Bulletin of the Oppression of Women Oct. 15 – Nov. 19, 2012

October 15 – November 19, 2012

October 15, 2012
Mali
A teenaged girl received 60 lashes in Timbuktu after Islamist extremists convicted her of speaking to men on the street.

October 16, 2012
UK (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A British Muslim, who married his second wife in a secret sharia ceremony, has been sentenced to life in jail for stabbing her to death in a ‘merciless’ attack. Siraj Arif, 31, knifed Saiba Khatoon – who was 19-weeks pregnant – with such ferocity that two of the three kitchen knives he used snapped under the force of the blows in the row over their unborn baby.

October 17, 2012
Egypt

A teacher in southern Egypt punished two 12-year-old schoolgirls for not wearing the Muslim headscarf by cutting their hair, the father of one girl said Wednesday, in an incident that stokes concerns over personal rights following the rise of Islamist political movements.

Afghanistan

Afghan police have arrested four people who allegedly tried to force a woman into prostitution and beheaded her when she refused.

Britain
An FGM study from the British International Journal of Obstetrics and gynecology journal BJOG reports that women who were forced to undergo genital cutting as young girls have a poorer sex life years later.

October 20, 2012
Malaysia
Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek agreed today with a Wanita MCA leader’s view that PAS condones the raping of non-Muslim women, pointing out that the party’s spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat had made the opinion clear in a speech four years ago. Nik Aziz had said that women who do not “tutup aurat” (protect their modesty) “deserved to be raped”.

October 22, 2012
Afghanistan (h/t to JihadWatch)
A man in a western Afghan city has confessed to stabbing his wife to death to prevent her from taking a job outside the home.

Sudan (h/t to JihadWatch)
The head of Sudan’s main clerical authority, the Religious Scholars Committee (RSC), has publicly advocated girl child marriage, drawing the ire of women activists rights who called for an immediate ban against the practice.

October 23, 2012
Afghanistan (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A second teenage girl has been threatened with assassination in Pakistan following the Taliban’s failed attempt to murder Malala Yousafzai, an outspoken critic of Islamic extremism, earlier this month.

October 24, 2012
Britain (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
9 men have been charged in Manchester for sexual abuse of an underage girl. This case is different from the one early this year which dealt with child trafficking.

Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Wednesday said that it recorded 550 cases of violence against women in the last month, including beating, forced marriages, murder and rape, showing a remarkable increase from previous months.

November 1, 2012
Kashmir
A mother and father killed their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid after seeing her talking to a young man, police said Thursday.

November 3, 2012
Muslim World
Nonie Darwish explains the role of the woman in the Islamic ideology and the laws that control her.

Pakistan (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
The Pakistani Taliban’s battle to stop girls and women from getting an education includes acid thrown in their faces to scar them for life and deter others from following in their footsteps. They have distributed threatening pamphlets around the city warning local girls against going to school. “We will never allow the girls of this area to go and get a Western education,” said Qari Muhavia, the local Pakistani Taliban leader, when contacted by CNN by telephone.

November 4, 2012
Singapore
The city’s Muslim marriage courses are under fire for teaching that male students are to beat wives who refuse to submit to sex, while female students are taught that if they refuse sex with their husbands angels of Allah would curse them.

November 5, 2012
Jordan
Three brothers reportedly murdered their married sister to cleanse their family’s honor. She was stabbed 17 times.

Yemen (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
A 10-year old Yemeni child claims her family forced her to marry a 30-year old man when she was nine. She escaped from her home with the help of an aunt and went to the courthouse where she waited for the judge to come out and told him her story. He sympathised with her case and issued a divorce judgment.

November 6, 2012
India
Mumbai’s historic Haji Ali mausoleum inner tomb is banned to women.

November 7, 2012
USA
An Iraqi mother was sentenced to two years’ probation after she was accused of beating her teenage daughter and burning her on her face and chest with a hot spoon because the girl refused to go along with an arranged marriage and was spotted talking a male student at her high school.

