From the August 23 copy of the spectator, couple paragraphs in.

But this year Islamists are specifically targeting women. When Salman Abedi detonated his suicide bomb at the Ariana Grande concert in May, killing seventeen females (and five males), he did so knowing it would be full of teenage girls and young women. In July, two German women were  fatally stabbed by an Egyptian man at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. This attack bore similarities to Saturday’s outrage in the Finnish city of Turku, where an 18-year-old Moroccan allegedly stabbed eight women, two of whom died. Two days earlier, the only fatality in an Islamist attack at Cambrils was a 61-year-old woman.

The Islamists are deliberately targeting women because in their minds they represent empowerment and enlightenment, and also immodesty. Three young women were among the eight people stabbed to death during the London Bridge attack in June, and many more were wounded, including an Australian, who recalled her attacker screamed “Stop living this life” as he slashed at her throat.

In the hundred years since female emancipation began gaining momentum in the West, there have been significant reactions in the Islamic world. The first was the creation in Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, its founder, Imam Hassan al-Banna,  demanding an “Islamic renewal” faced with creeping Western influence. Al-Banna wasn’t a fan of the West, especially not Mae West, nor Jazz or bobbed haircuts, raging against the importation of “half-naked women into these regions, together with their liquors, their theatres, their dance halls, their amusements, their stories, their newspapers, their novels, their whims.”

One of the Brotherhood’s most influential figures in the post-war period was Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian who went to the USA on a year’s scholarship in 1949 and returned home radicalised. Another World War had imbued a fresh generation of young western women with confidence and Qutb was disgusted by the female students he encountered in Colorado. He wrote of attending a dance where “the room convulsed with the feverish music…dancing naked legs filled the hall, arms draped around the waists, chests met chests, lips met lips”

But the 1940s generation was conservative compared to what came in the 1960s, the Sexual Revolution created a cultural earthquake, the tremors of which were felt in the Middle East. In Egypt, Afghanistan and across the region women let their hair down, literally, doing away with headscarves and dressing in mini-skirts. In Iran, the Shah gave women the vote and encouraged them to get a good education. The result was another Revolution, this one Islamic: Ayatollah Khomeini coming to power in 1979 and immediately stripping women of their rights.

Which brings us to the fourth seminal moment, the spread throughout Europe of Salafism, the ultra-conservative strand of Islam inspired by 7th Century Arabia

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/08/why-western-women-are-now-the-islamists-target-of-choice/

If we "examine Islam", the prophet's Islam of the seventh century it's likely we find an explanation for the objectional behavior. How would one go about enforcing Islamic gender apartheid in Europe? Perhaps coordinated attacks unprecedented in scale and nature may bring the issue to the forefront of debate? Misogynistic attitudes arising from a religious or cultural milieu, surging testosterone, and a supremacist ideology are never even a topic of discussion in a politically correct setting, or in any progressive intellectual environment at all

BERLIN — German authorities said Tuesday that coordinated attacks in which young women were sexually harassed and robbed by hundreds of young men on New Year’s Eve in the western city of Cologne were unprecedented in scale and nature.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/coordinated-attacks-on-women-in-cologne-were-unprecedented-germany-says/

 First some background on verse 33:59 and subsequent verses 60, 61, 62 , which were revealed after the Hijrah, or shortly after the followers of the prophet had emigrated to a town (Medina) that had yet to experience Islam (submission) first hand. And well before Mohammad became the unquestioned theocratic dictator of Medina, as well as the entire Arabian peninsula within his lifetime. 

This was the Hijrah – anglicized as Hegira – usually, but inaccurately, translated as “Flight” – from which the Muslim era is dated. In fact, the Hijrah was not a flight but a carefully planned migration which marks not only a break in history – the beginning of the Islamic era- but also, for Muhammad and the Muslims, a new way of life. Henceforth, the organizational principle of the community was not to be mere blood kinship, but the greater brotherhood of all Muslims.

 The Westphalian concept of the sovereignty of nation states did not exist at that time in the Arabian Peninsula.(or any place else) It was your personal submission to the prophet, that made you a member of the community (Ummah).

http://www.islamicity.org/6327/history-of-hijrah-migration-for-peace-and-justice/

While at first Mohammad, accompanied by his companions, were invited among the inhabitants of Medina and warmly welcomed, yet after a short time span some members of the non-Muslim community existing previous to the emigrants arrival as the indigenous peoples (Jews, pagan Arabs) of the area, quickly started questioning the wisdom of that decision. Mohammad had to reorder society to conform to his newly revealed Islamic norm, a voice in his head (allah) instructed him on the proper way to accomplish this task.

