US President Donald Trump’s first order banning on inbound travel from seven “Muslim countries” may have not have survived court judgments, but it has definitely encouraged some politicians to follow his lead.
In Australia, Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie is one of them.
Lambie pushed for deportation of all Muslims who follow sharia law when an audience member on an ABC’s Q&A talk show asked if it was time to define new rules for migration in order to maintain peace.
“Do you know what sharia law is?” interjected fellow panellist, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-born engineer and social advocate.
A shouting match ensued over its definition and women’s rights, with Abdel-Magied stating, “Islam to me is the most feminist religion. We got equal rights well before the Europeans. We don’t take our husbands’ last names because we ain’t their property.”
“My frustration is that people talk about Islam without knowing anything about it and they’re willing to completely negate any of my rights as a human being,” said Abdel-Magied after the ABC talk show Tony Jones’ intervention.
The Youth Without Borders founder went on to differentiate religion from culture and asserted her loyalty to Australian citizenzenship, to which the senator said, “Stop playing the victim. Your ban got lifted, get over it.”
Not the one to let someone else have the last word, Lambie posted a video on Monday to clarify her stance, opening with the phrase “Like most Australians, I’m not an expert on Sharia law,” but further went on to reinforce her lack of knowledge.
It really seemed that the ladies wanted more time at the debate to clarify their views.
On Tuesday, Abdel-Magied’s took Lambie’s cue to explain sharia law. She admits that while many Muslim countries do oppress their citizens and deny women basic rights, she doesn’t think that the fault lies with the sharia.
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