Howdy Tom,

I realize that yer sincere in yer intent,but you are way off base,back in the 80's,I got a crash course in Islam,wahhabism and sharia law,when I went to work in Saudi,drillin water wells for em.

It works like this,if a woman is caught on the street without her burkha,she will be beaten all the way to prison,it ain't a choice--it's a requirement. They even made our women soldiers in DS1,wear dang burkha's of base. Wearing a burkha,has nothing to do with freedom of choice..and everything to do with oppression and brutality and the extreme denial of women's rights. Also,if you continue to say hello to muslim women wearing burkhas,there's a good chance that they will be beaten,when they git home,if one of the 'holy men' are spying on them,like they do in Saudi. If us roughnecks had said anything to a woman in Saudi,out of a gesture of friendliness,we'd have both been thrown in jail,we weren't even allowed to look at them.

So you see,the burkha is a symbol of brutal oppresion at the hands of muslim males..not some kind of religious freedom. As for their ceremonial knives,daggers and swords,all the ones I saw in Saudi,were fully functional and sharp as a razor. When I first set foot in Saudi,I had to walk down a double-line of guards,all carrying daggers and swords on them,along with sub-machine guns..I was later told,that if they had to kill me for some reason,that they'd rather pull out their ceremonial dagger or sword,than use their machine guns.

You need to do some reading up on wahhabism and sharia law.

Have a good one ....