Violence Against Women

Zahra posted on this story earlier in the week and I came upon this article in regards to the same story recently. I appreciate the article and the larger message it’s attempting to send. It isn’t necessarily attacking or blaming Islam, but addressing the larger issue of the unequal/unfair treatment of women in many societies. What good does it do that our beautiful religion guides us away from such atrocities and teaches us to honor women, when we do nothing to end such acts of violence and instead help to perpetuate them if not by our complacency alone? The issue of violence against women is not a problem that plagues one country or the other…it is a problem that exists everywhere.

It hasn't received much notice in Canada but, last Sunday in Georgia, Sandeela Kanwal, 25, was strangled with a bungee cord. Police arrested her father in connection with what the media call an "honour killing."

The victim was reportedly unhappy with her arranged marriage, which took place in Pakistan three months ago, and so, on July 1, she filed for divorce. On July 5, she was dead. Not surprisingly, the U.S. cybersphere is having a blogoblast, with the usual suspects going on about how Muslims should be kicked out of the U.S. of A. before they take over.

It's very much a rerun of what we saw here last December, when Mississauga teen Aqsa Parvez was killed. Both her father and older brother face murder charges in her strangling death, which occurred after the girl had repeatedly flouted their restrictive ideas of how she should dress.

Meanwhile, south of the border, the more progressive pundits blame the misogyny inherent in so many societies in Asia and the Middle East, where, according to the United Nations, some 5,000 women every year are executed by their fathers, brothers or other male relatives, supposedly to preserve the family's good name.

If it were funny, it would be ironic. I mean, how do you restore your reputation if you go around strangling your daughters and sisters? It's confounding how this works.

Conceivably, men in these societies are guilty of all kinds of crimes against their religion and their states, whether we're talking gambling or drinking, burglary or murder, and yet their families don't seem to feel the need to stab them or stone them to death. Unless they're gay, of course.

If this honour thing applied to all, prisons would close. If families cleaned up their own trash, the state wouldn't have to. Yet only the act of bringing recalcitrant women to heel is a matter of honour.

Paradoxically, the very fact of killing them is an admission that, as man of the house, you're a failure since you couldn't make your females submit. This is partly why so many men here kill themselves after killing their partners, at a rate of four women a day dead in the U.S. they, too, feel like failures.

Thankfully, considering the billions of people who live in the countries where these so-called "honour killings" are committed, the murders are relatively rare. (And yes, occasionally they have crossed religious lines.) In fact, but for a few feminist journalists, they were never even part of the Western discourse before 9/11.

I say "so-called" because that term "honour killing" diminishes the crime, which is femicide. It all but excuses the killer on cultural grounds.

What's more, it attributes motives, and the media should not do that. We don't report domestic homicides with phrases like "It was a she-talked-back-at-him-once-too-often killing" or "She wanted to leave him killing," do we? With "honour killing," we buy into a political agenda. Indeed, it distracts from the real issues: patriarchy and control.

The fact is, much of the world is deeply misogynistic. In far too many countries, women are mere chattel, the property of men, passed from their fathers to their husbands.

But, if you want to make this about Islam and, Allah knows, so many do, then consider: If women are indeed the inferior sex in Islam, then it stands to reason that allowances would be made for their weaknesses. And, if men are their betters, wouldn't their religion hold them to a higher standard?

You'd think. But it's not about that. The real "honour" here is about power, and who has it. Sometimes, when women defy men, they take that power, and some men will stop at nothing to get it back.

Source here.

Love & Marriage: from the Single Jewish Female Perspective

This could just as easily have been the insight of a single Muslim female:

People often compare dating to interviewing for a job. In the Orthodox Jewish world, this notion is taken almost literally.

