Muslim arrogance evident at Harvard

WASHINGTON — If a writer were to make the ultimate satiric remark about Islam’s increasing presence in America, he would say something like, “And soon they’ll be having the ‘call to prayer’ in Harvard Square.”

Except, for those who have been paying attention, the line is neither ironic nor humorous: The call to prayer of a Muslim muezzin or priest was broadcast in Harvard Yard at the Widener Library in Cambridge several times in February, as well as on earlier occasions.

As well, the undergraduate college has this winter restricted one of the three largest gyms on its main campus to “women only” at special hours. The reason? Because a small group of Muslim women students felt that workout clothes violated the prescription that both sexes wear modest dress in shared environments.

I have been covering the Middle East since 1969 — always showing proper respect for the manners and customs of the people — and I have never seen young women in most of those countries hungering for athletics and workouts. Some of the most glorious beaches in the world are there, but you virtually never see a woman swimming at them.

Outside of Lebanon and a few other specific exceptions, as well as the new American universities being constructed (importantly) in liberal countries like Sharjah, there is no evidence of Muslim women students dying to exercise and keep themselves in shape.

So, what is going on here at America’s most iconic university that we should have these two rather strange events coming at the same time?

Arrogant Muslims

What we are seeing is a wave of arrogance sweeping into America with the wave of Muslim immigrants and students. One searches in vain for an individual or organized Muslim voice showing real respect or even a minimal liking for America or American customs.

Instead — and the Harvard situation is only one of many examples — the predominant attitude toward America is characterized by a sense of rights unrequited, and by an attitude of superiority that demands that we abide by Muslim wishes in place of our traditions.

And so now, in a country that prides itself on its separation of church and state, and which goes so absurdly far as to (in many cities) forbid the public display of the Christ child’s creche at Christmastime, we accommodate religious traditions from countries, most of which, do not even permit Christian worship. It is not clear yet why Harvard made this odd decision, but apparently the request by a handful of Muslim women students reached the Harvard College Women’s Center, and it was then decided that the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center, one of the college’s least used facilities, should be made available only to women on Mondays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The decision will be re-evaluated in June; meanwhile, both the gym restrictions and the calls to prayer have become the center of an ongoing firestorm of discussion and increasingly enraged protest.

Target of opprobrium

The United States is not alone, of course, as a target of opprobrium and barely veiled distaste on the part of Muslim students. The situation in Europe is even worse, with ever higher numbers of births among Muslim immigrants and with Islamic leaders there pushing for the building of huge mosques, often in the most sacred Christian areas.

Ironically, just as the historically warring Christian nations of Europe are succeeding in coming together as “one Europe” in the European Union, outsiders with little, if any, loyalty or liking for it threaten its unity anew.

What to make of all of this? In both America and Europe, the major problem, it must be said, is not the foreigners but America and Europe themselves. Both have essentially lost their grit in terms of protecting and defending their own principles and polities.

Universal Press Syndicate