On 13 Jul 2002 at 9:34, Walpurgis wrote:
You can read about the author, as well as other articles on different
aspects of the issue, at:
http://www.secularislam.org/women/index.htm
>
> This is at once fascinating and appalling, but could you *please*
> provide a source other than the author? Do you have a link or ook
> reference?
>
> many thanks
> Walpurgis
>
>
> On 13 Jul 2002 at 3:01, joedees@bellsouth.net wrote:
>
> > Islam and Women's Rights
> > By Azam Kamguian
> > Religion in general and Islam in particular are women's enemy.
> > Women's inequality is god's commandment, in Islam enshrined in
> > immutable law by Mohammad and eventually recorded in
> > scripture. In most countries under Islamic states or under the
> > influence of Islam, Koran's directives are incorporated into
> > contemporary law. Family law in these countries generally follows the
> > prescriptions of Koran. Veiling (hijab), divorce laws, a very young
> > legal age of marriage, custody of children, polygamy, women's
> > rightlessness in matters of employment, travelling, choosing the place
> > of residence, honour killing are all aspects of Islamic Shari'a based
> > on the Koran and Islam's doctrine. Together with these, in countries
> > under the Islamic states, women are stoned to death for engaging in
> > voluntary sexual relations and are stripped of their basic human
> > rights. As many Western and Eastern apologists for Islam repeatedly
> > tell us that what is happening to women in the so -called Islamic
> > countries is not according to real Islam, and that real Islam is
> > egalitarian, I mainly refer to the Koran. Laws about women are the
> > most cruel, inhumane and cunning aspects of the Koran and Islamic
> > Shari'a. Women are the Inferior Sex: The rigid laws of Islam have
> > deprived half of the population of their basic human rights. The male
> > is in charge of the female: Koran 4:34, and the subjugated half is led
> > to believe, through Islamic teachings, that the supremacy of the man
> > is the will of Allah, and it has been predestined for women to live as
> > submissive, obedient wives. They are forced to accept that women are
> > inferior to men, that their testimony is equal to only half that of
> > the man, that they should inherit one - half of the male share, that
> > Allah doesn't want to see any women unveiled, that she may not
> > conserve with men except her father, or her brother. The proper job
> > and position for women is taking care of home, children and to be a
> > housewife. The majority of Muslim women are brought up with the
> > conviction that it is Allah's command for them to be under male
> > dominance and their fates are interwoven with that of men. In The
> > Koran there are four so called neutral verses where women are
> > considered equal to men (at least not demeaning towards women); to
> > which apologists for Islam refer us repeatedly. Here are those: 3: 195
> > "Their Lord responded to the: "I never fail to reward any worker among
> > you for any work you do, be you male or female, you are equal to one
> > another¦." 4: 124 "As for those who lead a righteous life, male or
> > female. While believing, they enter paradise; without the slightest
> > injustice" 16: 97 "Anyone who works righteousness, male or female,
> > while believing, we will surely grant them a happy life in this world,
> > and we will surely pay them their full recompense for their righteous
> > works." 40: 40 "Whoever commits a sin is required for just that, and
> > whoever works righteousness - male or female - while believing, these
> > will enter paradise wherein they receive provision without any
> > limits." In opposition to above four so-called neutral verses, there
> > are hundreds of versed that deliberately defame and dehumanise women:
> > An-Nisa 4: 34 "As to those women On whose part ye fear disloyalty and
> > ill -conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to share beds, (and
> > Last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not
> > against them means (of annoyance): For God is Most High, Great (above
> > you all)" Al - Baqara 2: 223 "Your women are a tilt for you (to
> > cultivate) so go to your tilt as ye will, and send (good deeds) before
> > you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day)
> > meet Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (o Mohammad)" Al - Baqara 2:
> > 222 "They questioned thee (O Mohammad) concerning menstruation, Say it
> > is an illness, so let women alone at such times and go not unto them
> > till they are cleansed." Al - Baqara 2: 228 "Men, your wives are your
> > tillage. Go into your tillage any way you want." "Women have such
> > honourable rights as obligations, but men have a (single) degree above
> > them." "Men are managers of the affairs of women because Allah has
> > preferred men over women and women were expended of their rights." 4:
> > 6 ¦ "And if ye are sick on a journey, or one of you cometh from the
> > closet, or ye have contact with a woman & ye find not water, then go
> > to clean high ground & rub your faces & your hands with some of it¦"
> > 33: 32-33 "O ye wives of the prophet! Ye are not like any other women.
