Dr. Sherif Emil is absolutely correct.
His point about the hijab being “an instrument of oppression” is verified in Iran and other Sharia-adherent countries.
Female coverings originate from women’s position of inferiority, as stipulated in the Quran (contrary to those who insist that female coverings are “cultural”):
(Quran 24:31) And tell the believing women to reduce of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.
If a woman does not cover, she is fair game to be assaulted:
(Quran 33:59) O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused.
This position is not only “oppressive,” but abusive as well.
Yet woe be unto anyone who states the truth about Islam in once-free societies such as Canada. They’re deemed “Islamophobic” and attacked by lobbies such as the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which helped advance a definition of “Islamophobia” for the Toronto District School Board:
Fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or toward Islamic politics or culture.
The NCCM –formerly CAIR-CAN — weighed in predictably about Dr. Emil’s article:
The Quebec Advocacy Officer for the NCCM, Lina El Bakir, said this type of article being published in a reputable journal is “infuriating.”
What’s “infuriating” is the NCCM’s interference with and stifling of the truth.
NCCM is also a recipient of Canadian taxpayer funds, in a 23-million-dollar Liberal government package associated with anti-Islamophobia motion M-103, which is supposedly designed to crack down on “hate.”
The Quebec Advocacy Officer for the NCCM, Lina El Bakir, went on an excessive tirade about “Islamophobia” and bigotry, all because of Dr. Emil’s statement about the hijab. She even raised the tragic deaths of four London, Ontario Muslims who were run over by a vehicle driven by a non-Muslim named Nathaniel Veltman.
“Online hate becomes real life violence,” El Bakir added calling back to the deadly attack on a Muslim family in London earlier this year and the Quebec mosque shootings in 2017.
It isn’t clear whether she is accusing Dr. Emil of “hate” merely for enunciating the truth about the hijab. As tragic as the mosque shootings and the deaths of the Muslim family were, so also is the genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent Christians, murdered indiscriminately by jihadis in Africa and the Middle East, not to mention the victims of jihad attacks on the West. Two police officers were run over by a Muslim right after the London incident, leaving one dead. But that murder was given little attention by the media and politicians; a court mysteriously imposed an information ban on the first-degree murder charge against Umar Zameer, right before an “Islamophobia” summit.
No, Lina El Bakir, all Muslims will not be targeted for crimes in Canada because Dr. Emil criticized the hijab as “oppressive.”
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has done the politically correct thing and “apologized for the publication on Twitter and is ‘listening carefully to the critical feedback we’ve received.’” Too bad it does not listen to the cries of the countless women who have been jailed, assaulted, or murdered for choosing not to wear the hijab in Sharia-adherent countries.
As the West continues to lose its freedoms, the Muslim Medical Association of Canada (MMAC) is calling for an investigation of Dr. Emil. The bullying of Dr. Emil for offending Islam is absurd and reprehensible.
“Doctor calls hijab ‘instrument of oppression’ in medical journal article,” by Faiza Amin and Meredith Bond, CityNews Toronto, December 22, 2021:
Canada’s largest medical journal is under fire for allowing an article to be published by a doctor in which he calls the hijab “an instrument of oppression.”
Dr. Sherif Emil, a pediatric surgeon and professor at McGill University, was reacting to a photo published on the cover of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) in which a young girl was wearing a a hijab.
In Dr. Emil’s article, also published in CMAJ, titled “Don’t use an instrument of oppression as a symbol of diversity and inclusion,” he explains he was only drawn to the article due to the image that accompanied it.
“It has become “liberal” to see the hijab as a symbol of equity, diversity and inclusion,” wrote Dr. Emil.
“The hijab, the niqab and the burka are … instruments of oppression for millions of girls and women around the world who are not allowed to make a choice,” he said.
The article Emil was referring to was titled, “Implementing social interventions in primary care,” and discusses how “social interventions offer an important means to mitigate threats to individual and community health posed by adverse social conditions.”
Dr. Emil claims it’s ironic this article uses a young girl with a hijab to talk about social risks of health as “the one depicted in the image is typically also banned from riding a bike, swimming or participating in other activities that characterize a healthy childhood. She is taught, directly or indirectly, from an early age that she is a sexual object, and it is her responsibility to hide her features from the opposite sex.”
