Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

Be Warned Infidel Women!

In her groundbreaking paper—Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?—Phyllis Chesler argues that honor killings (also known as femicides) are religiously sanctioned (90% Muslim) hate crimes characterized by attacking women, especially young women, with murderous ritualistic ferocity (torture and spectacular or slow death, nearly all victims die), involving lengthy premeditation and planning, multiple actors (family and community members), practically no community or individual remorse after the murder and lenient or non-existent state punishment (in countries that implement sharia).

The following Islamic materials show that the intense hatred of women in Islamic communities and families is caused by the determination to reduce and keep women, not just in a state of slavery, but in a state of animality that severely compromises the physical health and very existence of women in modern societies.



The words of Mohammed: they [women] are like domestic animals…

 http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/132473

Ibn Ishaq and Tabari are about as early as you can get to the prophet and his activities. There is not much difference between Tabari’s version and Ibn Ishaq’s. In Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad considered women to be prisoners in the hands of men, quite similar to domestic animals who are prisoners in the hands of their owners.

Tabari (The history of Al Tabari, Vol IX, The last years of the Prophet. Published by The State University of New York Press ISBN 0-88706-691-7) page 113:

"Now then , O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread your beds, and that they should not commit any open indecency (fahishah). If they do, then God permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain from [evil], they have a right to their food and clothing in accordance with custom [bi'l-ma'ruf]. Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals [awan] with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from God and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of God, so understand and listen to my words….."

Now Ibn Ishaq: The Life of Muhammad, A translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah by A Guillaume, Oxford University Press, Printed in Pakistan by Mas Printers, Karachi. ISBN 13: 978-0-19-636033-1, page 651:

"…You have rights over your wives and they have rights over you. You have the right that they should not defile your bed and they should not behave with unseemliness. If they do, God allows you to put them in separate rooms and to beat them but not with severity. If they refrain from these things they have a right to their food and clothing with kindness. Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are your prisoners with you having no control of their persons. You have taken them only as a trust from God and you have the enjoyment of their persons by the word of God, so understand my words…."


 
In a few ahadith we note that Muhammad likened women to dogs, camels, asses…and so on, all domestic animals.

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=804B2107-EDF4-4379-9A2C-176CF7772397

  • Aisha complained that Muhammad’s followers made women like dogs and asses… Sahih Muslim, 4.1039
  •  

    If there is a bad luck in anything then it is horse, the abode and the woman… Sahih Muslim, 26.5528, 5529

  • A prayer is annulled by a passing woman, a dog and a monkey... Sahih Bukhari, 1.9.490, 493,498

  • Women, houses and horses are evil omens... Sahih Bukhari, 7.62.30, 31, 32

  • An ass, a woman and a black dog annuls a prayer… Sunaan Nasai, 1.753

  • A menstruating woman and a dog cuts off a prayer... Sunaan Abu Dawud, 2.0703

  • Either a dog, an ass, a pig, a Jew, a Magian and a woman cuts off a prayer... Sunaan Abu Dawud, 2.0704

  • Women, slaves and camels are the same; must seek Allah's refuge from all these... Sunaan Abu Dawud, 11.2155

  • A house, a horse and a woman is an evil omen; a mat in a house is better than a barren woman… Sunaan Abu Dawud, 3.29.3911

  • A black dog is satan; a black dog or a donkey or a woman cancels a prayer… Sunaan ibn Majah, 2.952

  • Beat your wives if they commit sinful acts; women are captives of their husbands… Sunaan ibn Majah, 3.1851

  • A woman is a property; a righteous woman is the best property… Sunaan ibn Majah, 3.1855 (Please note: a pregnant camel during Muhammad’s time was the best property)

  • Seek refuge from a woman, a servant and cattle—they are evils… Sunaan ibn Majah , 3.1918

  • Muhammad’s final sermon—beat women… Sunaan ibn Majah , 4.3074

  • Women are your prisoners, treat them well, if necessary beat them but not severely… Tirmidhi, 104



Not punishable: intercourse with animals

http://ethnikoi.org/iran.html (Persian original available)

http://iranpoliticsclub.net/islam/khomeini-teachings/index.htm

A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on. However, he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village; however, selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.

Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh" fourth edition, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

"If one commits an act of sodomy with a cow, a ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrements become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed as quickly as possible and burned, and the price of it paid to its owner by him who sodomized it."

The Little Green Book, Sayings of Ayatollah Khomeini, Political, Philosophical, Social and Religious, ISBN number 0-553-14032-9, page 47

"The meat of horses, mules, or donkeys is not recommended. It is strictly forbidden if the animal was sodomized while alive by a man. In that case, the animal must be taken outside the city and sold."

Editor's notes: I wonder if it is OK to sodomize a dead animal? What happens if the buyer brings the poor animal back into the city?

"If one commits an act of sodomy with a cow, a ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrements become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed as quickly as possible and burned, and the price of it paid to its owner by him who sodomized it."

Editor's note: The poor animal first is sodomized and then killed and burned. What an Islamic justice toward animals? Where are the animal rights groups?

"It is forbidden to consume the excrement of animals or their nasal secretions. But if such are mixed in minute proportions into other foods their consumption is not forbidden."

"If a man (God protect him from it!) fornicates with an animal and ejaculates, ablution is necessary."

Editor's note: It does not say who should have ablution: the animal or the man?

Imam Khomeini's Teachings On Sex with Infants and Animals, Ablution, and Women during Period! Compiled by Parvin Darabi and HDF The complete Persian text of this saying can be found in "Ayatollah Khomeini in Tahrir-ol-Masael, Fourth Edition, Darol Elm, Qom"


 

Raymond Ibrahim: Slave-girls in Islam equivalent to animals?

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023923.php

Many are now aware that the Koran—that is, Allah’s word—permits, not just polygamy, but forced concubinage (sex with captive women), according to Koran 4:3: “Marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice, then only one, or what your right hands possess [captive women taken in war].” There is, however, an interesting, and very telling, linguistic aspect to this verse that is often overlooked—or intentionally obscured. The Arabic states: “Ankahu [marry]…ma [what] malakat [possess] aymankum [your right hands].”

Oddly enough, the Arabic relative pronoun used to indicate these captive women is "ma": ma malakat aymankum, literally, “what your right hands possess” (see Shakir’s acclaimed English translation which most literally translates this). In Arabic, when one refers to a rational being (i.e., a human), the word used is min, which means “who(ever)”; ma, on the other hand, refers only to things or animals—trees, rocks, dogs and cats—very much similar to the English “it.” Thus, in proper Arabic the phrase might have been min malakat aymankum: “who(ever) your rights hands possess.”

For long I assumed this was but a stylistic matter. However, the highly revered Islamic scholar al-Qurtubi (d.1273) also makes this observation in vol. 5, p.12 of his authoritative 20-volume Tafsir Al Koran (Exegesis of the Koran). He points out that members of the human race should be referred to with min (who), whereas only “inanimate objects” or “brute beasts” should be referred to with ma (what).

Does this suggest that the Koran’s Arabic—touted as the most perfect Arabic—is flawed? Of course, no Muslim would allow for that. Nor need they, as this phenomenon (portraying concubines as non-human) accords well with a number of hadiths that place females and animals in the same category. Musnad Ibn Hanbal (vol. 2, p. 2992), for example, records Muhammad saying “Women, dogs, and donkeys annul a man’s prayer.” Indeed, in Qurtubi’s same Tafsir (vol.15, p.172), after examining such hadiths, he writes, "A Woman may be likened to a sheep—even a cow or a camel—for all are ridden.” Raymond Ibrahim


 

Not punishable: the use of female slaves for prostitution

Quran 24:34 i.e Sura 24, “The Light,” verse 34 http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/48970

"Force not your slave-girls to whoredom (prostitution) if they desire chastity, that you may seek enjoyment of this life. [And here's the freedom-to-pimp card:] But if anyone forces them, then after such compulsion, Allah is oft-forgiving.".



The Qur’an On Wife Beating: Feelings of fear constitute enough reason to beat a woman.

The Qur'an, chapter 4 (An-Nisa), verse 34

http://qb.gomen.org/QuranBrowser/

"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great."— translated by M. H. Shakir

In the Qur’an there is no modifier “lightly” or “not too severely” after the phrase “beat them”. However, a number of translations add this modifier without including brackets to indicate that it is an addition to the original text in Arabic."


