Posted on 12/05/2001 5:58:16 AM PST by Prodigal Daughter
I was going to post this a while back, but I decided not to because I didn't like the reference to abortion. But in answer to the recent post I am a Muslim Woman I've decided to post with the disclaimer about the abortion reference, since the majority of Iranian women would be killed for saying what this author says, but unfortunately, she is either a liberal or caved in to pressure from the feminists of the world so that she could get her message out.
Anyone who flames me as being anti-Moslem or anti-Arab will be ignored for being idiots. I'm not anti-Moslem, my great grandmother was a Moslem, but I am anti-Islam. I'm not anti-Arab, my grandfather was Syrian, but I am anti-Liar and I'm not going to waste my time with the 6th pillar of Islam, killing and LYING for Allah.
To all the sincere Moslem apologists who aren't lying, except to themselves, I say: It's a noble thing to defend your country or your culture or your religion, but ask yourself this, if a Christian woman turns her back on Christianity, does she usually get beheaded? (on the contrary) If a woman raised as a Buddhist decides to read the Bible, do her parents and husband take away her kids? If a Hindu woman wants to read the Koran, does she get beaten in public? If a Jewish woman decides to marry someone of another faith, does she get put into prison and raped by the guards to avenge Allah? So when you don't have a choice in the matter, you aren't really a Moslem, you're a robot.
I AM A MOSLEM WOMAN by Parvin Darabi
They differed with me over what times we are living in. It is not a democracy when a man can talk about politics without anyone threatening him.
Democracy is when a woman can talk of her lover without anyone killing her.
Dr. Sauad M. Al-Sabah
I am a Moslem woman. I have no face. I have no identity. At age 9, based on lunar year (a lunar year is twelve months of 28 days each or 336 days) or, when I am actually 8 years and 8 months old, I am considered an adult. Being an adult means that I have to adhere with Islamic laws as stated below.
I have to pray five times a day, fast one month out of the year and cover myself from head to toe in yards of black fabric. I am eligible to be married and can be punished for any wrong doing. I can be incarcerated and, if needed, executed for my crimes, even political ones.
Islam's law - that Allah sent down to his messenger Muhammad - came to announce that women (exactly like men) are full human beings. Women (like men) are therefore required to follow the way appointed by Allah.
"A woman (like a man) is therefore obligated with all three degrees of this religion: Islam (outward submission to Allah), iman (inward faith in Allah), and ihsan (perfection of worship of Allah)".
"Women have such honorable rights as obligations, but men have a (single) degree above them". The Koran 2:228
"Men are the managers of the affairs of women because Allah has preferred men over women and women were expended of their Rights". The Koran 4:34
Islam believes and promotes only one relationship between male and female and that is the relation of lust.
"If a man and a woman are alone in one place, the third person present is the devil". Prophet Mohammed
I am not allowed to swim, ski, ride a bike, dance, learn to play musical instruments, practice gymnastics, or any other sport. I am not even permitted to watch men play sports, either in the stadium and/or on television.
I am not permitted to participate in Olympic games.
From age 7, I am segregated from all males in and out of my extended family.
My father, grandfather, uncles, brothers or my male cousins are not allowed to be present at any ceremonies for my accomplishments. They will not be allowed to participate in my birthday parties.
I have to study under female teachers and professors. However, since women of prior generations were not allowed to go to school, there are not that many qualified women teachers and professors. Male professors must teach me from behind a wall.
I am to be treated by female doctors. Go to female dentists. And if there are none, then I have to go without or I must be examined through some sort of divider.
I am not allowed to practice birth control or have abortions, even if carrying or having a child means I have to die.
My worth is based on the Islamic Laws of Retribution, 24th edition, December 1982, as half of a man. It doesn't matter who I am, how educated I am, and what earning potential I may have in my life. My worth is half of a man, any man.
According to clauses 33 and 91 of the law in respect, Qasas (The Islamic Retribution Bill) and its boundaries, the value of woman is considered only half as much as the value of a man.
Article 1: dieh or blood money paid to the victim or next of kin for as compensation for bodily injury or murder of a relative.
The Islamic Law of Retribution
In the old Islamic laws, recently placed into practice by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the worth of a man's life is equal to the market value of 100 camels or 200 cows and that of a woman is equal to half of the man's, 50 camels or 100 cows.
The clause number 6 regarding the dieh (cash value of the fine) states that the cash fine for murdering a woman intentionally or unintentionally is half as much as for a man. The same clause adds that if a man intentionally murders a woman and the guardian of the woman himself is not able to pay half of the Dieh (the value of 50 camels or 100 cows, the difference between the value of a man to that of a woman's life) to the murderer, the murderer will be exempted from retribution.
New Legal Standing: Pursuant to article 85 of the constitution, the Islamic penal code was implemented in December 1981. According to article 300, blood money or dieh, a sum paid to the next of kin as compensation for the murder of a relative, is twice as much in the case of a murdered man as in the case of a woman. The number of witnesses required to prove a crime is higher if the witnesses are female. For example, article 237 of the penal code states that first degree murder must be proven by testimony of two just men and evidence for second-degree murder or manslaughter requires the testimony of two just men, or one just man and two just women, or of one just man and the accuser.
