Simply anti-Islamic

The Freedom Party's constitutional spokesperson Michael Schilchegger speaks of a sad day for women's rights in Austria and warns that those forces that do not want to submit to Islam are being weakened. The General Secretary of the ÖVP, Nico Marchetti, goes even further: He fears that women will now also be degraded to second-class citizens here.

Both see the Western world, which is Christian-influenced but fortunately has been strongly influenced by the Enlightenment, ultimately going under; it has led to the democratic constitutional state with equality, self-determination, freedom of expression, and such things.

Is all this now supposed to be endangered? The feigned outrage is very telling. The issue is the "Sharia Verdict" of the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters, which made headlines across Europe this week. However, what was confirmed was not "hand chopping, stoning, or unilateral repudiation of wives," as legal scholar Ralph Janik sarcastically noted, or as Schilchegger and Marchetti claim.

What was confirmed was the ruling of an arbitration court based on Islamic law (Sharia) that related purely to financial matters between two men. The crucial point is that the ruling did not contradict Austrian fundamental values. In other words: Had it been "stoning!", the verdict would have been entirely different, of course.

Then the Regional Court for Civil Matters would certainly have opposed it. In international private law, it is explicitly stated: "A provision of foreign law is not to be applied if its application would lead to a result that is incompatible with the fundamental values of the Austrian legal system."

There is hardly a better protection against Islamization or a regression to the Middle Ages in the mentioned context. So: Just stay calm! Panic attacks are completely unnecessary. Or rather, they are staged and very telling: It has come to the point where anything related to Islam can only be bad from a blue and turquoise perspective.

Such coexistence is impossible. A cultural exchange, which could be enriching for both sides, is not possible. And unfortunately, not even when it would be completely harmless in the sense of being unobjectionable.

It is too transparent: It is simply about anti-Islamic agitation, which even the Catholic Church must disapprove of, as it is interested in interreligious exchange. It also harms moderate Muslims who want to live according to Austrian rules, as this blind campaign against Islam only further strengthens radical forces within its ranks.

Johannes Huber runs the blog dieSubstanz.at – Analyses and Backgrounds on Politics

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.