The Defense of Liberty

The Defense of Liberty

The most heinous of crimes are those committed by those who are your loved ones. The practice of killing a family member for the honor of the family (Honor Killing) is repulsive. Muslims commit 91% of all Honor Killings. One tenant of the basic human rights is that all persons have the right to live. The existence of a belief system that allows one person to have control of life and death over anyone else's needs to be amended or eliminated.

While stationed in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, I witnessed my first act of inhumaneness. There is a stop light in front of a crosswalk, the light turns red and a woman starts to cross the road. Then the light turns green, all the cars take off, and one driver runs over the woman with his car, only stopping because she is wedged underneath it. While waiting for the police to show up, the Egyptian man stated that, it was Allah's will that she died. As a American taught that a person is responsible for their actions, I did not understand moving the blame to God. I stated that she died because you chose to run her over. His response was he was not responsible; she died because it was Allah's will. I tried to argue with him, but he was not going to take responsibility for this. To my surprise, the police's official response was also that it was Allah's will. This has made me wonder about the world of Islam ever since. The lack of respect for life in Islam leads to killing for God as an acceptable practice.

The Qur'an and Hadith (book of accounts written by those who were witness to the Prophet) do not forbid Honor Killing. The methods of conviction and punishment are in the Hadith for violations against their religious law. The punishments for adultery and fornication with a non-Muslim carry the death penalty for women and lashes from a whip for men. Not civil but religious authorities carry out the punishments to restore the families' honor. Honor Killing is condoned or at least tolerated in every Islamic nation in the world. The punishments for Honor Killing range from no punishment to two years in confinement. It is not viewed as a crime to make those under your charge submit to your authority by any means necessary.

To understand the practice of Honor Killing we have to look at the source of the practice. I have found Honor Killing is an ancient practice from the earliest times, well before the creation of Islam. The practice is as much a cultural practice as a religious one. The practice made the transition from personal honor to religious honor and the authority is now in the Qur'an. The punishments under Islamic or Shari 'a law are carried out in a much different fashion that the western idea of courts and punishments. There are no courts, as we perceive them; the accused appear in front of the religious leaders. All of the crimes are crimes against the Shari 'a law, the state law is not involved until someone's death. Most Islamic states are just a national version of the local Shari 'a law or vice versa. Then most all of the perpetrators are set free or receive very short sentences. To understand this practice we have to find the source of the practice.

The Islamic Prophet Mohammad lived from 570 CE until 632 CE. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammad in a cave outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia and recited the Qur'an from the years of 610 CE until 632CE. The Qur'an contains 114 chapters called suras and they are arranged by length not in chronological order. Islam also uses something called Abrogation, which nullifies previous verses. Abrogation is the term used when the new messages from Allah changed a verse that was previously given. This can lead to confusion and used as a way to deceive non-Muslims.

The Qur'an teachings about women are at best Patriarchal and much worse, consider women as chattel. They have almost no rights under the Shari 'a Law (Islamic Law.). Sura 4:34 simply states that women are under the control of men. The Qur'an also states that women are inferior, intellectually and spiritually. This is in complete contradiction to the Bible and the Torah, which will state that women should submit to their husbands as the spiritual leader. The Gospel and Torah explain that man and woman created in the image and likeness of God are equal and both have a place in the Kingdom of God. Only the Qur'an speaks of men going to paradise; due to the inferior nature of women, most are incapable of achieving paradise.

The Scholar Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi, considered the leading theologian on explaining the Qur'an, explains that "as for those of your women who are guilty of immoral conduct, call upon four from amoungst you to bear witness against them. And if four men bear witness, confine those women to their houses until death over takes them" (Mawdudi 17). This shows an institutional bias towards the men having no moral or ethical responsibilities toward treatment of women. It has no provisions for a woman to bring charges against a man, that would require at least one man and six women. Under the Sharia's law, it takes two women to equal one man for the purpose of testimony.

In her book, Rana Husseini explains that in her native Jordan over 25 women every year are Honor Killed. The perpetrators of these crimes receive little or no punishment under the law. "Article 340, in Jordanian law, which states he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery (with a man) and kills, wounds, or injures one or both of them, is exempted from any penalty" (Husseini 33). There is no such provision for a woman to Honor Kill her husband for dishonoring her. I find this completely unjust and it confirms my belief that is the tool used to keep women submissive.

The main problem is the perception of what divorce and rape are in the Qur'an and under Sharia 'a Law. " A Muslim woman who is raped is often afraid to file a complaint with the police, for in the absence of four corroborating male witnesses, her testimony can be taken as an admission of adultery or fornication(zina); a crime that could cost her her life" (Spencer 89-90). I would not believe that four men would stop and watch for penetration in the act of rape and not stop it. The fact that rape is committed in a place where there are no witnesses means men have almost complete protection from prosecution. Women also have no rights under the divorce law and are at the mercy of their husbands.

A divorce is a simple procedure and does not involve a civil court. The man repeating three times, "you are divorced" accomplishes the divorce under Islamic law; then she is sent on her way after she menstruates three times.