 

Forbidden: beating women on the face (or animals on the face)

http://www.bloggernews.net/111611

Al-Arifi said: “Beating in the face is forbidden, even when it comes to animals. Even if you want your camel or donkey to start walking, you are not allowed to beat it in the face. If this is true for animals, it is all the more true when it comes to humans. So beatings should be light and not in the face.”


 

A wife has no right to say “no”

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=8ac10399-db80-415b-b47e-4117c4f26a19

Sheikh Syed Mahmud Allusi in his commentary Ruhul Ma’ani gives four reasons that a man may beat his wife: “if she refuses to beautify herself for him,” if she refuses sex when he asks for it, if she refuses to pray or perform ritual ablutions, and “if she goes out of the house without a valid excuse.” Also, Muhammad’s example is normative for Muslims, since he is an “excellent example of conduct” (Qur’an 33:21) – and reports that Muhammad struck her. Once he went out at night after he thought she was asleep, and she followed him surreptitiously. Muhammad saw her, and, as Aisha recounts: “He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?”


 

Not punishable: sodomizing a menstruating wife

http://iranpoliticsclub.net/islam/khomeini-teachings/index.htm

http://ethnikoi.org/iran.html (Persian original available)

"During the time a woman is menstruating, it is preferable for a man to avoid coitus, even if it does not involve full penetration- that is, as far as the circumcision ring ­ and even if it does not involve ejaculation. It is also highly inadvisable for him to sodomize her during this time.

If the number of days of the woman's menstrual period is divided by three, a husband who has intercourse with her during the first two days must pay equivalent of 18 nokhods (each nokhod is about 3 grams) of gold to the poor; if he has it on the third or fourth days the equivalent of 9 nokhods; and if he has it during the last two days, the equivalent of 41/2 nokhods. Sodomizing a menstruating woman does not require such payment.

Imam Khomeini's Teachings On Sex with Infants and Animals, Ablution, and Women during Period! Compiled by Parvin Darabi and HDF The complete Persian text of this saying can be found in "Ayatollah Khomeini in Tahrir-ol-Masael, Fourth Edition, Darol Elm, Qom"


 

Women were not created to worship Allah

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023923.php 

Commenting on the Qur'anic verse Q. 30:21 which states "And of His signs is that He created for you, of yourselves, spouses, that you may repose in them" Razi said in At-Tafsir al-Kabir:

"His saying 'created for you' is a proof that women were created like animals and plants and other useful things, just as the Most High has said 'He created for you what is on earth' and that necessitates the woman not to be created for worship and carrying the Divine commands. We say creating the women is one of the graces bestowed upon us and charging them with Divine commands to complete the graces bestowed upon us, not that they are charged as we men are charged. For women are not charged with many commands as we are charged, because the woman is weak, silly, in one sense she is like a child, and no commands are laid upon a child, but for the grace of Allah upon us to be complete, women had to be charged so that they may fear the torment of punishment and so follow her husband, and keep away from what is forbidden, otherwise corruption would be rampant."

 

Women are beasts in human disguise

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023923.php

Another eminent Muslim thinker, Hadi Sabzevari, in his commentary on Sadr al-Mote'alihin wrote:
That Sadr ad-Deen Shirazi classifies women as animals is a delicate allusion to the fact that women, due to the deficiency in their intelligence and understanding of intricacies, and due to their fondness of the adornments of the world, are truly and justly among the mute animals [al-haywanti al-sa^mita]. They have the nature of beasts [ad-dawwa^b], but they have been given the disguise of human beings so that men would not be loath to talk to them and be compelled to have sexual intercourse with them. That is why our immaculate Law [shar'ina al-mutahhar] takes men's side and gives them superiority in most matters, including divorce, "nushuz," etc. (Quoted in Soroush, Abdolkarim, _Farbehtar az ideoloji_, Sera^t, Tehran, 1373 A.H.S.). [A.H.S. = After the Hegira]


 

Saudi Arabia: a woman’s presence is not required to effect her marriage or divorce

http://www.prlog.org/10184597-karin-in-saudi-arabia-look-into-what-life-in-saudi-arabia-is-really-like.html