> > If ye keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft of speech lest he in
> > whose heart is a disease aspire to you, but utter customary speech And
> > stay in your houses. Bedizen not yourselves with the bedizenment of
> > the time of ignorance. Be regular in prayer, & pay the poor due, 7
> > obey Allah & His messenger ¦" Hadith, Mohammad's Tradition: "If a man
> > and woman are alone in one place, the third person present is the
> > devil." "I was shown the hell- fire and that the majority of its
> > dwellers were women who were ungrateful" " If it had been given me to
> > order someone to prostrate themselves in front of someone other than
> > God, I would surely have ordered women to prostrate themselves in
> > front of their husbands¦" "A woman cannot fulfil her duties towards
> > god without first having accomplished those that she owes her
> > husband." "The woman who dies & with whom the husband is satisfied
> > will go to paradise." "A wife should never refuse herself to her
> > husband even if it is on the saddle of a camel." "Hellfire appeared to
> > me in a dream & I noticed that it was above all people with women who
> > had been ungrateful. "Was it towards god that they were ungrateful?"
> > They had not shown any gratitude towards their husbands for all they
> > had received from them ¦ Even when all your life you have showered a
> > woman with your largesse she will still find something petty to
> > reproach you with one day, saying, "You have never done anything for
> > me." " If anything presages a bad omen it is a house, a woman, and a
> > horse." " Never will a people know success if they confide their
> > affairs to a woman." Veiling (hijab) One of the most misogynist
> > Islamic laws with respect to women is the requirement for complete
> > veiling (hijab) in accordance with koranic tenets. The wearing of the
> > veil was instituted by Mohammad in the early days of Islam. Within
> > about one hundred years of his death, the institution of veiling and
> > seclusion had been spread all over the Middle East. One and a half
> > centuries after his death, the system was fully established. The
> > effect of all kinds of veils is the same, the woman is rendered
> > anonymous, a non -person, unapproachable, just a silent being skulking
> > along. She is taboo. The Islamic head- cover mentioned in Koran 33:
> > 59, and the curtain referred to in Koran 33: 53, which was meant to
> > separate the man from the woman. Why is Islam so obsessed with keeping
> > men and women part? Why have Islam gone to such great lengths to
> > maintain control over women? The main reason for hijab is the need for
> > controlling women's sexuality. Veiling internalises the Islamic notion
> > in women that they belong to an inferior sex, and that they are sex
> > objects. It teaches them to limit their physical movements and their
> > free behaviour. Veiling is a powerful tool to institutionalise women's
> > segregation and to implement a system of sexual apartheid. It
> > signifies the subjugation and servitude of women based on Islamic
> > doctrine and Koranic teachings. Much more than a way of clothing,
> > hijab is the manifestation of an outright Islamic misogynism and an
> > antiquated view on women's status. It is designed to control women's
> > sexuality much more effectively than any other religion or ideological
> > system. The following quote is attributed to Mohammad by a number of
> > Hadith collectors: "A woman is a pudendum (awrat) which is proper to
> > hide and cover; therefor when a woman goes out Satan looks at her and
> > desire to carry her from the road." In the eyes of Mohammad, according
> > to this quote, all male believers are potential "Satans" who might try
> > to take unconcealed women for themselves. Mohammad himself was one of
> > the men who were unable to control their lust upon looking at women.