November 8, 2012
Saudi Arabia (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
There have been 5,622 marriages where the bride is under the age of 14 in Saudi Arabia, said Ali Abdul Rahman Al Roumi, a social services academic at Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University, adding that specifying a legal age would not solve the problem, and may lead to “even bigger problems”.

November 11, 2012
Saudi Arabia (h/t JihadWatch)
An prominent Saudi religious scholar tortured his five year old daughter to death with whips and electrical shocks.

November 13, 2012
USA
Iraqi man pleaded not guilty to the honor killing of his wife, Shaima Alawadi.

November 15, 2012
Pakistan
A man and his brother were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly setting the former’s wife and three daughters on fire.

November 16, 2012
Iran (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Lawmakers consider legislation that may drastically alter an adult woman’s ability to obtain a passport and travel outside the country.

November 17, 2012
Indonesia
A Western woman gives her eye-witness account of over 200 young girls having their genitals cut so they “can control their sexual urges.”

November 19, 2012
Dubai (h/t to thereligionofpeace)
Three rapists who demanded money from their Vietnamese victim, are sentenced to three years in jail.

Gates of Vienna has an informative short video explaining why honor killings are Islamic doctrine. Please take a few minutes and educate yourself on this travesty of gender rights.


Produced by Politicalislam.com
Publisher: Bill Warner; Editor: Asma Marwan
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One Response

