Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
By Mona Eltahawy
NEW YORK — When it comes to Islamic law, or Sharia, words certainly do come easy if you’re a man. You can marry four wives, receive double the inheritance a woman gets and you can end your marriage simply by saying “I divorce you” three times.
So why not pontificate?
Words are especially cheap if you’re the Archbishop of Canterbury, who ignited a social storm in the UK last week by saying that the adoption of some parts of Sharia alongside Britain’s legal system “seems unavoidable” in certain circumstances.
Remember please that Dr. Rowan Williams is the head of the global Anglican community, the U.S. branch of which ordained a gay priest in 2003. But the archbishop clearly does not believe in wishing unto others as you would unto your own. He extends no such progressive ideals to Muslims. Most interpretations of Sharia consider homosexuality an abomination.
He probably thinks his “tolerance” for Sharia is progressive enough in light of the rabid Islamophobia that mars parts of Europe today. But it is a tolerance that condones only the most conservative options for Muslims. It is at best a form of the racism of lower expectations — the cheapest bargaining chip of liberal guilt.
Witness the archbishop’s insistence that he wasn’t advocating the “inhumanity” of Sharia à la Saudi Arabia or Iran where adulterers are stoned and thieves have hands amputated. No, no, he told us. He was just referring to the use of Sharia to resolve marital disputes, he insisted.
But that is precisely where the “inhumanity” of Sharia lies for women. As a Muslim woman — born in Egypt, raised in Saudi Arabia — I can only laugh at the archbishop’s naiveté. In Egypt, as in many Muslim countries, the legal system has been completely modernized with the exception of one area that stubbornly remains caught in the web of edicts issued by Muslim scholars who lived centuries ago — family law.
Sharia is used only to govern the lives of women and children.
Sudanese-American law professor Abdullahi An-Nai’m long ago pointed out the lie at the heart of calls for Sharia: They are essentially an attempt to “protect a patriarchal system.”
There are already some Sharia councils operating in Britain for Muslims who agree to abide by their rulings, but these are unofficial bodies not recognized by British law. It’s not difficult to imagine women being pressured to “agree to abide” by such rulings. And it’s just as easy to understand why a man would choose them over the secular legal system which would not be as tilted in his favor.
Why on earth are these religious cop-outs allowed to exist in the UK? It’s not just unofficial Sharia Councils, but Orthodox Jewish courts — and similar councils for British Sikhs. Women from those communities tell similar stories of how difficult it is to be granted divorces from their respective religious leaders.
What’s wrong with the British legal system that religious groups are allowed to create parallel systems to it?
For the less naïve view of just how “humane” Sharia is to women in Britain, I refer the right honorable archbishop to the recent study, Crimes of the Community: Honor-Based Violence in the UK by James Brandon and Salam Hafez.
It makes for difficult reading. Women and activists mince no words in showing the hurdles for women with children who want to get divorced; and, tell the researchers that women are being forced to stay in violent marriages as a result of skewed decisions of the Sharia Council.
Tanisha Jnagel told the report that the Islamic Sharia Council hears both sides but relies on religious texts to decide whether a divorce should be granted.
“In our experience, this isn’t going to result in a solution which is fair for the woman.”
When the archbishop so generously extended Muslims the right to use Sharia, I wonder whose version of Sharia he meant? The Angel Gabriel did not reveal Sharia to the Prophet Mohammed. Instead, much Islamic law was codified many centuries after the prophet died: by male jurists who used the Koran, and the life and sayings of the prophet to come up with laws that met the needs of their time. There are various Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim schools of thought but there is no consensus on one version of Sharia.
In a climate of growing right-wing anti-Muslim rhetoric some in the Muslim community find it difficult to stand up to radical Islamist posturing on Sharia. Such hesitation is often based on a mix of reluctance to openly criticize fellow Muslims, and ignorance as to exactly what Sharia means. Archbishops feeling generous to Muslims certainly don’t help.