> > Once he visited the home of Zayd, his adopted son, and there saw
> > Zaynab, Zayd's wife, half-naked. Mohammad's obvious desire for the
> > woman eventually led to the divorce of Zayd from his wife and shortly
> > thereafter Mohammad married her himself. The law of veiling is not
> > only humiliating to women, but it is an insult to men. It is a clear
> > indication that, in the eyes of Mohammad; all Muslim males were
> > sex-crazed. The obvious Implication is that seeing a woman without a
> > veil would cause the typical Muslim male to lose control and that
> > unveiled women would constantly be subjected to unwanted sexual
> > advances. Veil (hijab) is imposed on women in many countries under the
> > influence of Islam, either legally or under cultural and social
> > pressure. During the last thirty years, hijab has been and continues
> > to be the political and ideological symbol of political Islam, Islamic
> > states and the Islamic movement in the Middle East, North Africa and
> > Central Asia. Women have been the first - hand victims of this
> > reactionary movement, and imposing the veil on women by Islamic
> > movement and Islamic governments has been their fist bloody action to
> > suppress the whole society. In other countries, Saudi women typically
> > don a billowy black cloak called an Abaya, along with a black scarf
> > and veil over the face. Morality police enforce the dress code by
> > striking errant women with sticks. The women of Iran and the Sudan can
> > expose the face, but should cover the hair and the neck. Otherwise
> > they face arrest, imprisonment, flagging, cash fines; and if they
> > refuse it, they face knife and acid attack. Under Taliban, women of
> > Afghanistan had to wear burqa. Political Islamic groups vigorously
> > campaign to block reforms in women's civil rights in the Middle East
> > and North Africa. As long as Islam secludes women from the public
> > life, no real socio-economic progress is possible. The Wild and Naked
> > Misogyny in the Koran The most despicable expression one can ever come
> > across is that according to Hadith, women of heaven will be created in
> > such a way that after each sexual intercourse, they will become virgin
> > again. What a wild and naked misogyny! What an insult to women and to
> > humans! Here, I quote Koranic verses about Huris, virgins and the
> > sexist nature of Islam. These are few among many in the Koran: 52:
> > 17-20 "They will recline (with ease) on thrones arranged in ranks. And
> > We shall marry them to Huris with wide lovely eye. There they shall
> > pass from hand to hand a cup of wine." 37:40-48 "They will sit with
> > bashful, dark - eyed virgins, as chaste as the sheltered eggs of
> > ostriches." 44:52-55 "Yes and we shall wed them to dark- eyed
> > beautiful virgins." 55:56-57 "In them will be bashful virgins neither
> > man nor Jinn will have touched before. Then which of favourites of
> > your Lord will you deny?" 78: 31 "As for the righteous, they surely
> > triumph. Their gardens and vineyards and high - breast virgins for
> > companions, truly overflowing cup of wine." 78: 33-34 "And young full
> > - breasted (mature) maidens of equal age, and a full cup of wine."
> > "Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men)
> > deny? (In beauty) they are like rubies and corals." 56: 7-40 "Owe
> > created the Huris and made them virgins, loving companions for those
> > on the right hands." 55: 70-77 "In each there shall be virgins chaste
> > and fair, dark eyed virgins sheltered in their tents whom neither man
> > nor Jinn have touched before." 56: 22 "And there will be Huris with
> > wide, lovely eyes as wives for the pious." 56: 35-36 "Verily, We have
> > created them (maidens) of special creation. And made them virgins."
> > 40: 45 "Surely for the God - fearing awaits a place of security
> > gardens and vineyards and maidens with swelling breasts." The tidings:
> > 30 "The Huris are ever - young women who have wide eyes, flexing
> > glances and swelling breasts." Divorce According to the Koran and
> > Islamic law, a man has the right to terminate his marriage whenever
> > and wherever he pleases. It is the absolute power of a Muslim male to
> > repudiate his wife unilaterally at his discretion. He needs no reason
> > for a divorce; a family quarrel or bad temper is sufficient. Divorce
> > does not require any court, judge, lawyer, or counsellor. One phrase
> > from a husband is enough to break the marriage bond: "you are
> > divorced." The Koran states: "If ye wish to exchange one wife for
> > another¦." (4:20), giving the absolute power to the man to repudiate
> > his wife and marry another without any formalities. In fact more than
> > two dozens verses in Allah's scripture explain the modes of divorce
> > (Koran 2: 226, 227, 228, 230 -37, 241, 242; 4: 19-21, 130; 33: 49; 58:
> > 3, 4; 63: 1-7; 4: 35). According to Islamic law, when a man wishes to
> > divorce his wife, all he has to do is to say: "you are divorced," or
> > "you are dismissed." In the second half of the 20th century, based on
> > some legal changes in some of the Middle Eastern countries, men are
> > required to be present in family courts and repudiated their wives
> > before a judge. A man may divorce a wife and call her back up to three
> > times. After the third repudiation, he cannot take her back again
> > unless she marries and is separated from someone else first. Fear of
> > poverty keeps many women locked in bad marriages, as does the prospect
> > of losing their children. Typically, fathers win custody of boys over
> > the age of six and girls after the onset of puberty. A woman can sue
> > for divorce in the Islamic court on the specific grounds, such as the
> > impotency of her husband, non-payment of maintenance, or his insanity.
> > Cruelty is not sufficient grounds for divorce because wife beating is
> > enjoined in the Koran. When a woman applies to the court for an
> > injunction of divorce, and the husband is not willing to repudiate
> > her, the procedure can be very lengthy and in most cases is futile.