There  are verses  suggesting attacking non-Muslim women ( 33:59 and subsequent verses 60, 61, 62)

Now this series of verses in question, can they be read as a compulsion or suggestion to sexually assault women? As a way of establishing the Islamic hegemonic tradition of sharia.

(59. O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their Jalabib over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed.And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (60. If the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who spread false news among the people in Al-Madinah stop not, We shall certainly let you overpower them, then they will not be able to stay in it as your neighbors but a little while .) (61. Accursed, they shall be seized wherever found, and killed with a (terrible) slaughter.) (62. That was the way of Allah in the case of those who passed away of old, and you will not find any change in the way of Allah.)

http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1818&Itemid=89

 The tafsir of Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi informs me that the verse refers to needed social reform, and how it was implemented by the prophet.

In verse 59 the third step for social reform was taken . All the Muslim women were commanded that they should come out well covered with the outer garments and covering their faces whenever they came out of their houses for a genuine need.

After this till the end of the Surah the hypocrites and other foolish and mean people have been rebuked for the propaganda that they were carrying on at that time against Islam and the Muslims.

http://englishtafsir.com/Quran/33/index.html

A brief summary of the events surrounding revelation can be found in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir verse 33:60.

Then Allah issues a warning to the hypocrites, those who make an outward display of faith while concealing their disbelief,

﴿وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ﴾

(those in whose hearts is a disease,)

In verse 9:125 the disease is defined as not having a belief in Allah.

`Ikrimah and others said that this refers to adulterers in this instance.

﴿وَالْمُرْجِفُونَ فِى الْمَدِينَةِ﴾

(and those who spread false news among the people in Al-Madinah) means, those who say that the enemy has come and war has started, which is a lie and a fabrication.

In reality .. war had come with Mohammad. But the truth is Ghibah or "backstabbing" in Islamic theocratic discourse.

"(It is when you mention something about your brother that he dislikes. ) It was asked, " But what if what I say about my brother is true'' He said,

 

«إِنْ كَانَ فِيهِ مَا تَقُولُ فَقَدِ اغْتَبْتَهُ، وَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ فِيهِ مَا تَقُولُ فَقَدْ بَهَتَّه»

 

( If it is true, then you have committed backbiting (Ghibah) about him, and if it is not true, then you have slandered him.) This was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi, who said, "Hasan Sahih".

 Unless they give up these actions and return to the truth,

﴿لَنُغْرِيَنَّكَ بِهِمْ﴾

(We shall certainly let you overpower them,) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "We will give you power over them.' ' Qatadah said: "We will incite you against them.' ' As-Suddi said: "We will inform you about them.''

﴿ثُمَّ لاَ يُجَاوِرُونَكَ فِيهَآ﴾

(then they will not be able to stay in it) means, in Al-Madinah,

﴿إِلاَّ قَلِيلاًمَّلْعُونِينَ﴾

(but a little while. Accursed...) `this describes their state while they are in Al-Madinah for this short time before they are expelled and sent far away.'

﴿أَيْنَمَا ثُقِفُواْ أُخِذُواْ﴾

(they shall be seized wherever found, ) means, `they will be attacked, because they are so weak and so few,'

﴿وَقُتِّلُواْ تَقْتِيلاً﴾

(and killed with a (terrible) slaughter.) Then Allah says:

﴿سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ فِى الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلُ﴾

(That was the way of Allah in the case of those who passed away of old,) meaning, this is how Allah dealt with the hypocrites when they persisted in hypocrisy and disbelief and did not give it up; He incited the believers against them and caused them to prevail over them.

﴿وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلاً﴾

(and you will not find any change in the way of Allah. ) means, the way in which Allah deals with this does not alter or change.

http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1816&Itemid=89

Thirty or more translation of verse 33:59 can be found here.

http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/33/59/default.htm

"a ayyuha alnnabiyyu qul li-azwajika wabanatika wanisa-i almu/mineena yudneena AAalayhinna min jalabeebihinna thalika adna an yuAArafna fala yu/thayna wakana Allahu ghafooran raheeman"

(59. O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their Jalabib over their bodies. That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed . And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

The seventeenth word "annoyed" of the linked verse is yu/thayna or (Spelling) yu'dhayna

Welcome to the Quranic Arabic Corpus , an annotated linguistic resource which shows the Arabic grammar, syntax and morphology for each word in the Holy Quran. Click on an Arabic word below to see details of the word's grammar, or to suggest a correction

(33:59: 15) yuʿ'rafna

they should be known

V – 3rd person feminine plural passive imperfect verb, subjunctive mood PRON – subject pronoun

فعل مضارع مبني للمجهول منصوب والنون ضمير متصل في محل رفع نائب فاعل (33:59 :16 ) falā

and not

CONJ – prefixed conjunction fa (and) NEG – negative particle

الفاء عاطفة حرف نفي (33:59: 17 ) yu'dhayna

harmed.