My testimony in a court of law is equal to half of that of a man. In most countries I don't vote and I don't get elected to office. And if I do, it does not mean much. I inherit only half as much as my male siblings.
I cannot get custody of my children. Even if their father dies. In the case of divorce or death I have to surrender my children to their father and/or his family.
I cannot travel, work, go to college, join organizations, even visit my friends and relatives without my father or husband's permission.
I must live where my husband desires.
I am banned from studies such as engineering, agriculture, archaeology, restoration of the historic monuments and handicrafts, and many other fields. I am not allowed to become a judge.
Under the terms of Koranic law, any judge fulfilling the seven requirements (that he have reached puberty, be a believer, know the Koranic laws perfectly, be just, and not be affected by amnesia, or be a bastard, or be of the female sex) is qualified to dispense justice in any type of case.
I have no right to choose the clothing I wear in public. This is done by the Office of the Islamic Guidance which sets the color, the style, and the accessories for women and girls as young as 6 years of age.
I will get arrested, beaten, and sometimes even executed if I wear make-up, nylons, bright colors and specifically the color of red.
I cannot choose my mate and am not permitted to divorce him if things did not work out.
According to Khomeini, the Iranian Islamic Imam, "The most suitable time for a girl to get married is the time when the girl can have her first menstrual period in her husband's house rather than her father's".
I have to meet all my husband's desires including the sexual ones. And if I refuse he has the right to deny me food, shelter, and all of life's necessities. I have to say yes every time he wants to have sex.
According to Hojatoleslam Imani, Religious Leader in Iran. "A woman should endure any violence or torture imposed on her by her husband for she is fully at his disposal. Without his permission she may not leave her house even for a good action (such as charitable work). Otherwise her prayers and devotions will not be accepted by God and curses of heaven and earth will fall upon her".
My husband can divorce me without my knowledge and by the Islamic law he is required to support me for only 100 days. And if he dies, I am entitled to 1/8 of his Estate.
I can only ask for divorce if my husband is impotent, if he does not have sex with me at least one night in every forty nights, and if he refuses to provide me with a minimum standard of living.
My husband can have four permanent wives and if he is from Shi'i sect, he can have as many temporary wives as he wants.
Koran says that "Men your wives are your tillage. Go into your tillage anyway you want". This means that a man is allowed to sodomise his wife and she cannot complain.
In some countries they even mutilate, cut and sew my female sexual parts in order to control and regulate my sexual desire.
According to the Islamic Laws, I am supposed to be seen outside of my home three times in my life. When I am born, when I get married and when I die.
I have no explanation on why God denied me everything and made men in charge of me, if there is a God. I don't believe there ever was one.
In Islam, the age of majority for a girl is 9 years and for a boy is 15 years. This means that a 9 year old girl and a 15 year old boy are considered to have the same level of maturity. Now, if girls reach maturity six years earlier than boys, then why did God place men in charge of women? Was there something wrong with God's Judgment?
In some Islamic countries such as Iran, if I am arrested for wearing make-up, the guards will force me to clean my face with cotton balls rubbed in pieces of glass. This cuts my face. The barbaric revolutionary guard, while watching the blood run out of my flesh, will tell me, "next time you think about this and will not wear it".
As a political prisoner I will be used as a concubine for the revolutionary guards. In case I am condemned to death I will not undergo the sentence as long as I am a virgin. Thus I will be systematically raped before the sentence is executed. Mullahs believe that virgin girls who die go to heaven but politically inclined girls are ungodly creatures and they do not deserve to go to heaven, therefore they are raped so that the Mullah's can be sure that they indeed will be sent to hell.
In Islam, if a 6 or 7 year old girl is raped by an adult man, she will be the one that gets punished. It is her fault because she provoked it. The parents then will burn or kill her because she has dishonored the family.
It has been said that the Moslem Prophet got very upset one day noticing his wives flirting with men who visited him and ordered women to stay behind a dividing curtain when speaking with men. The idea of hijab, the covering up of women, became a law in Islamic countries from that day.
In 1991, the Prosecutor-General of Iran, declared that "anyone who rejects the principle of hijab is an apostate and the punishment for an apostate under Islamic law is death."
Polygamy is legal in Islam. A man may marry "four Permanent" and as many "Provisional" or temporary wives as he desires.
"Marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own; so it is likelier you will not be partial". The Koran 4:3 "Most Europeans have mistresses. Why should we suppress human instincts? A rooster satisfies several hens, an stallion several mares. A woman is unavailable during certain periods where as a man is always active....", Ayatollah Ghomi, LE MONDE, January 20, 1979.
Her many reminiscenses of what goes on in that country were blood-curdling to me.
Leni
Actually, from what we've been reading lately, that mightn't be such a bad idea.
Dan
We on Free Republic, as opposed to Free Democracy always stress that we are a Republic and not a Democracy. This quote from Dr. Sauad M. Al-Sabah is a perfect illustration of the difference.
