Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah's message

Nausheen wrote: I refrained many years but their extremism is beyond me now. Sorry if anyone else is offended, but I don't care if they are.

Perhaps in these days of fitna upon our religious community, which has enveloped all Muslims, notwithstanding our many differing religious practices, and nomenclature with which we commonly refer to one another, maybe we should take a step back and concentrate on being just Muslim. Sectarianism is proving to be a dangerous slippery slope. Let us just keep it simple.

In an authentic hadith, a man asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, 'If I perform the obligatory prayers, fast in Ramadan, treat as lawful that which is permissible, and forbidden that which is haram, and do not increase upon that, then shall I enter Paradise? The Prophet replied, 'Yes.'
     
In a similar narration: A man asked, 'tell me what I can do to enter paradise?' The Prophet, peace be upon him said, 'Worship Allah and do not associate partners, establish salat, give zakat and fast during Ramadan.' The man said, 'I will not increase anything from this and will not decrease anything.'   The Prophet, peace be upon him said, 'If anyone is pleased to see a person from Paradise then look to that man.'
Hopefully we can all agree upon this.

Nausheen wrote: I'd rather run a word of caution amongst mulims against identifying themselves in the ranks of those who adhere to such demeanors. Therefore nomenclature is more important than ever before.

If that's the case, than my opinion is to be careful not to overgeneralize, and be as specific as possible, keeping in mind that your definition and frame of reference of a "wahabi" may not hold the same meaning and understanding for other readers. Frankly speaking, I think such discussions are more appropriately handled by qualified scholars and not laity. Rhetoric has consequences, and the scholars of our religion are protected when applying themselves yet making a mistake. And Allah Knows Best.   

Ron, once a person from any faith lives here in the west, presumably they have equality under the law. Cultural norms and religious laws are not the same. If a woman chooses to adhere here religion she has that right and especially in a democratic society. Calling her backwards for doing so only reflects your personal bias. This weekend, in my city, there is an underwear-walk-a-thon for charity, where participants walk only in their undies; culturally progressive?

Ron Webb wrote: If a Muslim woman wants to distance herself from extremist interpretations of Islam, and express solidarity with women who are oppressed by them, then I can think of no better way to do so than to choose not to wear a hijab. I applaud Queen Rania for her principled stand for women's rights.

A samll note: A couple of weeks ago, when Queen Rania went to give her condolences to the female members of the family of the pilot who was burnt by ISIS, she was covering her head. Remarkably all women in that group were wearing a hijab. She not only not distanced herself from them, rather respected their 'culture'.
I respect her for this show of solidarity.