Thank you for your nicely, well considered comment.

I think it's discourteous to put feet up on public seats wearing shoes, which is wh I took my shoes off. I also started to move my feet off the seat but the son indicated he di not mind. It was a wide four person seat.

Anyway, we are in agreement that there are laws relating to decency and respect, that are universal.

I have taught in colleges for many years in the UK. Much. of my energy and time was taken up with female studentsfrom Muslim households in crisis situations. Often the wife had no other person in the country to turn to, when her Muslim husband, (going to nightclubs and having white girlfriends) was abusive, mother in law, did not let her use the washing machine, but she had to wash all the family's clothes by hand, ... just th double standard of morality was a horror.

Several times I ended up sheltering such a studnt in my own home, as going to a woman's shelter brought tears to their eyes as they would be labelled, ' prostitute'.

I could give a hundred examples of the double standards... that seems to prevail...

You can't be unaware of the number of cases where a young woman who wanted to study, rather than marry her cousin at age 16, has been tortured and murdered by father, uncles , cousins...

It is unacceptable of you to impute motives and intentions to me... Certainly, I have no interest in playing to the Euro-American audience and in fact, most of my writing consists of critiques relating to their self-promoting notion of being 'developed' or 'advanced' societies in relation to the societies they have invaded, exploited etc etc..

As an undergraduate, I jeopardised my career prospects for ever, by the dissertation I wrote which challenged the Eurocentric nature of Western philosophers... so I disagree that I are a Western polished mind (!)

I am not saying there are not decent muslims who apply humane values, but they are sadly not the dominant voices in Muslim communities. Bigotry, and a fascistic suppression of women has grown, and taken root. Males, by and large, want the privileges while refusing to accept the concomitant responsibilities for they wives, sisters aunts and daughters.

I wonder what would happen to anyone reciting poetry like that written by Al-Maari, the blind Syrian philosopher from a millennium ago? The Muslim Ummah has degenerated to such a degree that such a person would be stabbed to death, rather than venerated.