MP defends Muslim wedding walkout

A government minister has defended his decision to walk out of a Muslim wedding in east London because he was told he must sit apart from his wife. Jim Fitzpatrick, food, farming and environment minister, left a ceremony at London Muslim Centre, Whitechapel.

.... a spokesman for the centre said the segregation was at the request of the couple getting married. Mr Fitzpatrick, whose constituency is home to a large Muslim community, blamed the tough stance on the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) - an organisation that calls for Sharia law - which is based in the same building. [BBC] Read more See Also: [Harry's Place] Read See Also: [BBC] Read

Jim Fitzpatrick Gets it Wrong on Gender Segregation and the East London Mosque Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Canning town was offended this week when he was asked to sit separately from his wife at a private Muslim wedding. He has taken the wrong fight to the right people. [Standpoint] Read more

An ungodly row with no respect on either side .... The separation, veiling and hiding of Muslim women .... is a troubling reflection of a tradition .... of giving women inferior status in property, marriage, divorce and self-determination. Also, like the niqab or burka covering the face, it carries an atavistic undertone of sexual suspicion that is equally offensive to men: as if one glimpse of bright hair or bare arm would provoke them to rape. [Times Online] Read more