In a Religion News Network article that holds up anti-Israel, anti-American figures, such as Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Linda Sarsour, as role models for young Muslim women, Huron University College professor---and former president of the Islamist organization ISNA---Ingrid Mattson is quoted as blaming Islamic misogyny on (wait for it) colonialism, Christianity, and the U.S.
Claiming that “pre-modern Islamic society” offered up a bounty of “leadership roles” for Muslim women, Mattson alleges that colonialism forced Islam to adopt “the Western model of hierarchical bureaucracy, dominated by men.” This was further compounded, she maintains, by the “Americanization of Islam,” whereby “imams felt pressure to conform to the Christian model of clergy.”
Perhaps Mattson should take a page from true Islamic feminists, who look within for change, rather than trying to blame Islamism’s ills on the West.