"Karin" is a real story of a German woman, who lived in Saudi Arabia for a while and fell in love with a Saudi. Later, this love turned into a devastating nightmare. The Saudi "Morality Police", notorious for their bestial brutality, raped Karin and threw her in prison. Her crime was, she was driven alone downtown by a taxi-driver. Her German-Saudi baby son was taken away and she was deported to Cyprus without passport and money. Muna, a young Moroccan woman was luckier. She managed to smuggle herself and baby after one-night marriage with Sultan, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, you can marry and divorce a woman in her absence. All you need is a religious man and two male witnesses.  In practice this means a woman’s consent is irrelevant as it can be fabricated in absentia. This is exactly what happened to Karin; she was married in her absence. Muna never saw any marriage or divorce papers. Editorial Review of Dr Alrabaa's Book, “Karin in Saudi Arabia” by Ali Sina (amazon.com.)


 

Not punishable: to betroth a girl at age 6, and to consummate the marriage at age 8

See: fatwa authorizing underage marriage: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2082065/posts

'A'isha, was the second of 11 wives and an unknown number of concubines and female slaves who Muhammad collected during his life, which span from 570 AD until 632 AD.

Muhammad married 'A'isha in Mecca when she was a child of 6 and lived with her in Medina when she was 9 [see below] or 10. She was the only virgin that he married. Her father, Abu Bakr, married her to him and the apostle gave her four hundred dirhams. [(Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasulullah (The Life of Muhammad) translated by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, p. 792). The only valid biographers of Muhammad and Islam are Ibn Ishaq and Tabari, and the hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim.]

An Arab is regarded as an old man, a sheik, when he is fifty.   Mohammed was an old man when he married 'A'isha, he was 57.  'A'isha was 8 years old and according to historical sources she was still playing with dolls when Mohammed possessed her. Since the Arab tribes of Mohammad’s time followed the lunar calendar, 9 lunar years correspond to 8.72 solar years.

When a Moslem female turns 7 years old, she is segregated from all males in and out of her extended family. From then on, no males including her father, grandfather, uncles, brothers, cousins are allowed to be present at her birthday parties or at any ceremony celebrating her accomplishments.  At 9 years old, she must begin adhering to Islamic laws because she is considered an adult and eligible for marriage.

Reference link here.


 

Not punishable: sex with baby girls

On "thighing" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RMUyAy9zU0)

"Thighing" is an Islamic practice still followed today even in Muslim communities in the U.S. and Britain:

Regarding the practice of "thighing", the masturbating between the legs of a female infant or actually sodomizing her, Islamic clerics have this to say:

Pedophilia decrees from www.islamic-fatwa.net

Question 1809

After the permanent committee for the scientific research and fatwahs (religious decrees) reviewed the question forwarded by the grand scholar of the committee with reference number 1809 issued on 3/5/1453 and 7/5/1421 (Islamic calendar)

Question: 'It has become widespread these days, and especially during weddings, the habit of mufa'khathat of the children. (mufa'khathat - literally translated, it means "placing between the thighs" which means placing the male member between the thighs of a child).

What is the opinion of scholars, knowing full well that the prophet, the peace of Allah be upon him, also practiced the "thighing" of Aisha - the mother of believers - may Allah be pleased with her?

Answer: After studying the issue, the committee has answered as follows:

As for the prophet, his thighing his fiancée Aisha when she was six years of age and not able to consummate the relationship was due to her small age. That is why the Prophet used to place his male member between her thighs and massage it, as the prophet had control of his male member not like other men.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Shia Grand Ayatollah, 1979-89 said in his official statements:

"A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). If the man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl's sister. It is better for a girl to marry when her menstruation starts, and at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven."

Khomeini, "Tahrirolvasyleh" fourth volume/edition?, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

"It is not illegal for an adult male to 'thigh' or enjoy a young girl who is still in the age of weaning; meaning to place his penis between her thighs, and to kiss her."

Ayatu Allah Al Khumaini's "Tahrir Al wasila" p. 241, issue number 12

"Young boys or girls in full sexual effervescence are kept from getting married before they reach the legal age of majority. This is against the intention of divine laws. Why should the marriage of pubescent girls and boys be forbidden because they are still minors, when they are allowed to listen to the radio and to sexually arousing music?"