> > The offering of financial consideration of some sort is commonly the
> > repayment of the bride- price. When the marriage is contracted, a sum
> > of money is stipulated to be paid by the husband to the wife or her
> > male kinsmen before or after the wedding. This is called mahr (bride-
> > price), which means marriage settlement or dowry. A man who divorces
> > his wife must pay the full amount of the bride- price. When the wife
> > agrees to buy her freedom, it is called khula in Arabic, which means
> > something belonging to the wife is taken away from her. "There is no
> > sin for either of them if the woman ransom herself." (Koran 2:229) The
> > text of the scripture makes clear that the wife is actually paying
> > money to her husband to get her freedom. This is ransom money,
> > reminiscent of the ancient Arabian nomad's rite, which allowed the
> > release of the booty or captive of the raids after receiving a ransom
> > or head - price. Thus, in Islam a man actually buys his wife when he
> > bargains over the bride - price (mahr) and sells his wife's freedom
> > back to her when a financial settlement is paid for by her for a
> > divorce. The legal Age of Marriage At the age of 9, based on lunar
> > year (when a girl is actually 8 years and 8 months) she is considered
> > an adult and has to pray, fast and cover herself by hijab and eligible
> > to be married. Mohammad's favourite wife, Aisha; according to
> > evidence, was 6 when Mohammad met her, and nine when the marriage
> > consummated. Custody of Children According to Islamic law, woman
> > cannot get custody of her children, even if their father dies. In the
> > case of divorce or death, she surrenders her children to their father
> > and /or his family. Women's other Civil Rights Women living under
> > Islamic Law cannot travel, work, study, and leave their houses without
> > their fathers or husbands' permission. They do not have the right to
> > choose the place of their residence. 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 not born illegitimate, or be of the
> > female sex), is qualified to dispense justice in any type of cases.
> > According to Islamic Law, woman cannot choose her mate and is not
> > permitted to divorce him. Her husband can divorce without her
> > knowledge, and according to Shari'a, he is required to support her for
> > only 100 days. Polygamy According to the Koran a man can have four
> > permanent wives and as many temporary wives as he wants: 2: 3 And of
> > ye are apprehensive that ye shall not deal fairly with orphans, then,
> > of other women who seem good in your eyes marry but two, or three or
> > four, and if ye still fear that ye shall not act equitably, then one
> > only; or the slaves whom ye have acquired. Al -Nisa 4: 24 "And all
> > married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your
> > right hand possess. ¦" "Also (prohibited are) women already married
> > except those whom your right hands possess: ¦" 33: 52 "It is not
> > lawful for thee (to marry more) women after this, nor to change them
> > for (other) wives, even though their beauty attract thee, except any
> > thy right hand should possess (as handmaidens): and Allah doth watch
> > over all things." Al - Nisa 4: 34 "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." 23: 1,5,6 "Happy now the believers, humble is their
> > prayers, shunning vain conversation, paying the poor -due, and who
> > restrain their appetites except with their wives or the slaves whom
> > their right hands possess: for in that case they shall be free from
> > blame." 33: 49-51 "O prophet! We allow thee they wives whom thou hast
> > dowered, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth out of the
> > booty which God hath granted thee, and the daughters of thy uncles,
> > thy paternal and maternal aunts who fled with thee to Medina, and any
> > believing woman who hath given herself up to the Prophet, if the
> > prophet desired to wed her - a privilege for thee above the rest of
> > the Faithful. We well know what we have settled for them, in regard to
> > their wives and to the slaves¦; that there may be no fault on thy part
> > ¦ Thou mayest decline for the present whom thou wilt of them, and thou
> > mayest take to thy bed her whom thou wilt, and whomsoever thou shalt
> > long for those thou shalt have before neglected, and this shall not be
> > a crime in thee." Honour Killing Honour killings are an example of a
> > practice that is commonly associated with Islam. It has broader root
> > and has been incorporated into Islamic rules and Islamic law; Shari'a.
> > It is based in medireview tribal culture, in which a family's
> > authority and ultimately its survival is tightly linked to its honour.
> > Muslim perpetrators repeatedly justify their crime by referring to the
> > Koran that states harsh punishments for adultery.
> > *****************
> > Civilised humanity has slowly moved towards the equal treatment
> > of women and the recognition of women's equal rights. Religions
> > are one of the oldest and the most persistent obstacles on the way of
> > women's equality and freedom. Indeed, religion is women's enemy and it
> > is the nature of all religions particularly Islam to look backwards to
> > past ancient times and antiquated values. Women will be universally
> > equal someday, when that day comes, it will arrive in spite of all
> > religions and as a result of a just and powerful fight against Islam
> > and all other religions.
> >
> >
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> www.walpurg.iwarp.com
>
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> http://www.guardian.co.uk/humanrights/story/0,7369,731074,00.html
>
> http://stop1984.com/index2.php?lang=en&text=letter.txt
>
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