell MAMA about the spike in Islamophobic incidents most of it is anonymous and on line. The vast majority of Muslims are not extremists but the problem is as has been pointed out that while very few Muslims are terrorists most terrorists in the world today cite Islam as their authority for their actions.
Remember tte old Latin motto “Nil Carberundum Illigitimi” which roughly translates as don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Caadfael
I find it interesting that all this extremism emanates from down south, here in Scotland it seems we have a different “brand” of Muslim …mainly modern and progressive in outlook.
Lejla Kurić
Yes Atiff, we know, misogynist abuse, threats of violence, smears, false rumours & blatant lies in attempt to destroy someone’s reputation are wrong — unless they are against women you disagree with, in which case you are quite happy to join such circles.
I have news for you, this is free and democratic country, there are no blasphemy laws here, we are free to write and speak on whatever topic we wish and express any opinions we wish. You do not get to curtail that!