"The Little Green Book" "Sayings of the Ayatollah Khomeini", Bantam Books

References: 1 2 3 (Persian original available)


 

Aisha: A woman’s face is for her husband to use as a doormat

http://www.wefound.org/texts/Ideal_Muslims_files/herhusband.htm

‘Aishah urged women to take good care of their husbands and to recognize the rights that their husbands had over them. She saw these rights as being so great and so important that a woman was barely qualified to wipe the dust from her husband’s feet with her face, as she stated: “O womenfolk, if you knew the rights that your husbands have over you, every one of you would wipe the dust from her husband’s feet with her face.

Is it any surprise that the Aisha who came to this horrific conclusion is the same Aisha who was “thighed” by Mohammed from age 6 and penetrated from age 8?



Broken lives: Nigeria's child brides who end up on the streets

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5248224.ece

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/023688.php

http://www.endfistula.org/q_a.htm#q13

Northern Nigeria has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world: nearly half of all girls here are married by the age of 15.

The consequences have been devastating. Nigeria has the highest maternal mortality rate in Africa and one of the world’s highest rates of fistula, a condition that can occur when the pressure of childbirth tears a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum. Many women are left incontinent for life. Up to 800,000 women suffer from fistula in Nigeria.

 

“They marry young, they get pregnant young, they deliver young and they pick up the fistula,” said Kees Waaldijk, the chief consultant surgeon at the Babbar Ruga hospital, the world’s largest fistula clinic, in the northern state of Katsina.

 

Most cases happen to young girls during their first pregnancy, and nearly half the patients at Babbar Ruga are under 16.

 

Dr Waaldijk operates on up to 600 women a year, with no electricity or running water. He sterilises his equipment in a steel casserole pot that sits on a gas camping stove. Rows of girls and women - some as young as 13 - lie listlessly on rusty hospital beds, each connected to a catheter.

 

The smell of urine is overpowering and many of the women have been cast out from their communities. Some have been divorced by their husbands - it is estimated that up to half of adolescent girls in northern Nigeria are divorced. “If nothing is done the woman ends up crippled for life: medically, socially, mentally and emotionally,” Dr Waaldijk said.

The Nigerian federal Government has attempted to outlaw child marriage. In 2003 it passed the Child Rights Act, prohibiting marriage under the age of 18. In the Muslim northern states, though, there has been fierce resistance to the Act, with many people portraying it as antiIslamic. “Child marriage in Islam is permissible. In the Koran there is no specific age of marriage,” said Imam Sani, a liberal cleric in the northern state of Kaduna. He said that this was the root cause of the opposition among the more hardline mullahs, who believe that matters of Islamic “personal” law - marriage, divorce and inheritance - must be governed by the Koran, not the state.

 

“The Muslim clerics have a problem with this Child Rights Act and they decried it, they castigate it, they reject it and they don’t want it introduced in Nigeria,” Mr Sani said.

 

He said there would be serious repercussions if the federal Government attempted to impose a minimum age of marriage. “There will be violent conflict from the Muslims, saying that ‘no, we will not accept this, we’d rather die than accept something which is not a law from Allah’.”

Half of Nigeria’s 36 states have passed the Act, but it has been adopted by only one of the dozen Muslim states - and even that one made a crucial amendment substituting the age of 18 for the term “puberty”.

 

Each state in Nigeria has the constitutional right to amend legislation to comply with its local traditions and religion, meaning that central government is powerless to impose a minimum age of marriage.

 

Other vocal opponents to the Act include village heads and elders - almost all men - highlighting the tribal and cultural constraints that hamper attempts to stamp out child marriage.

 

“It is important we have the right to marry our girls young so there is no risk of pregnancy outside marriage. It is to preserve the purity of our girls,” said Usman, an 84-year-old man from the village of Yammaw Fulani, who married a 14-year-old girl four years ago. “We will never accept this law,” he said.

 

Fistulas are caused not only by having babies too young for biology to allow for it without permanent damage, but by female genital mutilation. FGM

Fistulas do happen in women who haven't been subjected to FGM, but they are extremely rare.

FGM--especially the more extreme varieties which include infibulation, guarantee painful and dangerous sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and childbirth. Most fistula hospitals have been set up by charitable Infidels, not Muslims.

Tragically, most of the time, doctors have to agree to re-infibulate their patients, even though it is such a barbaric practice. If they don't, the husband and his family rarely accept the woman back.


