Is It Dhimmitude If It’s Their Country?

There’s a fascinating debate going on over at Michelle Malkin’s blog about Gwen Stefani’s decision to cover up during her recent performance there:

The 37-year-old pop star wowed fans in Muslim-majority Malaysia on Tuesday, performing in costumes that showed almost no skin after Islamic critics claimed that her revealing clothes could corrupt the country’s youth. She burst onto the stage wearing a black leotard under a white short-sleeved shirt and black-and-white striped hot pants suit, with black gloves up to her elbows.

“I am very inspired tonight,” Stefani told some 7,000 cheering fans at an indoor stadium.

She changed costumes for every song, remaining fully covered as she belted out tunes such as “The Sweet Escape,” “Rich Girl,” “Wind it Up” and “Hollaback Girl.” Stefani had promised to dress modestly after the 10,000-member National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students charged that her skimpy outfits and cheeky performances clashed with Islamic values. The opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party also accused her of promoting promiscuity and corrupting the country’s youth. In an interview with Galaxie, a local entertainment magazine, Stefani said she had made many changes for Malaysia, calling it a “major sacrifice.”

The story itself is… meh, whatever you make of it.  But in the comments, there’s a clear dividing line forming — and given Malkin’s audience, I doubt it’s a Liberal vs. Conservative debate.  And it’s a fair debate.

On the one hand, you have people condemning Stefani for caving into Islamic demands to cover up.  They call Gwen a dhimmi for doing what the Islamists want.  Their reasoning goes something like, “Gwen would never have agreed to demands by conservative Christians in the U.S. to be have more modestly, so for her to cave into Islamists is to subject herself voluntarily to shari’a law.”

On the other hand, you have people… not precisely defending Stefani… but making the point that she was over in Malaysia, not in the U.S., and was simply following that country’s laws and customs.  If Stefani were performing in Japan, maybe she’d bow to the audience before and after the show; no different, this, than simple practical politeness.  As one commenter by the name of gregorystephens put it:

It’s not that big of a deal. When you go to someone else’s home, you respect their customs. If you show respect in this world, you tend to get respect in return. I have no problem with the way Gwen Stefani dresses. As a matter of fact, I think she’s gorgeous and one of the classier women in the music business. But, she was in another country with different customs. We can say that “if you don’t like it, don’t go”. That works here in America, but not in other places.

So… it raises the interesting question of whether one can be a dhimmi if in an Islamic country, or if one is simply respecting the customs of a foreign culture.

The way I see it, the issue isn’t covering up once you’re in an Islamic country — it is whether you choose to go there in the first place.  I mean, whether you think it right or wrong, if you go to another country, you are subjecting yourself to the laws and customs of that country.  If you choose to flout those laws, then you are in the wrong — legally speaking at least.

The accusation of dhimmitude is… off the mark.  After all, she is a dhimmi when she goes to Malaysia since she is no Muslim, and Malaysia has shari’a law on its books.  Therefore, she is subject to shari’a law whether she likes it or not.

What her critics appear to want is resistance on the part of Ms. Stefani — the same resistance that she would offer, no doubt, if a Southern Baptist group criticized her for immodesty here in the States.  She would presumably give them the finger and do what she wants.  They’re disturbed then that she doesn’t give the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students the same finger.  Why the deference to Islamic demands, while defying Christian demands?

That’s off-base because the issue is one of laws and customs.  If the United States adopted an explicitly religious legal system, then she breaks those laws at her own peril.  After all, if she molested a young boy on stage as part of her act, no matter what her claims of “artistic expression”, she would be headed to jail.  That’s against our laws and customs.

So the issue really is… is it dhimmitude for Stefani to choose to go to Malaysia in the first place once confronted with demands that are against her customs and values?

My answer is a qualified yes.  To compromise one’s own principles is in fact submission.  If Stefani’s artistic expression is intricately tied to exposing her bellybutton for some philosophical or principled reason, then for her to cover up is in fact submission.  This is different, I think, than obeying the laws and customs of another country — this is acknowledging the superiority or dominance of another’s philosophy or principle over one’s own.  For a feminist deeply committed to the cause of gender equality, for example, to submit to shari’a restrictions would be dhimmitude.  His or her choice then is simply not to go to nations where gender inequality is enshrined in the laws and customs.

Thankfully, we need not agonize over whether Stefani submitted or not by going to Malaysia, for the simple fact that she has no principles that are being attacked here.  She has no principled stance on fashion, no principled stance on feminism, no principled stance on gender equality — she’s a frikkin pop star at the end of the day, who is interested only in money and fame.  I suspect she’d go entertain Arab sheikhs with multiple wives for enough money and exposure.  I suspect that she believes in nothing — as is typical with the West.

For a lack of principle to submit to a held principle (no matter how odious) cannot seriously be called dhimmitude.

And that is in fact the weakness of the West today — it believes in nothing.  And it is attempting to combat a fanatical belief system that encompasses religion, politics, and culture.  With what?  Empty rhetoric about multiculturalism and respecting diversity?  Those aren’t beliefs — they are statements of non-belief.  For an atheist to mouth prayers is no submission — it’s all just mystical mumbo-jumbo anyway, right?

Consider it an absolution of sorts: Gwen Stefani, you are no dhimmi, because you believe nothing in the first place.

-TS