We must resist selling out women’s rights and pandering to right wing religionists. That was exactly the point that Bassam Tibi, a Syrian-born German political scientist made at a conference on Sharia I attended in Copenhagen in 2005.
While lamenting European governments’ habit of turning to the most conservative in the Muslim community to speak on its behalf, he vowed “In the name of multiculturalism I will not accept cultural rights as a cover for Sharia.”
“I believe in Sharia as morality not as state law,” Tibi said. “I am not willing to shut up about human rights abuses by Islamists just because of the right wing. They are my enemy too…Islamophobia is the weapon of Islamists to silence critics.”
Are you listening Dr. Williams?
Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning New York-based journalist and commentator, and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues.
Copyright ©2007 Mona Eltahawy
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Released: 14 February 2008
Word Count: 898
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Comments (4)
Dale said:
I have stated before and I will state again that Sharia law has ABSOLUTELY no place in any Western legal system. Those pushing for it should go back to wherever they came from and enjoy all the so-called “benefits” it has wrought.
I have no problem with anyone practicing his/her religion so long as it is not Satanism and so long as it does not infringe upon my own rights which I have personally fought to preserve alongside many others… some of whom are now resting in the ground. Satanists should go to Hell and be with their “god”.
The problem with any application of Sharia law outside of predominantly Muslim countries is that it forces others to abide by its edicts… even those which really have no Scriptural basis in the Koran or the Bible… whichever you prefer as your version of Scripture.
I am as much a misogynist as any man could be without breaking the law, but I will be the first to say that the prohibitions placed upon women in the Magic Kingdom under the aegis of Sharia law are patently ridiculous.
As a divorced man, I understand with a wealth of detail many of you could not fathom what an evil divorce really is. Its bad for women, its bad for men, and its especially bad for children. Its also far too easy to get one and much too common in Western nations.
Under Sharia law, divorce is about as easy as getting rid of an unwanted pet… if you are a man. I do wonder why there are not more divorces in Muslim countries, but I suspect there are other cultural reasons.
Four wives?! Why would any man want four wives? One wife can cause as many headaches as any man could ever wish for. I maintain a “grotto” in my basement that the female half of the household does not have access to. I go there to get away from all things female. There are no flowers, doilies, sachet packets, or chocolate in my grotto. It has computers, tools, reloading equipment, guns, ammunition, and books…. many, many books, and Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and (insert name of least favorite feminist) are nowhere to be found on the cover of any of them.
The amount of time spent in bedroom recreation is less and less important to me the older I get, and while I will admit that women can do other things, that’s the only thing I really NEED one for.
Four wives… gimme a break!
Dale the Militant Misogynist
February 15th, 2008, 10:54 am
Reuben said:
Any thinking female would be insulted by Islam’s view of women.
Under Sharia law, the value of a woman is only half the value of a man:
Qur’an 4:11 “Allah commands you as regards your children’s (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal to that of two females…”
Bukhari:V3B48N826 “The Prophet said, ‘Isn’t the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind.’”
Consider the Muslim stance on consensual sex and coveting thy neighbor’s wife:
Qur’an 4:23 “Prohibited to you are: your mothers, daughters, sisters…. Also (prohibited are) women already married, except slaves who are captives.”
Qur’an 4:24 “Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess. Thus has Allah ordained for you. All others are lawful…”
Qur’an 70:28 “Preserve their chastity except with their wives and the slave girls they possess – for which there is no blame.”
Therefore, having sex with captives/slaves, meaning sex with those who have no right to refuse the advance, aka rape, is ok. And don’t take your neighbor’s wife – unless you conquer/kill him first.
Qur’an 24:34 “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-rape card:] But if anyone forces them, then after such compulsion, Allah is oft-forgiving.”
