Hassan Al-Thawadi, the head of Qatar’s World Cup organising committee, has accused teams who wanted to wear the OneLove armband of sending a “very divisive message” to the Islamic and Arab world. He said he had an “issue” with the armband because he saw it as a protest against Islamic values and an Islamic country hosting such a major event. Well, yes… and yes. From my perspective, I have no problem with the “Arab world”. My misgivings are focused, instead, on some of the more problematic “values” of Islam. Why? Because they date from the 7th century CE, and it’s high time they were brought up to date.
The cry of “Islamophobia” is heard so often that we may fail to notice that there is no obvious mechanism for Muslims to review the tenets of their religion (and that Muslims are not actively looking for one). When was the last time a Muslim spokesman said “You know, you may be right: we need to take a long, hard look at some of the more problematic aspects of Islam”? No, I can’t remember either.
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