“A heavy burden for modesty is placed squarely on her shoulders. So many women have been traumatized by such an upbringing, which, I believe, frankly borders on child abuse,” the article continues.
Dr. Emil’s article immediately sparked criticism online with the National Council of Canadian Muslims calling for an immediate retraction of the article.
CMAJ has since apologized for the publication on Twitter and is “listening carefully to the critical feedback we’ve received.”
The editor of the article, Kristen Patrick, also apologized online and took “full responsibility” for it being published in CMAJ.
“The letter’s title suggests that the hijab is unequivocally an instrument of oppression; that is wrong, hurtful and offensive. I take full responsibility for the headline. As an editor I know the power of words and that is my error,” her tweet read in part.
Patrick added she has spoken with the COO of the NCCM and will continue to meet with Canadian Muslim women to listen to their feedback.
The Quebec Advocacy Officer for the NCCM, Lina El Bakir, said this type of article being published in a reputable journal is “infuriating.”
“[The article] contributes to dangerously harmful stereotypes about a demographic that has been targeted by some of the most violent forms of Islamophobia in this country,” said El Bakir.
“The hijab is a choice and religious freedom is important. While we agree that there is a place to talk about different job experiences, the article engages in broad generalization and blatant stereotypes. And it is really irresponsible for the journal to have published something like that,” she explained.
“Online hate becomes real life violence,” El Bakir added calling back to the deadly attack on a Muslim family in London earlier this year and the Quebec mosque shootings in 2017.
El Bakir said it comes at an especially tough time for physicians in general during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need physicians, we need people that are ready to work, especially in the time of a pandemic and these kinds of articles just break them.”
Muslim Medical Association of Canada (MMAC) Vice-President Dr. Asma Amjad said their members have called this article, “the most misogynistic and Islamophobic piece of literature that they have read in a medical journal.”
“It’s highly judgmental … [and] highly disturbing. We are not only appalled but truly disgusted,” said Dr. Amjad. “The article is equating a child wearing a hijab as being abused, as being a sexual object, that the hijab is oppressive, that those who choose to wear the hijab don’t belong in a diverse, inclusive society.”
The MMAC represents over a thousand Muslim medical professionals in Canada and Dr. Amjad is concerned what the real-life impact and ripple effect this article will have for them.
“Physicians, health care workers, we probably feel just a little bit less safe. Maybe we feel a little bit more danger. We’re already struggling with Islamophobic ideation around the world and in Canada itself, but this probably leads to a little bit more, feeling a little bit less welcome in Canada,” Dr. Amjad added.
The MMAC is calling for an investigation of Dr. Emil.
“We are getting feedback that our trainees may not be comfortable, other colleagues may not be comfortable working with this person,” said Dr. Amjad. “We’re also concerned about the patients he’s seeing, whether these patients are being subjugated to this bias that he holds. So this is also very concerning, and all of these things need to be investigated.”…
mike says
By Western standards the Doctor is 1000000% correct when Islam say that woman must obey men because woman spend there money will let me put it this way. Yes woman may spend your money to feed you rise your children cloth your children make you a home do all the things that make a man comfortable. Men refuse to let woman work woman will do a far better job of then men in 80% of the jobs So Islam suppress woman. When will woman finally stand up to the jailers for any NON Muslim am I wrong?. By the way I’m one of those men and my woman is my partner and we are a TEAM
gravenimage says
Hear, hear, Mike!
Et si... says
The Muslim Arab woman is there to give birth to lazy illiterates to invade the world and live in the pay of the native taxpayers!
It is not made for the job!
Kesselman says
Islam and its adherers are not to believe in most matters. They skew and wrinkle issues to confuse themselves and most others. I’ll not put a dime to their trustfulness. When confronted with pure facts they deny up your open face.—I know, I’m generalizing here but in most cases I’m right.