  1. shabeer
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    How substantial is the allegation that the social setup envisioned
    by the Qur’an is a male dominated one?
    This is a baseless allegation. Certainly, it is the Creator of man
    and woman who is best aware of their natures. On giving a little thought
    it will become clear that the moral system recommended by the Lord
    God can never be the cause of the overlordship of one group to the
    detriment of the other. The problem is then not of the moral system as
    such. It is more a problem of the type of criterion that is used to
    measure it.
    The Qur’an teaches that it is the cooperation and mutuality
    between man and woman which works as the foundational basis for
    the very existence and furtherance of the institution of the family.
    Indeed, the Qur’an formulated laws on the ground that to ensure the
    permanence of any moral code it is necessary that the institution of
    the family is itself manifested in good order. It is possible, however,
    that those who believe in the ideology of the necessity of the collapse
    of the family, will find the Qur’anic laws unacceptable. But those
    who think over the existence of human society which is grounded in
    morality can never say that even one among the Qur’anic laws is in
    favour of male domination.
    The Qur’an teaches that in the preservation of the solid edifice
    of the family, both the man and the woman are to play their respective
    roles. It is from this foundational basis that the Qur’anic laws
    concerning their rights, responsibilities and duties emanate. The
    Qur’anic vision with regard to man and woman may be summarised
    as follows:
    One : Both man and woman originated from the same soul.
    They are like the two sides of a coin. Although both are independent,
    it is their mutuality which gives each its fullness.
    Two : Neither can a woman be like a man nor a man be like a
    woman. Each has its very own different, yet, potentially mutual,
    existence.
    Three : Both man and woman have then rights. However those
    rights are to be attained not through violence. It must be through mutual
    cooperation.
    Four : Both have their respective duties. It is only by virtue of
    fulfilling these duties that both the individual and the society can survive.
    Five : It is against the very law of nature for a man to undertake
    the responsibilities of a woman and for a woman to try to fulfill those
    of a man. Each has to perform its own duty.
    Six : It should not be at the expense of the other’s rights that
    each seeks to fulfill one’s obligations and enjoy one’s own rights.
    What is the Qur’anic idea of the woman ?
    This is a very pertinent question Whatever the organization, in
    the final analysis we see that it will be its theoretical underpinnings
    that will ultimately have a bearing on its laws and recommendations.
    As far as the woman is concerned, the source of the Islamic
    recommendations on the subject lies in the answer which the Qur’an
    provides to the question as to what a women really is.
    It is the Qur’anic position that like the man, the woman, too, is
    the most special creation of the Lord Creator.
    “O mankind! Fear your Guardian Lord, Who created you from
    a single Person, created, out of it, his mate, and from them twain
    scattered (like seeds) countless men and women; fear Allah, through
    Whom ye demanded your mutual (rights), and be heedful of the wombs
    (that bore you): for Allah ever watches over you.” (H.Q. 4:1)
    Here the Qur’an has indicated the fact that both man and woman
    have been created from a single soul; that both man and woman are
    but two aspects of the same soul. It is only when these two aspects
    are joined together that a completeness becomes possible. Or that it is
    only in the mutual cooperation between man and woman that life
    become wholesome. Indeed, the well spring of all love and compassion
    that exists in a man-woman relationship is to be found in this
    cooperation. It is the Qur’anic view that the love and compassion that
    exists between life partners is but one among the many signs of God.
    “And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from
    among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He
    has put love and mercy between you (hearts): Verily in that are signs
    for those who reflect.” (H.Q. 30:21)
    The Qur’an does not accord recognition to the division that is
    based on gender. However, it does reject the idea of the equality of
    the sexes as well. In its view, it is impossible that man be equivalent to
    woman or that woman be the equal to man. To strive to conform to
    such an idea would then be against nature herself. The Qur’an has
    placed man and woman on that position which nature itself has assigned
    to them. A position that is not inferior or equal to that of the man – this
    is the position which nature has bestowed upon the woman. Islam, the
    religion of nature, too, has conferred the same position.
    Patriarchial systems speak to the woman of her obligations while
    to the man they speak of rights. Is this not evident in the Qur’an
    also?
    No. The Qur’an speaks to both man as well as to woman
    concerning their duties and rights. “Divorced women shall wait
    concerning themselves for three monthly periods. And it is not lawful
    for them to hide what Allah hath created in their wombs, if they have
    faith in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands have the better
    right to take them back in that period, if they wish for reconciliation.
    And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them,
    according to what is equitable; but men have a degree over them and
    Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Qur’an 2:28). This is the clear and
    unambiguous statement of the Qur’an. How then can it be said that
    the Qur’an, which contains this declaration is the creation of a
    patriarchial system? In reality, there is no other religious text, like the
    Qur’an, which deals with the rights of the woman in so clear and
    exhaustive a manner.
    If the impact of the rights which the Qur’an allowed – nay,
    achieved – for the woman is to be fully appreciated, the position of the
    woman during the time of its revelation must first be understood. Greek
    philosophers considered woman to be the very personification of the
    devil. The Roman law was such that it granted complete freedom for
    the male to even murder his wife. The Indian woman was given the
    religious advise to immolate herself at the funeral pyre of her husband.
    The attitude of the Jews towards the woman, the cause of sin, was
    most cruel. No better was the case of Christianity which followed in
    the footsteps of the Jewish religion. Even as late as the 16th century,