Upon returning from post-high-school studies in [apartheid] Israel, young Orthodox women (such as myself) meet with recruiters, commonly known as shadchanim (matchmakers). After determining whether the young woman wishes to marry a "learner" (a man studying full time in yeshiva), an "earner" (a professional) or a combination of the two, the shadchan collects the prospective bride's "shidduch résumé," detailing everything from education and career plans to dress size, height, parents' occupations and synagogue memberships. The shadchan then approaches a suitable single man or, most likely, his parents -- who add the woman to their son's typically lengthy "list."

Before agreeing to a noncommittal first date, the man's parents begin a thorough background check that puts government security clearance to shame. Phoning references isn't enough -- of course they'll say good things -- so they cold-call other acquaintances of the potential bride, from camp counselors to college roommates. The questions they ask often border on the superficial: "Does she own a Netflix account?"; "Does she wear open-toed shoes?" (The correct response may vary depending on how Orthodox a woman the man is looking for.)
. . .
Sensing this shift of power, mothers of sons who remain in the matchmaking system increase their demands: Any prospective daughter-in-law must be a size two, or a "learner" son must be supported indefinitely by the girl's parents. For men, "it's a buyer's market," says Michael Salamon, a psychologist and author of "The Shidduch Crisis: Causes and Cures" (2008). "And the pressures of dating are creating all kinds of social problems, such as eating disorders and anxiety disorders. It's frightening."

I used to shrug off this talk. Genocide in Darfur is a crisis; being single at 23 is not. But the communal pressure is hard to ignore. Orthodox Judaism, like most traditional faiths, is geared to families; singles lack a definitive role.

Then there's what social worker Shaya Ostrov calls the "popcorn effect." During the first two to three years following high-school graduation, 70% to 80% of Orthodox women get married; weddings then peter off. "The system works for a very limited period of time," says Mr. Ostrov, the author of "The Inner Circle: Seven Gates to Marriage." Friends of mine compare dating to musical chairs; nobody wants to end up an "old maid," and so they get engaged, hoping doubts will prove unfounded. "Young women," notes Sylvia Barack Fishman, professor of contemporary Jewish life at Brandeis University, "are often made to feel that they are damaged goods if they have not married -- and married well -- by their early 20s."
. . .
The core of the problem is that young marrieds don't know how to accommodate each other, says Mr. Salamon. And singles need to start asking the right questions. "Family history has nothing to do with whether you'll make a good husband or wife," he says. The rigid, interview-style questioning is only wreaking havoc: "They're looking for some sort of guarantee. But who can guarantee happiness?"

Full Story: Wall Street Journal
"Hat tip": Mansur Wadalwala

Hussam Ayloush For President, Vote Now!

Object to FISA Legislation NOW

Cowed by the Bush administration's pre-election scare tactics, the Senate passed privacy-stealing FISA legislation that undermines your Fourth Amendment rights.

Congress has not only legalized the Bush administration's secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to our phone calls and read our emails than even the Bush administration illegally claimed for itself under its secret program. And, by granting telecoms immunity, it has made it highly unlikely that we will ever learn the extent of the administration's lawless actions.

It's outrageous, unconstitutional and un-American. You can join the ACLU in sending that message by signing your name to a full-page ad in a major national newspaper. Let Congress know that if they won't stand up for freedom, you and the ACLU will!

The more voices we add, the more powerful our message will be. We need tens of thousands of Americans who are committed to defending the Constitution to speak up and stand with us right now.

By signing, you will add your name to the ACLU's print ad and on the ACLU's website for purposes of this ad. You'll also get updates on the fight for freedom by receiving ACLU email newsletters.

Sign the Petition ASAP:
American Civil Liberties Union

Jerks Like This...

. . .father, sadden me beyond words. I mean, what the heck happened here?

A Pakistani man is charged with killing his 25-year-old daughter in Georgia because she wanted out of an arranged marriage, police said.

Somber and tearful, Chaudhry Rashid, 54, of Jonesboro, an Atlanta suburb, made his first court appearance Tuesday in connection with the death of Sandeela Kanwal.

He was advised through an iUrdu nterpreter of the murder charge, and of his legal rights. Court records indicate that a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 24.

