“A woman cannot wear bare face and hands, high heels, jeans or perfume, since the one who wears it is a fornicator” These statements were made at a conference organized in 2013 in Ceuta by the Spanish specialist of the Koran. Malik Ibn Benaïsa. And it is because of this phrase (according to him, the result of an error) that now all eyes are on the National Islamic Congress to be held in Torredembarra (Tarragona), on September 13, 14 and 15, to which Ibn Benaisa is invited as a speaker.
His presence is not the only one that worries the critics of this Congress. In the cycle of 16 conferences that will be spread over three days, Mohamed Siad Badaoui, a former resident of Reus (Tarragona), who will join the Congress electronically, is also participating: In 2022 he was expelled from Spain because he was considered by the National Police to be a danger to national security. by engaging in “pro-jihadist” activities, such as recruiting vulnerable minors.
Another speaker is Carlos Soldado, son of a local policeman from Mataró (Barcelona), later a confidant of the police in jihadist affairs and who ended up converting to Islam.
600 registrations
Already the Congress upon registration of 600 participants and, although it has been celebrated for about 20 years in different parts of the province, this is the first time that it has been fully developed in Spanish. Jamad Talhaoui, administrator of the Islamic community of Tarragona, affirms, in a conversation with EL ESPAÑOL, that the conferences will not be in Arabic to attract the “new generations” to Islam.
In the same vein, Siad Badaoui, the man expelled for jihadism, spoke before Congress, stating that “It’s time for young people to go to congress to learn more about Islam with great speakers and references.”
Talhaoui downplays the controversy sparked by the speakers and attributes it to the “far-right hate speech” which links “as far as possible, violence with Islam.” Furthermore, he specifies that Ibn Benaisa, the author of the controversial statements on fornication and women, said that he had not translated the context of the sentence correctly and that he had already apologized at the time for this intervention.
“I have lived in Tarragona for 24 years and I have never had any problems with anyone. This Congress has always taken place in complete normality.but now the extreme right wants to generate fear and hatred,” Talhaoui explains.
“Any woman who wears perfume is a fornicator.”
These disgusting words are those of the preacher Malik Benaisa in 2013, who also calls on women to wear the veil and to “lower their heads”.
On September 13, 14 and 15 he will participate in an Islamic congress in Tarragona. pic.twitter.com/hxD11LqFyS
– OɾιoƖ Sabata (@oriolsabata) September 4, 2024
“Capture”
On the other hand, for Hanan Serroukh, an ex-Muslim and activist against political Islam, these explanations are only justifications for holding a congress in which “will normalize the attack on fundamental rights and the development of women.” “With these speakers, it cannot be understood otherwise than as a challenge, a conscious provocation,” says the activist.
Serroukh, who will present his book in Madrid on September 26 Courage. The Price of Freedomin which he recounts his struggle against the impositions of Islam, also highlights that the fact that this holiday is celebrated in Spanish is a source of concern: “As has happened in France and other countries, in Spain, the recruitment of new generations of Muslims, already born hereNot only is it something that is beginning to take shape, but it is becoming visible.”
“This conference and its presentations are aimed at teaching how Muslims should be and the speakers have the experience they have. In Spain, there is currently a debate in Spanish about whether a woman can travel alone. and political leaders look the other way. The Sharia law that the Taliban want to impose is criticized from afar, but when they propose it in our neighborhoods, they cower,” Serroukh explains.
The Torredembarra City Council, in whose mosque the Congress has been held in recent years, has issued a statement to respond to the controversy in which “speeches such as those attributed to one of the speakers they have no place” in society. He also points out that the aforementioned speech was denounced and then archived “because Ibn Benaisa’s words were not considered a crime.”
On the other hand, the council stresses that there is no “no problem, no conflict” with the organizers of the Congress that will attract hundreds of Muslims from all over Spain to the city of Tarragona. “The council respects the right to freedom of association and expression, always within the limits set by current legislation.”
No political response
For Serroukh, however, the position of the city council is nothing more than the continuation of the political “collusion” in Spain with Islamism. “This is not a religious issue, but a political issue, which promotes a discourse that directly endangers our way of life” said the activist, referring to Congress.
Serroukh points out that this “collusion” is particularly serious in Catalonia, where “the social and political cracks generated by the independence movement in recent years have been exploited by Islamism to penetrate society.” “Nobody says anything because there is a calculation of votes in an autonomous community where there are already many municipalities that have more Muslim populations than local ones. And nothing is said either because nobody wants to be the first to admit the failure of immigration and multiculturalism,” because have been unable to generate a common framework for coexistence. Simply because it is not possible with Islam,” he said.
The only parliamentary group in the Catalan Chamber that has publicly requested that the Generalitat cancel the Congress is Vox. The councilor of Torredembarra and deputy of Tarragona, Javier Ramírez, has sent an official letter to the mayor of the city and the councilors of the autonomous government in which he considers “unacceptable” that a Congress is authorized where speakers will speak out against “the fundamental rights of women.”