The good Doctor is wrong. In a pure Democracy, there is nothing to stop a woman from being legally killed by her family, her community or her Government for speaking about her lover. All that is needed to make such murders legal is an election and one "Yes" vote over 50% to make it so.
In a Republic, however, the Constitution and not the whims of the democratic mob determines the Law of the Land.
Thank you for posting this article - it has given me many insights to events that I could not understand when I was in the Sinai. And thank you for explaining to everyone how Islamic law works. The next time I hear an American woman whining about how tough life is here I'm going to make her read this post.
Peaceful religion. Sounds like they made up the rules as they went along to me.
Were we to compare the treatment of women and non-believers under Christian rule some 1200 years after the start of Christianity, we would find a lot of similarities.
I believe it is entirely possible that many religions go through these types of phases as they evolve. Initially, women were essentially equal under Christian doctrine, but by the dark ages women were little more than the property of their father or husband.
While not making this attitude right, we should also recognize that the past of our own religion includes some fairly unsavory facts. I'm not a sociologist, but I do find the similarities of behavior relative to time of existance for a religion interesting.
I believe it is entirely possible that many religions go through these types of phases as they evolve. Initially, women were essentially equal under Christian doctrine, but by the dark ages women were little more than the property of their father or husband.
And I suppose we are to believe that chivalry was Patricia Ireland's invention? Get real.
The extent to which women became property in the middle ages had little to do with Christianity and a lot to do with the prevailing political concept being "might makes right."
In addition, you simply do not find the kind of oppression commanded in the Koran in the bible. Yes, a distinction was made, and no, women were not as free or empowered as men.
Christianity, however, raised the status of women. No longer could a wife simply be discarded, and a husband who mistreated his wife is told that his prayers are ignored. The limitations placed on women are only in the context of worship and marriage.
While the Bible may not mention much of what was done to women during the Dark Ages, it was done under the umbrella of religion. There is not a European power that did not claim that their rulers, and laws, were ordained by God. The church itself was a political power and was involved in much of the same behavior I mentioned.
Prior to her burning at the stake, Joan of Arc was raped by her guards. This was not viewed as improper because, as a criminal and a heretic, she had no rights.
A woman who was accused of adultry could be thrown out of the house by her husband and was left to starve.
Upon the death of her husband, it was the man's children, and not his wife, that inherited the estate.
Women could not refuse sex with their husband, and a spousal rape was not a crime. This was enforced by the church.
While female castration was not practiced, it was not at all uncommon for women to be forced to wear a chastity belt, which, while less severe, would hardly be considered humane by our current standards.
It was not at all uncommon for girls as young as 12 to be married off by their fathers for financial or political gain. In fact, Lucretzia Borgia (the daughter of the Pope) was married at 12 to cement a political alliance for the Vatican. The church then issued annulments to her on the false grounds of impotance of her spouse, so she would be free to marry a more politically useful husband.
The fact is that a superficial sociological review shows a great deal of similarilty if one compares behaviors relative to the date of founding of these religions.
Wrong is wrong, but I am amazed that Christians like myself are calling for the destruction of a religion based on beliefs and actions that, quite frankly, are not too dissimilar to our own history.
What if Christians practiced everything that was mentioned in the old testament?
Christians don't base their practice on the Old Testament (ex. "an eye for an eye"). That was for the Hebrews before the coming of Christ. Christians base their practice on the teachings of Christ in the New Testament (ex. "turn the other cheek").
Wrong is wrong, but I am amazed that Christians like myself are calling for the destruction of a religion based on beliefs and actions that, quite frankly, are not too dissimilar to our own history.
There is a huge difference here that you simply ignore. The Jewish Torah and Christian bible simply do not authorize the same kind of opression that the Koran does.
Sure, those calling themselves Jews and Christians have done it, but they did it in rebellion to God, not in His service no matter how ardently they claim it.
Moslems, on the other hand, are authorized by the Koran to oppress as much as they like.
And as far as those self-proclaimed Christians of the middle ages go, I hold them in no higher regard than the terrorist barbarians we now face. The color of their skin or the origin of their tribe is irrelevant. They were barbarians then, many Moslems are barbarians now.
Old Testament: Rahab a harlot wasn't killed for harlotry. Deborah was a judge. Gomer
And then we have the Koran, nine-year-old Aisha and her dolls, but wait, he starts dreaming of her when she's age five.
Gen. 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Deut 24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: [but] he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. Proverbs 5:18: Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Malachi 2:14-15 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet [is] she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Hadith: Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 86, Number 98:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "A virgin should not be married till she is asked for her consent; and the matron should not be married till she is asked whether she agrees to marry or not." It was asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How will she(the virgin) express her consent?" He said, "By keeping silent." Some people said, "If a virgin is not asked for her consent and she is not married, and then a man, by playing a trick presents two false witnesses that he has married her with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage as a true one, and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, then there is no harm for him to consummate his marriage with her and the marriage is regarded as valid."
(Ay yay yay!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.