Mick Hartley

Following on from yesterday's post on the morality police in Germany:

When I say that Germany has its own “morality police,” I am referring to the so-called “Sharia Police,” self-appointed enforcers of Sharia law.

Since I published the video of a Muslim man harassing two women for not wearing “proper” clothing, I have received direct messages… https://t.co/KERrQBaqU6 pic.twitter.com/ZhkJOKeadk

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) September 2, 2024

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Full text:

When I say that Germany has its own “morality police,” I am referring to the so-called “Sharia Police,” self-appointed enforcers of Sharia law.

Since I published the video of a Muslim man harassing two women for not wearing “proper” clothing, I have received direct messages from many Iranian women, particularly from academia. They share the same concerns about these morality enforcers in European countries but are often silenced and labeled Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, or right-wing.

Whether we like it or not, these Sharia or morality police known as “Amr bi al-maruf” a collective duty of Muslims to encourage righteous behavior and discourage immorality, exist in many European countries. Often linked to mosques, they impose their version of religious law, targeting women and girls for not wearing the “proper hijab.” This mirrors the experiences of women in Iran. In Iran, when Sharia Police violently harass women for not covering their hair, officials often mislead the world by claiming these are just religious groups, not the official police.

Sources in the Muslim community in Germany report that these so-called Sharia Police have appeared in cities like Wuppertal and Berlin, harassing women under the guise of promoting hijab and Sharia laws. This issue extends beyond isolated incidents, with moral enforcers emerging in schools and neighborhoods with Muslim majorities.

Our investigative work is crucial in sparking necessary conversations and actions. I’m confident that if journalists in Germany raise their voices and conduct thorough reports, it will compel the authorities to act. I recall when we urged the German government to shut down the Islamic centers. Initially, we were labeled, but eventually, the government recognized the links to terrorism and regimes like the Islamic Republic. We must continue exposing these threats.

I've no idea if this type of Sharia policing on the street goes on here in the UK (though there was the recent case of a man who assaulted three women in Bradford, calling them "prostitutes" for not wearing traditional dress) but of course the pressure on many Muslim women – from mosques, in their homes – to conform to Islamic dress codes, with hijab or even the niqab, is part of this same dynamic of threats to women if they don't accept their assigned subservience.