THE SHAMIMA BEGUM STORY - Islamic State and the Myth of the 'Islamic' headscarf

This Special Edition relates to author Omar Hussein Ibrahim's expose entitled The Myth of the 'Islamic' headscarf first published in 2008.

Shamima Begum and Islamic State shared many 'ideals' but the most obvious one was the fundamental necessity for a Muslim woman to cover the 'sexual appendage' of her hair.

Failure to do so would be severely punished, as to go 'half-naked' in public was a major sin in the eyes of God, was it not?

The fact that there is nothing in the Quran detailing this 'requirement' to cover a woman's hair in public, or that the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) on the subject are probably forged is ignored by Islamic State and their followers.

Indeed, so much else was ignored too. Good that they tried initially to defeat the barbaric Alawite regime of Syria's Bashar Al Assad but heinous for their perverted 'sidelines' of irreligious brutality and social perversion.

Misinterpretation of the scriptures on a grand scale was the order of the day.

Aged 15 a duped Shamima Begum from Bethnal Green in east London left England in 2015 to join her comrades in northern Syria - in what she expected would be an Islamic utopia.

It all went tits up (!) and now Ms Begum wants out and longs for a return to the U.K.

The Court of Appeal sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand decided in July 2020 that Ms Begum should be allowed back into the U.K to properly progress her alleged right to live in her home country.

If a private jet manages to bring her back to London she will, it seems, be able to remain for good - read overleaf the Times newspaper article by renowned former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption.

At least we will get to know Shamima Begum's motivations and influences in her wanting to join Islamic State.

This book will impress upon readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, that the foundation for Islamic State's treatment of women is the strict requirement to cover up everything except the face and hands and sometimes even the face too.

This absolutist injunction is fused with and is accompanied by many other agendas for eradicating what constitutes 'vice' and 'immorality' in mankind: the zealots say that music is a sin as it leads to intoxication of the soul as is the shaking of hands between unrelated members of the opposite sex just in case it progresses to fornication.

Mixing in public is forbidden: at weddings the men and women must be separated by a screen.

Celebrating birthdays is forbidden too.