I REFER to Mr. Abu Bakr’s excursions into the reasons for rape into which he mixes up the Holy Quran, and which excursions were carried in the media. Abu Bakr, as one of our Black Muslim compatriots who joined up the faith in Guyana before emigrating and finally settling in France, got his Islam with an Asian flavour.

If Abu Bakr had gotten his Islam from native African sources he would have had a broader and better feel for the universality of the faith. [In parenthesis, Boko Haram in Nigeria is much more Asian and Al Quaida in its orientation than African].
It is this Asian flavour to his Islam which leads Abu Bakr, like the Taliban, to project all kinds of things into Islam which really do not concern the faith, thus confusing himself and others and bringing the faith into disrepute. Abu Bakr’s excursion into female dress, rape and the Quran is such an example.
The Holy Quran merely advocates that female dress should be modest but it does not prescribe any particular style. Had it prescribed any specific style, it would have gone against the universality of the Revelation. Thus Turkish, Central Asian, Indian, European and Amerindian Muslims in remote parts of Latin America like the Amazon, have their own version of modest dress. And some dress codes which may be regarded as modest in one culture may be regarded as not modest in others. But this fact, accordingly, does not in any way negate Allah’s injunction about the modesty of female dress.
And if any one style of dress, say the old Arab style of female dress was an effective barrier against rape, then Allah would not have prescribed penalties for rape in the Quran since there would have been no rape. But Almighty Allan knew that any kind of female dress was not the cause of or preventative of rape and thus He prescribed penalties for rape.
Discussing this issue of female dress and rape and then bringing the Holy Quran into the imbroglio, is inappropriate, irresponsible and wrong. Abu Bakr, in his writings, must be more careful in future not to project non-relevancies into the Holy Quran since such will invariably end in ridicule being brought upon the Holy Book. Abu Bakr, from the time he joined the Faith in Berbice, has held himself out as an enthusiastic believer, but he should not allow his apparent enthusiasm to replace good sense. Rape and female dress per se, have nothing to do with the Holy Quran, except insofar as the Book inculcates moral behaviour applicable to all human activities.