‘Muslim men think they have a God-given right to beat their wives’

SHORTLY before Muslims vandals attacked a London art gallery featuring an exhibition of paintings by Sussex artist Sarah Maple, a gallery in Chicago ran into trouble with an exhibition of photographs by Iranian artist Amir Normandi.

We learned of the incident at the weekend when we looking for a picture to illustrate a story from the Telegraph, headed “Muslim men ‘think they have God-given right to beat wives’, claims female Muslim medic”.

A search of the internet yielded the telling photograph above by Normandi – and it then came to light that another of his photographs, “True You” had to be removed from the Pilsen gallery in mid-October after threats – no doubt from Muslims – had been received

Normandi – who sparked outrage in 2005 at Chicago’s Harper College when some Muslim students objected to his photos – specialises in provocative shots of women wearing hijabs to protest the forced veiling of Muslim women.

A cropped version of True You, which sparked a censorship row in Chicago

Normandi objected when the gallery placed a covering over the woman’s breasts and he removed his work  He later agreed to return the photo for exhibition in a less visible area. You can see the artist complaining about censorship in this video.

Back now to the Telegraph report.

According to Martin Beckford, the paper’s Religious Affairs correspondent, Fatima Husain, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology, has told how she sees Muslim women coming for treatment with strangle marks around their necks and bruises on their pregnant bumps.

She also claimed that problems develop because many followers of Islam are fearful of discussing sex, contraception and infertility.

Dr Husain, who works at Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals in Berkshire, told the Muslim News that many women ask to be referred to her specialist clinics because she is a hijab-wearing Muslim, allowing her to discover the true scale of domestic violence in her religious community.

She said:

I’ve seen injuries on some of my patients that I wouldn’t dream would happen to pregnant women. I’ve seen strangle marks, finger marks on their necks and bruises on their pregnant abdomens.

Domestic violence is supposedly equally divided amongst the various groups but I get the impression it is more common in Muslims. Some Muslim men think they have a God-given right to be physically violent to their spouses. I see the result of all this when they are admitted as my patients.