    the subject of discussion amongst the church fathers was the question
    as to whether or not woman did possess a soul. As for the Arabia
    before Prophet Muhammad (e), the condition of the woman there
    was even worser off. She was not even allowed to have the right to
    live. It was a society which was ever ready to bury alive the infant if
    it was a female. It was in such a social context that the Qur’an first
    began to speak on the rights of woman.
    The rights accorded to woman by the Qur’an may be summarized
    as follows :
    1. The right to live. The Arabs were a people who, on knowing
    that one’s wife had delivered a female child, contemplated killing it
    (Qur’an 16:59). The moral level of contemporary society, which, through
    modern technological devices, identifies the sex of the embryo and on
    learning that the child to be born is a female, one resorts to killing it in
    its embryonic stage itself, is hardly above that of the Arabs of primitive
    times. The Qur’an criticizes that narrow- mindedness which would
    not permit the girl child to live. (Qur’an 16:59, 81:9). It declares that
    like man, she, too, has the right to birth and to life.
    2. The right to own property : The Qur’an has given the woman,
    like the man, the right to earn wealth. The view of the Qur’an is that all
    her earnings, whether it be through her personal efforts or by way of
    inheritance, belongs to her and to her alone. None, not even the husband,
    has the right to take anything, whatsoever, of her earnings without her
    explicit permission. “And in no wise covet those things in which Allah
    hath bestowed His gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to
    men is allotted what they earn; But ask Allah of His bounty. For Allah
    hath full knowledge of all things.” (Qur’an 4:32)
    3. The right to inheritance : It is the Qur’anic recommendation
    that daughters, too, have a share in the wealth of their parents. In
    reality, no other religious scripture has declared the right to inheritance
    of the woman. Even in Europe, which boasts to be very civilized, the
    right to inheritance for women was recognized and put into effect only
    since the last couple of centuries. The Qur’an had, however, declared
    and brought into effect the law fourteen centuries ago that women
    had the right to inheritance. “From what is left by parents and those
    nearest related there is a share for men and a share for women,
    whether the property be small or large – a determinate share.” (Qur’an
    4:7)
    4. The right to choose a mate : Islam recommends that while
    putting forth marriage proposals, the likes and dislikes of the woman
    must be seriously considered. None, not even the father, has the right
    to marry off his daughter to a person whom she dislikes. Prophet
    Muhammad(e) had said, “The widow is not to be given in marriage
    without her consent. The virgin is not to be given in marriage without
    consulting her for her acceptance. Her silence constitutes her
    acceptance” (Bukhari, Muslim)
    5. The right to education and free thought: The Qur’an’s view is
    that women have the right to education and free thought. This view is,
    however, not restricted to mere advice. The Prophet had practically
    demonstrated this. The great yearning for knowledge exhibited by the
    woman who followed the Prophet is universally acknowledged. For it
    can be seen from the history of the times that women used to always
    approach the Prophet and his wives to acquire knowledge. Indeed it is
    seen in the hadith reported by Imam Bukhari that the Prophet had set
    aside one day for his discussions with them.
    6. The right to criticize: Islam provides the woman with the
    right to criticize and question. The incident wherein quoting from the
    Qur’an a woman once criticizes the Caliph Umar when he prepared to
    control the value of Mehr as men were finding it difficult to pay their
    due to the constant increase in its value and wherein he corrected
    himself saying: “Everybody – even an old woman – knows better than
    Umar.” (Muslim), is quite well-known.
    The first verses of Surah Mujadilah (Those who question) were
    revealed in response to the questions put by a woman companion who
    argued with the Prophet concerning the traditions of lihaar which
    prevailed during the time of Jahiliyyah. This makes it quite clear that
    even women were permitted to discuss matters freely with the Prophet
    when it came to the issue of their rights. It is especially relevant that at
    no point in these verses has the argument raised by the woman been
    frowned upon.
    7. The right to take part in social activities: Although it is only
    natural that men take part in politics, Islam has granted the freedom to
    participate in matters pertaining to the nation to the woman also. Islam,
    however, does not compel women to take part directly in the campaigns
    for freedom of belief. But Muslim women did take part in helping out
    those who were fighting in the field of battle. History does give us
    accounts of woman-companions of the Prophet who proceeded to the
    battlefield accompanying the men, prepared food for them, distributed
    water and nursed the wounded. There has been in Islamic history
    even those precious few who, under dire circumstances, went with
    the men to very thick of the action on the battle field. Indeed, it was
    Ayesha, the Prophet’s wife, who led her side in the Battle of the Camel
    which transpired as a result of the contention , and the opposition to it,
    that Ali was not to be elected as Caliph until the assassins of Caliph
    Usman were apprehended and punished.
    8. The right to dower: It is the right of the woman being married
    to recieve Mehr. The woman has the right to demand the Mehr of her
    choice through her guardian. It is the duty of the man to give this
    dower. The dower which is given to her is then considered as the
    wealth of the woman. None can take from it except with her permission.
    “And give the women (on marriage) their dower as an obligation; but
    if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it
    and enjoy it with right good cheer.” (H.Q. 4:4) – this is the
    commandment of the Qur’an.
    9. The right to divorce: The woman has the right to get a divorce
    under circumstances wherein she becomes unable to live with her
    husband. The divorce from the woman’s side is referred to by the two
    terms Khul’a and Fasq. The first is the divorce wherein the dower is
    also to be returned while the second is the one in which it is not
    returned. In any event, Islam does not force the woman to live with
    a husband whom she does not like. Under compelling circumstances,
    she can recieve a divorce.

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