 

Not punishable: infibulation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infibulation | http://www.endfistula.org/q_a.htm#q13 | Ref 3

[Note: Infibulation is practiced only in Muslim countries, in East Africa, i.e., southern Egypt, Sudan, Horn of Africa, especially along the Red Sea coastline. Islam tolerates the practice, as no fatwa has been issued banning it].

Infibulation, in modern usage, is the practice of surgical closure of the labia majora (outer lips of the vulva) by sewing them together to partially seal the vagina, leaving only a small hole for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. The legs are bound together for approximately two weeks to allow the labia to heal into a barrier. The procedure is usually done on young girls before the onset of puberty, to ensure chastity. It is usually performed at the same time as female genital cutting (removal of the clitoris). The labia minora (inner lips of the vulva) are often also removed.

Infibulation is believed by practitioners to render women sexually inactive, unlikely to engage in intercourse, and the visibly intact barrier of infibulation assures a husband he has married a virgin.

The barrier produced by infibulation is usually penetrated at the time of a girl's marriage by the forcible action of the penis of her new husband, or, if he is unsuccessful, by cutting the connected tissue surgically. [1]

Female genital cutting is often confused with infibulation, but they are distinct procedures.

Both procedures are typically performed without anesthetic, in unsanitary conditions, on children well below the age capable of giving informed consent. Some subjects of infibulation have experienced infections, severe reproductive disorders, and/or death.

These practices have been widely condemned by other cultures as barbaric and cruel. According to the United Nations' End Fistula Campaign, this particular form of female genital cutting frequently results in organ damage, urinary incontinence, and obstetric fistula.

Female genital cutting is condemned by most governments because of its devastating consequences on women's reproductive health, and UNFPA is actively working to end the practice. Nevertheless, the practice persists in many areas where obstetric fistula is prevalent as well. Although FGC can increase the risk of haemorrhage and infection during childbirth, it is not clear whether it is typically a causal factor in the formation of fistulas. However, two fairly radical forms of FGC, the Gishiri cut, which is practiced in northern Nigeria, and infibulation, the stitching up of the vagina, can contribute directly to fistulas.

From: Women in the Third World By Lynne Brydon, Sylvia H. Chant


 

Obligatory female genital mutilation

http://www.answering-islam.org/Green/womenstatus.htm

The following reference to Shariah comes from Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller - A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. This book comes with the approval al-Azhar University.

Arabic Text
As translated in the book
What it actually says

 

e4.3 Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men is consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.) (p. 59)
Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the clitoris (this is called khufaad).

 

It is interesting to notice how this translator has softened the Arabic to make it more acceptable to a Western reader. However, the fact remains that female circumcision is Shariah law for several of the main Sunni schools.

Female circumcision is practiced in many Islamic countries, for example, Egpyt, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia.


 

Saudi Arabia: the blood money value of a woman’s life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyya

In Saudi Arabia, when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the prescribed blood money rates are as follows:

  • 100,000 riyals =26,702 USD if the victim is a Muslim man

  • 50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman

  • 50,000 riyals if a Christian man

  • 25,000 riyals if a Christian woman

  • 6,666 riyals if a Hindu man

  • 3,333 riyals =889 USD if a Hindu woman.


 

Iran: Women do not have the right to self defense

http://volokh.com/posts/1143702317.shtml

Iranian teenager to be executed for self-defense against a rapist:

Amnesty International reports this case from Iran:

On 3 January, 18-year-old Nazanin was sentenced to death for murder by a criminal court, after she reportedly admitted stabbing to death one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in Karaj in March 2005. She was seventeen at the time. Her sentence is subject to review by the Court of Appeal, and if upheld, to confirmation by the Supreme Court.

According to reports in the Iranian newspaper, E’temaad, Nazanin told the court that three men had approached her and her niece, forced them to the ground and tried to rape them. Seeking to defend her niece and herself, Nazanin stabbed one man in the hand with a knife that she possessed and then, when the men continued to pursue them, stabbed another of the men in the chest. She reportedly told the court “I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help”, but was nevertheless sentenced to death.

Human rights activists have created an on-line petition to save Nazanin's life. Amnesty International points out that the execution would violate Iran's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

However, the AI argument appears to have a significant weakness. When ratifying the CRC, Iran also made the following reservation: "The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws and the international legislation in effect." ….