He was arrested early Sunday, after his wife called police at about 2 a.m. She reported that she had been awakened by screaming but couldn't understand the language, a Clayton County police report said. She said she was afraid and left the house to call police.

Officers found Kanwal dead in an upstairs bedroom of the home, according to the police report.

Rashid's wife told authorities Kanwal recently had been married in Pakistan -- an arranged marriage, she said. The young woman's husband was living in Chicago, Illinois, police said, but Kanwal remained at her father's home and worked at a metro Atlanta Wal-Mart for a brief time.

"The victim was not interested in marrying, nor remaining married to her husband," the police report said, citing information authorities received from Rashid's wife. "This was causing a great deal of friction between the victim and her father," so much so that the two had not spoken in two months, the report said.

Police found Rashid sitting behind a vehicle in the driveway, and he seemed "distraught and possibly mournful," the report said. He told police, "My daughter is dead." But when asked how she died, Rashid did not answer -- "he just dropped his head."

Ligature marks were found on Kanwal's body and police found an iron and cord by the doorway of her bedroom, where she was found. A necklace was found downstairs next to what appeared to be a prayer table.

"Apparently she and the father had argued over the marriage and the fact that it was arranged, and at some point during the altercation he did end up killing his daughter," said Clayton County police spokesman Tim Owens.

Full, sad, story: CNN

Wedding Weekend

It's a three day weekend, with four weddings and a bridal shower. One of those celebrations was for my younger brother, the others were of good friends.

It's easy during such joyous moments to let the suffering of our our brothers and sisters abroad casually slip our minds. This story of an Afghan wedding reminded me of that and moved me to tears:

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least 20 people were killed and more than 60 injured in Afghanistan when a U.S. plane dropped a bomb on a wedding party as celebrants fired into the air, an Afghan defense spokesman said Monday.
. . .
Many of the wounded from the bombing in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan were taken to a nearby hospital in Kandahar. Among the wounded were a 7-year-old girl and a 6-year-old girl, both of whom were said to be the only surviving members of their families.

Wedding guests were celebrating and firing up into the air just before the bomb struck, Dr. Gulbudin said.

Source: CNN
Additional Information: IHT

During the summer wedding season, let's please remember to make dua. Make dua for the happy new couples, but also make dua that one day, soon, our brothers and sisters abroad could enjoy the ease and happiness we so often take for granted.

A poem by Babar Ahmad

Babar Ahmad is a British citizen who was first arrested in December 2003 in the UK for six days, during which he was physically and emotioanlly abused, and then released without charge.

Babar was rearrested in August 2004 on an extradition warrant from the US based on a claim that he tried to solicit suport for "acts of terror" in Afghanistan and Chechenya through websites and emails.

Babar's case is currently with the European Court of Human Rights which has requested a hold on the extradition.

More here

I did not know about Br. Babar's case until I received an email with a heartfelt poem he wrote - may Allah (swt) grant him and his family the faith and strength to get through this ordeal:

Down Memory Well
Babar Ahmad

Last night I lay awake unable to sleep,
As I let my soul wander too deep.
My heart was in doubt about Your Promise,
No-one could give me solace.

My soul left my body and my body left my cell,
As I pulled up my pail from Memory Well.
I journeyed back to the time of my birth,
Not knowing then what it was worth.

What I discovered was a chest of treasure,
As I realized You had blessed me without measure.
I remembered all the good You had done for me,
In all my years when my body was free.

I was hungry and You fed me,
I was bare and You clothed me.
I was alone and You gave me company,
By blessing me with friends and family.

When I was sick You cured me.
When I was hurt You healed me.
When I was sad You cheered me up.
When I was broken You fixed me up.

I veered off the path but You brought me back.
I lost my footing but You set me on track.
I went astray but You gave me direction.
I felt afraid but You gave me protection.

When the pack of beasts savaged me that day,
And the racist devils mocked how I pray,
I asked You for death but You gave me life.
I asked it to end but You gave me respite.

