Obviously, there is no harm in flogging a woman in public. It is in accordance with the laws indoctrinated by the Scripture and is aligned with the spirit of Islam. The objection on these simple and easy divine rules can only come from those people who are irrefutably the mental slaves of western culture. They are too ashamed to proclaim their Islamic heritage and be known as Muslims — the ‘chosen’ people on the right path. Muslims know that most women are unfaithful, credulous and gullible. They promote temptation; provoke worldly desires and indubitably jeopardise the faith of their fellow Muslim men. In a way, women can be regarded as an obstacle, a weapon in the hands of the devil and a tool to lure their male counterparts away from their destiny in paradise. Accordingly, the true followers have to be careful (paranoid) in putting their trust in the sobriety of their women. They have to be watchful (obsessed) about their characters (sisters, mothers and wives) all the time and should not hesitate to punish them harshly upon suspicion, even in the absence of indictable evidence. These views represent the undercurrent of many jihadi outfits, some radical Islamic organisations and a few fundamentalist religious groups. However, for evident reasons, they typically express their views in more palatable language and introduce many new, pleasant and agreeable phrases in order to hide their real (vicious) virtues. Therefore, they speak of delicacy of the female gender to denote weakness. They utter ‘fragility’ to point out the financial dependence of women in society and add beauty in reference to enticement and temptation. These elusive terms are coined to disillusion the common view about power of women and strip women of their fundamental rights that Islam unconditionally guarantees for them. We can easily recognise the support for a similar mindset in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; we have observed the same shameful Taliban perspective in Afghanistan, and then Pakistanis witnessed a glimpse of an identical cruel approach in the Swat valley. Nonetheless, these high moral standards of fragility, beauty and delicacy are maintained for women with olive skins and dark hair. The blonde-haired women of the west enjoy an entirely different level of appreciation. While the radicals enforce the strictest version of the implementation of Sharia’h on the ‘unattractive’ (to the fundamentalist)) Muslim women, Caucasian females are kept in high esteem; their beauty is considered unparalleled and a single glimpse of their anatomy is worth dying for. The jihadist who has a divine mission to accomplish in this world and is ready to make the highest sacrifice for the betterment of the Ummah is often caught by the agencies in a dark, filthy room, watching the golden, curly hair of Caucasian women, in their natural dress. In this regard, the deceitfulness, hypocrisy and duplicity of the radical are appalling. On the one hand, he flaunts his unadulterated faith and pretends to have overcome worldly desires, but on the other hand he is caught with shameful, pornographic material, in his privacy. We all remember that the maxim to catch a terrorist was to follow the money trail. It was to locate their bank accounts and keep records of the transactions made through them. But now, it has evolved to include monitoring of adult sites and downloadable, explicit material, in order to catch a terrorist. The inspiration of radicals in the pursuit of divine ideology comes from the top and then percolates into their lower orders. That is why the supreme commander of all jihadists, their source of spiritual motivation, Osama bin Laden — the man who gave up his multimillion-dollar empire — was killed in dubious circumstances. He was living with three wives and only 1,500 (R-Rated) foreign movies. Although it is true that the life of the polygamous terrorist was tough and not peaceful, with probable relentless bickering and politics of his wives, but it was comfortable enough to procreate and father five children in the last few years. Again, for his wives, he maintained the highest level of protection and cover, even if it endangered his life. They had absolutely no contact with the outside world and had to follow strict rules of engagement regarding males all the time. These laws were explicit and non-negotiable. But when it came to the blonde, young Americans, his heart melted, along with his belief in the divine laws. The laws were not very firm anymore. It is quite apparent, after the release of information about his personal belongings and the stash of DVDs, in his mind, if the evil of the United States was worth dying for, then the gorgeous American women were worth living for. The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com