Posted on 12/05/2007 6:22:34 PM PST by DogByte6RER
“A good wife must live in fear”
05/07/2007
SAUDI ARABIA
Women are forbidden to drive, to show their head and to speak in public, and to shake a man’s hand. On television, preachers incite husbands to beat their wives “for their own good”. Saudi journalists describe the countless prohibitions facing Muslim women in their country and appeal for a distinction between religious truths and social customs.
Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Without permission, women cannot even drive a car or change the colour of their clothes, and television preachers warn that women who shake a man’s hand are committing “adultery of the hand”. Citing such examples, Saudi journalists have criticized the social mentality that rules the relationship between wife and husband.
In the Saudi daily Al-Watan, Fatima Al-Faqih described the many bans imposed on Saudi women: “[They] are forbidden to drive, forbidden to travel without permission [of their husband or father or whoever has authority over them] , forbidden to stay alone at a hotel without permission, forbidden to name their own children without [a man's] consent... forbidden to leave their homes or to take a job without permission... forbidden to change the color of their abayas [traditional, long tunic], forbidden to go to school or to the university without permission.”
In some Saudi cities, a woman cannot even “show her face”, she cannot get married without permission nor can she “remain married if one of her male relatives decides that her husband's lineage is inferior to hers... nor can she sue for divorce without apologizing and paying a fine.” Without permission, she “cannot keep her children after the divorce... hold a senior position in the private or public sectors... annoy her husband, and finally, a woman's voice is considered [a form of] defilement, and she is forbidden to speak in public.”
Many men, writes Hasna Al-Quna’ir on the Al-Riyadh daily, justify the inferiority of women by resorting to a “distorted reading of the sayings of the Prophet”, a tactic often used by television preachers. For example, there is a verse that says: “A tribe that nominates a woman [as leader] will not succeed”. The journalist explained that on the strength of this saying, an expert said on television that wives should not be asked for their views as they were completely emotional. Another television expert, to “defend the virtue of women”, “incites fathers, brothers and husbands”, telling them that “a girl who is not beaten from an early age grows up to be a rebellious woman, difficult to control” and that “a woman who leaves her home without a veil is like a woman who goes out naked”. The same preacher warned Muslim women that not covering their heads was “the main reason that women are seduced and fall [into sin].” Another preacher said the woman “who shakes the hand of a man that is not her husband is guilty of... 'adultery of the hand'”. The journalist said that the sayings of the Prophet needed to be considered in the “historical circumstances and particular context” in which they were pronounced and that “religious duties” had to be distinguished from norms of social conduct that were controversial and not subject to dogmas of faith, “like the custom of covering the face”.
Due to this culture, writes Maha Al-Hujailan on the Al-Watan, “women live in constant fear… that the husband may take another wife.” “Only women living in this fear properly fulfill the role of the wife, while a woman who feels assured that her husband will not take another wife comes to disdain her husband and her family life...This culture causes a women to feel mentally and psychologically inferior, like a quarrelsome child who must be constantly supervised, intimidated and punished into performing her duties.”
The journalist said that women who felt this way may even believe that “a good man who respects them is nothing but a weak and unstable man... In their opinion, an ideal man is a violent one who humiliates his wife.”
Hasna Al-Quna’ir added: “The woman is the victim of this insular culture, and her only salvation would be a reorganization of the cultural structure of [our] entire society."
The single most damning view of NOW
is the deafening silence toward the treatment of women
under Islam. I have no tolerance toward their
cowardess in this respect. The internal inconsistence
is unacceptable, given their stated positions.
By tradition, the love of money, and the
love of power are interchangeable
What Saudi Arabia needs, more than anything.
Is rapidly, with all the scientific resources available to us (which is quite a lot, actually) for,...
AMERICAN TO BECOME ENERGY INDEPENDENT.
They are not stupid.Simply the only way of life known to them.And it’s all over Middle East.
I think the whole movement has been keep alive and/or hijacked by some other movement, similar to the homosexual agenda and who know how many others. The whole Dem party reeks of trying to divide and conquer the Republic. If this is the truth then why would they care about expanding the movement to places where the abuse is more prevalent?
That’s it!
The reason American feminists are afraid to take a stand on such horrible abuse elsewhere — is that by paying attention to true abuse, American women will realize they’re honestly, treated like absolute Queens.
I do believe, it’s that simple.
Saudi women ought to see a re-run of that show. It would open their eyes.....maybe. But the mullahs would burn them shut again!! Sick.
Saudi women ought to see a re-run of that show. It would open their eyes.....maybe. But the mullahs would burn them shut again!! Sick.
Also, it is things like this that make me give thanks to God for who and where and what I am.
If the wife becomes Lysistrata, he gets three more wives.
If all the wives become Lysistrata, he rapes the nearest infidel.
The greeks (oh, how I hate typing this) had more decency to stay within their own community and not go on a raping rampage in Lysistrata. The Greeks, such hedonists and pagans, were better than modern Muslims.
Ever hear of Maggie? Golda? Evita?
NOW feminazis are secretly aligned with Islam and support repression of women in Islamic countries?
Either the left is incredible crafty or the people claiming that on this thread are incredibly stupid.
Or she will walk away from the POS that her assigned husband is. Can't have that, the husband bought his wife fair and square!
Indira, Imelda, and She Who Must Not Be Named
If I were a Saudi, I’d take Rosie as a wife — just so I could beat her every day.
Yup. And unfortunately, even if NOW shouted against it from the rooftops - nothing in Islam would change. They would just view it as another crazy American idea and more proof that women should be kept in their place - if they thought about it at all. Nothing any American organization says about it is going to change their way of life.
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