Violet C says
If this doctor works in my city, I’ll definitely use his services and I’ll help in any way I can to put an end to these anti-western groups, media & politicians. If we want to keep our way of life which took a thousand years of trial & error, lives, time & labor, then we have to do something to protect it. All these people who came to our country for asylum and now dump all over us with the help of many fools.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
If the hijab fits, wear it.
WPM says
The doctor speaks the truth ,truth is hate speech in much of in much of the western world today . Forcing women at birth into second class citizens till the day they die is the real “hate crime” .Married them off to men in their 50s while the girls have not even reached puberty is the real “hate crime”. Moslem parents, brothers, sisters ,grandparents Murdering their daughters or wives or girl friends who have become too westernized in Honor killings is the true ‘hate crime”. FGM of many young females in the religion of Islam is the “true hate crime”. This starts with sexualizing young girls before puberty teaching them not to be “uncovered meat” because the males outside of family in Islam have no control or moral obligation not to sexual attack any uncovered female from infant to an 90 year old great grandma who is not also guarded and escorted at all times by a male relative according to Sharia law. Sharia law practice fully is putting women in Islam in a position of being slaves their whole lives being owned by male relatives ,if the women reject the ownership they are either “honor killed” or forced into sexual slavery.. Islam is one of the worlds oldest largest cults that is very hard on women stuck in it in my opinion. CAIR no matter how it rebrands itself promotes censoring free speech and free though ,trying to cancel it and make anyone pointing out the truth unemployed .The MSM ,progressive leaders all make good boot lickers serving and advancing CAIRS anti western, anti Christian, anti-Semitic, they do not see they will be the first to be killed or imprison if CAIR put full Sharia law into effect in the society they live in to day.
somehistory says
They…the fools for islam….claim that wearing the hee jab…is a “choice.” They put them on little girls hardly old enough to walk….this is a “choice” of the male members of the family, not that of the child.
And, they should ask some of the girls murdered by their fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands, for not wanting to wear it…Wait, they can’t ask them because they are **dead** due to their “choice” being forbidden.
The editor who “apologized” should be ashamed. It is not “wrong” to point out the Truth and what the doctor wrote is True. This fool just aids the mozlum male in his oppression of the female…young and older.
Disgusting words from both the editor and all of the mozlum scum who lie.
Walter Siwruk says
They just can’t tolerate to have or hear the truth being spoken.
Michael Copeland says
Remember, Canadians, the muslim girl of 16 in Mississauga, Ontario, who, indeed, did not want to wear the hijab, but, sure enough, was “not allowed to make a choice,”
Her name was Aqsa Parvez.
Her father and brother strangled her with the hijab she did not want to wear.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Michael. This terrible case was covered widely here at Jihad Watch.
rubiconcrest says
Islam is an oppressive belief system for the individual. This is the second rotting pillar of Islam the first being freedom of speech. Muslims naturally understand individual rights. People gravitate to doing, thinking what they want and being treated equally. They understand this instinctively. But Islam denies them those natural rights not out of strength but out of fear and control. Muslims in growing numbers know this. The truth of cannot be denied.
Keith O says
“online hate becomes real world violence”
I thought it was the other way around!
Sane sensible people are reacting to the extreme violence of islam out of frustration and fear for their lives and the future of their children.
No amount of whitewashing and gaslighting from Mudslimes will change that until they change.
gravenimage says
Canada: Muslim lobbies enraged over doctor calling hijab ‘instrument of oppression’
……………
Can they refute what Dr. Sherif Emil says? Of course not. But truth needs little these days.
PRCS says
Regarding “the veil”, there are at least five issues:
1. Its primary purpose, per Qur’an 33:59, is not to oppress adult Muslim women. On the contrary, it identifies them from “unbelieving” women as free and chaste (i.e., not filthy riffraff).
It is an overt, nonverbal expression of Islamic superiority.
In that regard, the Doctor is wrong.
2. Its secondary, so-called modesty purpose, per Qur’an 24:31, DOES oppress the behavior of adult Muslim women (failing to protect their “ornaments” from the gaze of a lengthy list of nonfamily members) or anything else (like riding a bike) that would suggest she’s seeking attention from men.
The Doctor is correct here, with a caveat. Muslim women need not conceal those “ornaments” from their slaves and eunuchs.