  V – 3rd person feminine plural (form IV) passive imperfect verb, subjunctive mood PRON – subject pronoun فعل مضارع مبني للمجهول منصوب والنون ضمير متصل في محل رفع نائب فاعل

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=33&verse=59

The literal translation of the word is harmed , but other words are used as well in various translations. I have linked some below.

The "they" that the verse references, are believing women or Muslims.

"They should be known and not harmed"....... by outward signs or displays of piety.

Yusuf Ali (Orig. 1938)  - O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And God is Oft- Forgi ving, Most Merciful.  

Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar  - O Prophet! Say to thy spouses (f) and thy daughters and the females, ones who believe to draw closer their (f) outer garments over themselves (f). That is more fitting so that they (f) be recognized and not be maligned . And God had been Forgiving, Compassionate.  

Wahiduddin Khan  - O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and wives of the believers that they should draw over themselves some of their outer garments [when in public], so as to be recognized and not harmed . God is most forgiving and most merciful.  

T.B.Irving  - 0 Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and believers´ wives as well, to draw their cloaks close around themselves. That is more appropriate so they may be recognized and not molested . God is Forgiving, Merciful.  

[Al-Muntakhab]  - O you the Prophet: Tell your wives and your daughters and all Muslim women to dress in flowing outer garments which cover them over. This makes it less likely to be identified and be assaulted. And Allah has always been Ghafurun and Rahimun.  

Submissive women (Muslims are those who submit) are not to be assaulted, molested or harmed if self-identification is confirmed by Islamically approved garb or outward signs of piety.

Suggesting that woman who has not submitted or is improperly submitted is fair game? While not as clear as I would prefer to make this point, it surely could be read in that way. It would take no great leap of linguistic gymnastics to read it that way.

Here Allah tells His Messenger to command the believing women -- especially his wives and daughters, because of their position of honor -- to draw their Jilbabs over their bodies, so that they will be distinct in their appearance from the women of the Jahiliyyah and from slave women. The Jilbab is a Rida', worn over the Khimar. This was the view of Ibn Mas`ud, `Ubaydah, Qatadah, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Ibrahim An-Nakha`i, `Ata' Al-Khurasani and others. It is like the Izar used today. Al-Jawhari said: "The Jilbab is the outer wrapper. `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said that Allah commanded the believing women, when they went out of their houses for some need, to cover their faces from above their heads with the Jilbab, leaving only one eye showing. Muhammad bin Sirin said, "I asked `Ubaydah As-Salmani about the Ayah:

﴿يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَـبِيبِهِنَّ﴾(to draw their Jalabib over their bodies.) He covered his face and head, with just his left eye showing.''

﴿ذلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلاَ يُؤْذَيْنَ

(That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed. ) means, if they do that, it will be known that they are free, and that they are not servants or whores.

 Servants and whores would have had no expectation of personal security in seventh century Arabia at that time.

http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1817&Itemid=89

A senior Muslim cleric

Or a great misunderstander of Islam.

in Australia has sparked a furore by comparing women who do not wear a headscarf to "uncovered meat", implying that they invited sexual assault.

Non-Muslim, moderate Muslim, or kafir women as a catch-all phrase.

Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali delivered his comments in a religious address on adultery to around 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, but they only came to the attention of the wider public when they were published in the Australian paper today.

Sheik Hilali was quoted as saying: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside ... without cover, and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it , the cats' or the uncovered meat's? The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab [the headdress worn by some Muslim women], no problem would have occurred."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/oct/26/australia.marktran

(26)Chapter: Hajj of women (26) باب حَجِّ النِّسَاءِ

Narrated Ibn `Abbas:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "A woman should not travel except with a Dhu-Mahram (her husband or a man with whom that woman cannot marry at all according to the Islamic Jurisprudence), and no man may visit her except in the presence of a Dhu-Mahram." A man got up and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! I intend to go to such and such an army and my wife wants to perform Hajj." The Prophet (ﷺ) said (to him), "Go along with her (to Hajj).

https://sunnah.com/bukhari/28/42

 kpr37 with a pagan's logocentric perspective. http://www.yourdictionary.com/logocentrism