The Church vs The Faith, pt 2
This time it's Islam. Just as the Religious Right, by its politicizing and intolerance, makes something of a mockery of the Christian faith, Taliban types make a mockery of the teachings of Muhammad.
from the May 12, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0512/p09s01-coop.html
More than 1,400 years ago, Islam honored women. The Koran repeatedly emphasizes equality between the sexes, stating "and for women are rights over men similar to those of men over women."
Islam gave women equal rights to engage in commerce, earn an income, and own property. Women also have the right to divorce their husbands. They can ask for divorce if physically, mentally, or emotionally abused. They can even divorce husbands who cannot fulfill their sexual needs.
The prophet Muhammad told his followers to take half of their religion from his wife Aisha. He taught that women are the twin halves of men. These were progressive ideas at a time when women were considered such socioeconomic burdens that girls were often buried alive at birth. Islam prohibited this savage practice, restoring women's honor and place in humanity.
Sadly, parts of the Middle East have regressed to pre-Islamic times.
So, if Islam is not the cause of such mistreatment, what is?
Cultural practices and overly patriarchal societies - which vary from one country to another - are what dictate a woman's place in this region.
This is the real deal, people. What you're bitching about and blaming Islam for is actually pre-Islamic. Like the fire-breathing, bible-thumping Old Testament proselytizers are actually pre-Christian types.
Saudi TV host's beating raises taboo topic: domestic violence against Muslim women
By Souheila Al-Jadda
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - The news about the brutal beating of Saudi Arabian television host, Rania al-Baz, by her husband last month, serves as a wake up call to all Arab and Muslim women in the Middle East and the West.
Ms. Baz was married for six years to an abusive husband. In her husband's last violent tirade, she says that he told her he'd kill her, and forced her to recite the last rites. And he did almost kill her - her pretty face, loved by so many who watched her morning show daily, was pounded almost beyond recognition.
After days in the hospital and multiple operations, Baz has recovered enough to tell her story and denounce violence against women in her country.
Her case is significant because open debate about such issues is rare in the Middle East, especially in conservative Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi kingdom is known for its harsh treatment of women, who are prohibited from driving or leaving their homes without their husbands, fathers, or brothers. In public, they are forced to wear suffocating black veils that cover them from head to toe, turning them into shadows of the men they walk behind. Baz wore a head scarf on her show, not a veil covering her face.
While violence toward women is not the norm in the Middle East, it does exist and there is strong bias against women.
