Lifting the veil
A recent conference pointed up the problem of the treatment of women in Islam:
“The keynote speaker, Syrian-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan, an outspoken critic of Islam, described an “honor killing” of a young Middle Eastern woman that occurred with the help of her mother. In a later exchange, another participant, Libyan journalist Sawsan Hanish, argued that it was unfair to single out Muslim societies, since women suffer violence and sexual abuse in every society including the United States. Sultan pointed out a major difference: In many Muslim cultures , such violence and abuse are accepted and legalized.”
These problems are not the exclusive province of women in countries dominated by Islam. The treatment of American Muslim women presents similar difficulties. Many European nations with Muslim minorities report honor killings of women who are raped, by husbands, brothers, fathers, et. al.
“Not long after I picked up the free Saudi book, Mahmoud Shalash, an imam from Lexington, Ky., stood at the pulpit of my mosque and offered marital advice to the 100 or so men sitting before him. He repeated the three-step plan, with “beat them” as his final suggestion. Upstairs, in the women’s balcony, sat a Muslim friend who had recently left her husband, who she said had abused her; her spouse sat among the men in the main hall.
At the sermon’s end, I approached Shalash. “This is America,” I protested. “How can you tell men to beat their wives?”
“They should beat them lightly,” he explained. “It’s in the Koran.”
He was doing the dance.”
I continue to wonder why American feminists are not more outspoken in their condemnations of Islamic traditional treatment of women, which is horrendous by nearly any standard. Is more feminist ink spilled on the Southern Baptist church than on Islam? It’s difficult not to suspect that conflicting imperatives (of being “for” women but also “for” multiculturalism and “against” the evil fascist regime of Bush) have caused a certain paralysis of rhetoric.
The irony: no more “anti-choice” regime is possible than a state ruled by Sharia, where the women and their abortionists are simply to be killed.
phi, you have to start using the “category” options on the posting page – they keep this thing neat and tidy.
Hmm… I’ll take a look.
I see why I missed it. There’s a whole list of options in the posting page that I never used. Unlike you technologically adventurous types, I tend not to click on something I don’t already understand….
Is there an option for checking spelling? Grammar? Rhetorical focus? The stock market?
Just wondering.
the next upgrade of the software will probably include a spell checker. Until then, download the new beta of Firefox 2, which has a built-in spellcheck for internet forms.
See… I just had to ask.
I’m on your side on this one, Phil. Ill treatment of women Bad. But I think we may disagree about the solution.
Oh, pul-leeeeze don’t stop there, Aly!
Um… I don’t recall proposing a solution. I’d love to be so smart.
I more tend to look at what seem like geo-political realities, and observe that particular courses of action, or inaction, seem likely to produce particular ranges of results. You know the old definition of insanity, right?
I am sure of this much: failing to recognize the exact nature of the problem is a guaranteed method to do nothing useful about it.
Some of the problems have NO immediate (read, several decades) solution within human reach. Some of the problems can be kept from getting worse, however…. at least in part.
A new book that just arrived yesterday (I’ve been waiting a month for it):
“America Alone” by Mark Steyn
Don’t be put off by the title… it is not AT ALL about “American Triumphalism”… in fact, the book is rather bleak. But it is very hard to ignore…. and very funny.
Yo. I liked this article, so I sent it on to the religion reporter of the Herald Leader in Lexington, Kentucky. He called the Imam, and the Washington Post writer. Here’s the result.