from IDI Center
For the last 30 years, objective critical study of Islam has essentially been forbidden in Western academia. Most work is by those who haven’t studied Islamic law (sharia), much less Arabic, and most of that produced, somewhat understandably, focuses on jihad and terrorism.
However, as Muslims continue to mass migrate to the West and once well-ordered Western societies witness exponential increases in sex crimes, it has become imperative to study and critically assess sexuality within Islam.
The common misconception in the West is that Islam as an institution is sexually conservative; even repressive. This impression flows from the requirements of Muslim women to wear the hijab/niqab/burqa and to stone adulterers; however, this is highly misleading: the institution of Islam is hyper-sexualized with rape and sexual slavery central to Islamic law.
While it is true that the Qur’an requires Muslim women to draw cloaks around them, and that this has morphed into the requirement to don the hijab/niqab/burqa, the specific Qur’anic instruction requires this be done so that Muslim women ‘are recognized and not harmed’ (Surah Al-Azhab 33:59).
Thus, the theological requirement to wear the hijab etc. is not one of modesty per se but one of demarcation; it protects them from Muslim men and prevents them from ‘harm.’
Likewise, stoning adulterers applies to Muslim relationships. It is entirely lawful under sharia for Muslim men to rape slaves.