The permissable treatment of wives is appalling:
Tabari IX:113 “Allah permits you to shut them [wives] in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain, they have the right to food and clothing. Treat women well for they are like domestic animals and they possess nothing themselves. Allah has made the enjoyment of their bodies lawful in his Qur’an.”
So women should be beaten, locked in the closet, their bodies are there to be ravaged at will, but make sure you treat them as well as a dog.
Or for Muslims, maybe a sheep or cow would be a better comparison. Muslim men have such an affinity for molesting animals, the most influential and revered Muslim in recent Islamic history, the Ayatollah Khomeini,felt it necessary to address the issue with these fatwahs:
“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.”
Maybe this is why beef exports aren’t a booming business for Islamic countries.
“If one commits the act of sodomy with a cow, a ewe, or a camel, their urine and their excrement become impure, and even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must then be killed and as quickly as possible and burned.”
While we’re on the subject of the legal opinions of Islam’s most respected cleric, let’s not forget this other Khomeini gem:
“It is better for a girl to marry in such a time when she would begin menstruation 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.”
Marrying off your daughter before puberty is a Muslim father’s VIP pass to heaven. Let’s check out more helpful advice from the Ayatollah:
“A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However he should not penetrate, sodomising the child is OK. 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.”
The Ayahtollah condones kiddy-fiddling because Muhammad himself did it. Both the Qur’ an and Hadiths record that Muhammad married Aisha when she was six years old and he was 53:
Tabari VII:7 “The Prophet married Aisha in Mecca three years before the Hijrah, after the death of Khadija. At the time she was six.” Ishaq:281 “When the Apostle came to Medina he was fifty-three.”
The marriage was first consummated when Aisha was nine years old:
Tabari IX:131 “My mother came to me while I was being swung on a swing between two branches and got me down. My nurse wiped my face with some water and started leading me. When I was at the door she stopped so I could catch my breath. I was then brought in while the Messenger was sitting on a bed in our house. My mother made me sit on his lap. Then the men and women got up and left. The Prophet consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old.”
Most of us would consider a 56 year old man who had sex with a nine year old girl a paedophile, but maybe Muhammad gets a free pass as the self-proclaimed prophet of god [lower case intentional].
Let’s wrap up our discussion, and at the same time let Muhammad tell us why any woman who has read the Koran and continues to be a Muslim is a retard: Tabari I:280 “Allah said, ‘It is My obligation to make Eve bleed once every month as she made this tree bleed. I must also make Eve stupid, although I created her intelligent.’ Because Allah afflicted Eve, all of the women of this world menstruate and are stupid.”
Not only stupid, but innately unclean. The Koran further records that the Black Stone of the Ka’ aba (one of the holiest shrines of Islam) was once clear and transparent, but turned black when touched by by menstruating women.
February 17th, 2008, 4:45 pm
Dale said:
“Any thinking female would be insulted by Islam’s view of women.”
Ah… there’s the rub. You’d be amazed at how few women actually think… witness Teflon Bill Clinton getting elected to the presidency twice.
There are, however, some women who ARE fairly intelligent, and DO think. Some of these are also Muslim… most notably, Mona. Her choice of religion puzzles me, especially given her political views, but it is HER choice, not mine or anyone else’s.
Women are, and have always been, the ultimate puzzle.
February 18th, 2008, 1:42 pm
Halima said:
Mona what do you do when they tell you it’s your religion therefore you have to accept it, because that’s what they tell me all the time. My cousin had a hard time getting a divorce within this system, even though her husband cheated on her by marrying another women without bothering to tell her. As a result of his affair (or what others referred to as 2nd marriage) she contracted gonorrhea an STD, she doesn’t even have a right to her own health! They turned her away many times for a divorce until she brought her father because as a 35 year old women she can’t possible make your own decisions or be a part of the decision making process.
Although Islam is my religion, I’ve left this Muslim community to lick my wounds (I know I’m not the only one) but I don’t know if I’ll ever come back.
January 28th, 2009, 11:12 am
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