A Catalan-based author of Moroccan origin is facing heat from both Muslim NGOs and the Spanish left for critical comments she made about the status of women in Islam after a speech given at the start of a Barcelona cultural fair.
Najat El Hachmi, a Moroccan-born novelist earned the ire of multiple Islamic organisations for remarks highlighting patriarchal attitudes within Spain’s 2,3 million strong Muslim community during a prestigious inaugural speech at Barcelona’s Festes de la Mercè late last month.
“Are you uncomfortable if I explain to you that there are girls in this city who cannot learn anything or go hiking?” proclaimed El Hachmi from a podium in city hall as she gave the festival’s traditional opening speech in front of the city’s mayor and other officials.
An accomplished author and journalist, El Hachmi moved to Spain at age seven before having a successful academic and literary career with novels that focus on her dual identity and native Morocco. Her 2008 novel L’últim patriarca (The Last Patriarch) earned literary acclaim for challenging misogynist attitudes faced by women in Morocco. She had previously voiced her opposition to the wearing of Islamic face veils within Spanish schools.
Three Islamic organisations have signed an open letter to the city’s socialist mayor Jaume Collboni asking for the author to be taken to task for her comments about Islam, labelling El Hachmi as ‘Islamophobic.’
Left-wing groups had already tried to deplatform El Hachmi before she made the oration due to her previous statements on transgender legislation. The author also referenced the rise of “identity fundamentalism” within the Islamic community since the 1980s and the plight of cousin marriage in her Barcelona speech.
Approximately 8.1% of Catalonia is Muslim, primarily consisting of first- and second-generation Pakistanis and Moroccans. In 2017, 14 people perished in an Islamist attack on Barcelona’s primary thoroughfare Las Ramblas.
Prominent figures in the region’s literary scene and even the nationalist party VOX have rallied to El Hachmi’s defence as many fear that the incident could be the start of Spain’s very own clash between free speech and Islam.
The question of criticism of Islam has been topical of late in Europe propelled by rioting in Sweden over the burning of the Koran with the incident sparking a diplomatic spat with the Islamic world and Stockholm led by Turkey.