3. Did I mention that it’s for adult women?
This is the Nov 8, 2021 CMAJ cover photo:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/1850170/canadian-medical-journal-to-retract-letter-calling-hijabs-an-instrument-of-oppression
Maajid Nawas once said, “There’s absolutely no scripture even alluding to this for prepubescent girls, not even a passage that can be weakly misinterpreted. All that exists is fundamentalist zealotry.”
The Muslim child in that picture is a prepubescent little girl, not a woman. That given, the Doctor is correct.
*Of note, whose gaze does the veil hide her “charms” from, and at what point in her life will she realize she’s superior to her “unbelieving” classmates?
4. Muslims are outraged by the Doctor’s assertions because he’s been brave enough to state them–publicly.
5. The other physicians are uninformed, too afraid, or both, to back him up.
James Lincoln says
This is despicable, the physician letter writer was 100% correct.
I found this from the Canadian Medical Association Journal website:
The letter “Don’t use an instrument of oppression as a symbol of diversity and inclusion” (DOI:https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.80742; author: Sherif Emil)1 published in the Dec. 20, 2021, issue of CMAJ has been retracted by the interim editor-in-chief of CMAJ because the editorial process for the article was flawed and biased, and the letter should not have been published.
CMAJ acknowledges and is deeply sorry for the considerable hurt that many people across Canada have experienced from reading this letter. A formal apology from the interim editor-in-chief has been published at https://www.cmaj.ca/content/193/51/E1935.
I sincerely apologize on behalf of the CMAJ for my error in publishing the letter by Dr. Sherif Emil, which did not contain appropriate subject matter for publication by the CMAJ and which has disgusted many readers across Canada. I sincerely apologize for the considerable hurt that so many people, including medical colleagues and learners, have experienced from reading the letter. I take full responsibility for the inadequacy of editorial process that led to this error. Furthermore, I should point out that the title of the letter was authored by the CMAJ and was not the responsibility of Dr. Emil.
CMAJ is formally retracting the letter, which will include removal of all text except for the title and author information.
The CMAJ’s Editorial Advisory Board, on whom some critics have called to account for the letter’s publication, are never involved in the selection of articles, including letters, for publication.
CMAJ will always respect and support the right of women to choose to dress as they wish.
Further, CMAJ editors will urgently review the journal’s processes for considering, reviewing and publishing submitted letters; we will act to ensure proper rigour through a process that seeks to reduce bias, with necessary checks and balances.
In March 2021, I committed the CMAJ to antiracism (https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.210494), which included commitments to ensuring diverse representation on the editorial team and advisory bodies at the journal. Representation of Canada’s Muslim community is currently lacking on our advisory bodies, and I shall seek to remedy this. My March editorial also called on readers to hold me and CMAJ accountable. You have again called on us to do better on tackling bias and structural change at the journal. While it’s clear that CMAJ may have lost the trust of many stakeholders this week, I hope that with humility and action we can earn it back.
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/193/51/E1936
PRCS says
James, I have to disagree. See my post just above yours.
Dr. Sherif Emil needs to read up on Qur’an 33:50 and 24:31 as he’s off-base on several key points.
And, of course, the CMAJ staff, if they know anything about it at all, is pandering to the Muslim mob.
Per Qur’an 23:59, the “veil” does not oppress Muslim women. It is a non-verbal expression of a Muslim woman’s superiority over “unbelieving” women. It remains an insult to every non-Muslim woman–to this day.
gravenimage says
PRCS, it is both. The Hijab is a symbol of Muslim supremacism over the Inifidel, and an indication of who can be molested with impunity–non-veiled women. But it is also a symbol of the inferiority of women–they are “Awra”–unclean–and have to be covered.
Et si... says
Pas contents? Qu’ils aillent faire la loi chez eux!
CANADIENS! Réveillez-vous! Mais faut rêver vu le vote pour Trudeau!? On aurait dit qu’il n’y a plus d’hommes valables au Canada que Trudeau le fossoyeur du Canada!
Et si... says
MERRY CHRISTMAS
gravenimage says
Joyeux Noël!