Note that had Nazanin allowed herself to be raped without defending herself, that would have meant a death sentence for her in any case.  In Islam, a woman’s testimony is worth half of a man’s testimony.  Since the two girls’ testimony would not have carried against the two surviving rapists’ testimony, the two girls would have been stoned to death for adultery.  So Nazanin was not simply resisting rape, she defending her life and that of her niece.

"it requires the testimony of two women to equal that of one man" rule I would cite, again from the USC-MSA Islamic server, the Hadith found in Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 6, Number 301. Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o 'Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."


 

Women do not enter Heaven on their own

http://qb.gomen.org/QuranBrowser/

It is a well established Islamic motto that the woman’s father (if she is unmarried) or husband (if she is married) is regarded as a woman’s gateway to heaven or hell and the arbiter of her final destiny.

Those who join that which Allah has commanded to be joined (i.e. they are good to their relatives and do not sever the bond of kinship), fear their Lord, and dread the terrible reckoning (i.e. abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which Allah has forbidden and perform all kinds of good deeds which Allah has ordained). And those who remain patient, seeking their Lord's Countenance, perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and spend out of that which We have bestowed on them, secretly and openly, and defend evil with good, for such there is a good end; 'Adn (Eden) Paradise (everlasting Gardens), which they shall enter and (also) those who acted righteously from among their fathers, and their wives, and their offspring. And angels shall enter unto them from every gate (saying): "Salamun 'Alaikum (peace be upon you) for that you persevered in patience!  Excellent indeed is the final home!" Hilali-Khan orthodox translator (Quran 13:023-4)

Arabic Transliteration: Jannatu AAadnin yadkhuloonaha waman salaha min aba-ihim waazwajihim wathurriyyatihim waalmala-ikatu yadkhuloona AAalayhim min kulli babin

It is important to note the words used are specific: fathers and wives, not parents and spouses (e.g.  translations by Hilali-Khan (orthodox muslim),  Sher Ali (non-orthodox muslim),  Arberry (non-muslim), Palmer (non-muslim), Rodwell (non-muslim), Sale (non-muslim)), though some translators translate spouses instead of wives to avoid exactly the controversy surrounding the entrance of women into Heaven. The pronouns “they” and “their” in the phrase “ Paradise which they shall enter and (also) those who acted righteously from among …  their wives” can only refer to men (only men can have wives, not women).  So this passage talks about men entering Paradise.  Once in Heaven, according to this passage, the offspring can have their fathers (not their mothers) join them.  Men can have their wives join them.  Women cannot have their husbands join them.  This asymmetry follows from the fact that a woman cannot get to Heaven on her own, so she could never plead Allah for her husband to join her there.  In other words, if a righteous woman’s father and husband do not get to Heaven or do not want her there with them, she will not get to Heaven.  In Islam a righteous woman can get to Heaven only as a righteous man’s pet could also get there: were he to ask for it, Allah would “deprive [him] of nought”.

And they who believe and whose seed follow them in faith, We cause their seed to join them (there), and We deprive them of nought of their (life's) work. Every man is a pledge for that which he hath earned. (Quran 52:021).


 

Saudi Arabia: Women do not have the right to self-preservation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm

http://network.bestfriends.org/egypt/news/25590.html

 

Friday, 15 March, 2002

Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.

In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.  One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".  The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".  The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.  "Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.

Note: It’s ironic that the Grand Sheikh of Azar has come down clearly on the side of the animals--stating that inhumane treatment of animals--during slaughter or during transport--is forbidden by Islam. 

So, animals have more of a right to live than do “improperly dressed” Saudi girls.


 

Not subject to retaliation: a father who kills his daughter

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/does-islam-justify-honor-killings/

“A manual of Islamic law certified by Al-Azhar as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy says that “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (’Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2).”…

Over 70% of the Islam inspired honor killings in the West are constituted by horrific murders where a father kills his daughter.   On the other hand, Islam inspired honor killings where a father kills his son are rare. This pattern repeats the original culture pattern in the Middle East.

The exclusion of parents from death penalty if they murder their offspring does not cause honor killings of daughters, but it certainly removes the only major barrier to their execution in a society where the women, young women, and girls are not cherished as human beings.


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