Is The Burka A Deliberate Political And Cultural Missionary Tool?

As a non Muslim person living in Western nations once predominantly democratic and Christian , it makes me wonder whether the wearing of the Burka by an increasing number of women in the West is not simply a cultural or male chauvanistic imposition on vulnerable women, but more sinister even.... a deliberate ,Politically and Culturally orientated ploy ,motivated by Imperialistic intent.

If your intent is to dominate a host culture, do you just blend in??
Or do you seperate yourself , and then demand the right to seperate yourself???

Do you wear the same as those you want to convert?
Or do you wear something different, and then over time demand those who need converting do the same?

Islam is a imperialistic and missionary Religion...and culture, the two are rarely divided.
Few people seem to know the reason there are millions of Muslims in Pakistan and India and south east Asia in general is because of Imperialistic conquerers over the centurys who demande conversion as the sword the alternative.

Do we as rational and logical Human Beings think it is now suddenly a religion that is satisfied with its current converts?

The only thing that stops Imperialism is the BIG WORDs "Enough is Enough" we are who we are, and we will continue being who we are.

reply to post by Dr Expired


Is not every culture an expression of imperialism? Is not every faith missionary and expansive in it's practice and application?

To answer your question bluntly, the Burka is just a piece of cloth with very little significance. Making it a big deal and using it as a tool for trying to pick apart multiculturalism or as a symbol of some sort of cultural expansion is only going to turn it into an icon of what you're implying it is. The only real significance it has is the stigma that people who oppose it attach to it.

I mean, it's estimated that in France (one of the first countries to ban the burka) that no more than two thousand women ever wear a burka, many of them out of choice. There are millions of Muslims in France, yet you're trying to attach some sort of significance to a garment worn by a handfull of people. Is it even worth caring about? A few thousand people choose to wear a cloth over their face as a cultural tradition, I don't see it as a threat personally.

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Also just to point out Islam does not force conversion, it's expressly forbidden to force people to follow Islam in the Quran.

"Let there be no compulsion in religion, Truth stands out clear from Error" [Quran 2:256]

Islam spread largely through it's ideal position in the region and not through aggressive expansion with 'the sword' given that the only time 'the sword' is permitted to be used is in self defence. You know it's not often mentioned but as the Muslims expanded outside of Arabia they brought with them many new things, like schools which were open to everyone, scientific knowledge and for a little while, an economic system which was largely beneficial to the poor who were amongst the already collapsing empires which surrounded the Muslims. Also important to note is that the largest conquests of land were from the Byzantine empire whose established religious order held Islam to be a heresy and punishable by death.
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Also, if Islamic rule was really focused only on conversion, how would one explain that until this day there are still 10 million Christians in Egypt. Millions of Christians in Syria, many in Palestine and almost half of Lebanon who have lived under Muslim rule for centuries without the fear of some sort of sweeping conversion.

First of all there are more than a handful of Islamic followers in Australia wearing the Burka, that is the point.
Secondly it is not just a piece of cloth, it is a barrier.
It is also a requirement imposed by men on women, this is a cultural impost that has to be witnessed by liberated individuals in the west.
Women fought for centuries to have the vote , to drink in Public, and to drive yet here in Australia I have been traumatised personally by watching a couple eating a kebab whilst on holidays on the Gold Coast.
The traumatising factor was watching the poor woman having to eat the kebab with a full burka on whilst the man in shorts and shirt airily consumed his own kebab.
I was brought up watching women burn their bras on Tv being told women were equal beings, and now I witness the most oppressive form of domination imaginable , a woman having to eat beneath a burka so her body cannot be seen by those with" impure thoughts"?

Personally I feel defiled corrupted by witnessing this gross medieval behaviour , but no one cares about the effect of this retrogade norm amongst fundamentalists.

No as long as they can express their right to have women covered head to toe.

Imagine telling your Child why someone elses Mummy has to be cloaked.
We are all idiots to condone male imperialism , to this degree.

I think we do not have any business imposing our ideas of things on others. How do you know that woman did not enjoy eating her kebab? All to often we judge that our standard of how things should be done is universally applicable - this is just not the case.
Do not judge others unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.

reply to post by Chett

I respect your words , but has the woman walked a mile without the Burka ?
I know enough about onions Garlik and Chilli to know it is nicer eating without a blanket over my head.
It is a barbaric male domination tradition, its nothing to do with God.

reply to post by Dr Expired

consider this , due to the vast number of arranged marriages could it be that the men in these unions are ashamed of their partners , it is said that the wearing of a burka is to prevent other men from being tempted or having lustful thoughts.
but i think that the fact that the partner was chosen for them and not by mutual attraction must go a long way to explain the burka mind set .

Originally posted by Dr Expired


I was brought up watching women burn their bras
on Tv
being told women were equal beings,


The traumatizing factor . . .

If women were truly equal to men then why are there all male
sport teams ?
Contrary to your thinking, if they had a choice a good chunk of the
female population would rather be at home with the children instead of
being forced to work out of necessity. But many don't have a choice.
Make's one wonder why so many women are making the choice to
convert to Islam.
As for traumatizing, . . . makes me wonder how some kids get over the
trauma realizing that santa isn't real.

I don't know about it being a political tool, but I have just watched on tv here in Australia that a case has been dismissed in court due to the judge not being able to positively identify the accused. The woman in question was pulled over by a traffic cop for not correctly displaying a probationary drivers plate.
She went on a rant claiming the police officer was racist for pulling her over, and that he tried to pull the veil from her face. Unfortunately for her the entire event was captured on the police camera. She put in an official complaint against the officer. Due to the video evidence she was proven to have lodged a fraudulent claim, which should have landed her a 6 month stay in the big house.
She claimed that she did not submit the report. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. I guess nobody will know the real truth as her face was hidden the entire time.
When you go into a bank or some shops here, there are little signs on the door asking for helmets to be removed. This is done for identification.
What gives the wearer of a burka the right to blatantly disregard such a common practice.
If I was to visit a country where I had to cover up due to the countries rules/religious practice, then I would cover up out of respect.
Perhaps if people don't want to abide by the laws or culture of the country they have moved to, then maybe they should go back where they came from.

Oh that's right, they've come here for a better life.......... where they live the same as they did in their own country. Go figure.

Perhaps those who haven't witnessed the concentration of certain cultures into specific parts of cities in Australia would be naive enough to not consider that they are perhaps being subject to colonisation by stealth.

And perhaps the Burka is a symbol of that colonisation?

There are vocal proponents of sharia law in Australia, I wish the fundamentalists in every religion could take a step backward, and realise hate and war are the children of extremism.

And there is nothing more everyday extreme than having some women shuffling around in public covered head to toe in black cloth?

But that is just from someone who was brought up in the era of the Womens Liberation Front or movement ...where bras were burned.

What amazes me is you hear very little from the western women on this issue, its as if the issue doesn't exist, but imagin eif western born men ordered their wives to cover themselves in a hessian bag or something.

Its as if we have entered some impasse where we just watch our democratic tolerant society be hijacked by extremists, you know there are some very confused and angry , Australians who are asking "What is going on".

reply to post by Dr Expired


It's funny. Science fiction writers have long detailed their concepts of a form-hidding if not invisible veil/shielding device that people could envoke as they were out in public. Push you a little button on your belt device and Presto! you are shielded in some manner from the eyes all around you. And now some of those sneaky, other cultures have thought of it first, sorta.

Originally posted by Dr Expired
The traumatising factor was watching the poor
woman having to eat the kebab

What's more traumatizing is the over weight middle aged men whose
beer guts are all hanging out, or wear speedos'. That's enough to
scar any child for life. Should they all be arrested as well ?

If the west was free of misogyny moslem women would not feel obliged to wear the burkha.

We should not delude ourselves into feeling that we are so far above the “barbaric” Moslems. When clearly we are not. Sexual harassment and discrimination are alive and well in the land of the free.

The Burkha is also a symbol of cultural resistance in the face of rampant and irrational Islamophobia.

Originally posted by Dr Expired
Secondly it is not just a piece of cloth, it is a barrier.

And a very effective one when it comes to interfering with facial recognition software.

Originally posted by NuclearPaul

Originally posted by Dr Expired
Secondly it is not just a piece of cloth, it is a barrier.

And a very effective one when it comes to interfering with facial recognition software.

Now I like that, who says you must be muslim to wear a burka. Maybe something we should all think about

reply to post by ToneDeaf

No one said anything about arresting someone wearing a Burka, and hey Iam a bit overweight with a beer gut so thanks for the sexist type put down on all the male slobs like me out there, wait a minute....perhaps if all us fat beer gutted types wore burkas maybe we could fool all the beautiful people into letting us hang around ?

Yeah ugly people disguises so we don't offend the perfect humans? the Beerka?