As I lay in pain in the cell that December,
You sent me a gift I will always remember.
A dream unlike I had ever seen before.
A vision that made my spirit soar.

What I saw that winter's night,
Turned my darkness into light.
Even as I bled to the bone,
I knew then that I was not alone.

You set me free so my body could heal,
And my heart and soul could recover their zeal.
You were preparing me for what lay ahead:
A path of peril, fear and dread.

Once again You blessed me with captivity,
And made me into someone I never dreamed to be.
O Allah! I never sought all this attention,
That I got because of my detention.

The more they defamed me the more You honored me.
The more they detained me the more the blind could see.
The harder it got the more You helped me.
The darker it got the more You enlightened me.

As I then gazed at my memories in the pail,
I began to see beyond the veil.
I truly was an ungrateful servant,
Whose woes appeared ever so fervent.

As my feelings of sorrow turned into shame,
I realized I had only myself to blame.
How dare I moan about my pain,
When others far worse did not complain?

My throbs of doubt transformed into certainty,
As I fell asleep with my soul in serenity.
I had quenched my thirst from Memory Well,
And pulled myself out from my own hell.

O Allah, forgive me for my ingratitude!
O Allah, ignore my shameful attitude!
You were always there when I wanted You to be,
And I know now that You will never abandon me.

Babar Ahmad MX5383, HMP Manchester
September 2007, Ramadan 1428

Know your Hadith - Part VI (final)

After starting with some basics definition, discussing why sunnah is a source of legislation, summarizing the teaching methodology of our beloved Prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), looking into the spread of hadith during his time, and then during the time of the companions and their followers, we finally come to answering a critical question - how and when was hadith written down (preserved in writing)?

As with the previous parts, this post will not provide an exhaustive study, but rather highlights based on the Dr. Muhammad Ajaj Al Khatib's book - Usool al-Hadith.

If you don't have time to continue reading the post here's the short answer: Hadith was written down individually as early as the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and continued to be transmitted in writing (as well as verbally). However, the first formal order by a khalifah (caliph) to collect Hadith in writing was at the turn of the second century (after hijrah) during the time of Umar ibn Abdul- Aziz.

Part of the confusion regarding the writing of hadith is due to the presence of conflicting ahadeeth on this matter. There are authentic narrations which prohibit the writing of hadith and others which encourage it.

For example, there is an authentic hadith narrated by Abu Saeed al-Khudariy in Sahih Muslim in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) clearly prohibits the writing of hadith and orders the companions who have written any words from him other than Qura’n to erase them.

On the other hand there is hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As in Sunnan Ad-Dirami in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) clearly orders him to write hadith. There is also another hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah in which one of the ansar complains to the Prophet (peace be upon him) about his lack of memorization, at which point the Prophet (peace be upon him) advises him to "aid his memorization with his right hand."

To reconcile the above ahadith (and others like them), scholars have provided the following explanations:

1. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prohibited the writing of Hadith during the early days of Islam to avoid confusion between Hadith and Qura’n.

2. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) allowed the learned companions such as Abdullah ibn Omar to write hadith since they were not at risk of making a mistake in writing it or confusing it with Qura’n.

3. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) allowed companions with weak memory to write hadith.

During the time of the companions (may Allah be pleased with them), there were times when they would prohibited the writing of hadith due to their fear of Muslims confusing it with Qura’n or getting preoccupied with it (and neglecting Qura’n), and there were other times where it was made permissible due to the absence of the above prohibitive circumstances. At the end of the day, all companions had the same intention: preserving hadith. The situation was similar during the time of the followers (tabi`een) - may Allah be pleased with them.

Around 100 years A.H., the fifth righteous Caliph Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz formally ordered the collection of hadith. Omar feared the loss and distortion of hadith due to the death of many of the companions, and to the new phenomenon of fabricated ahadith which began in that time due to political and sectarian disputes.

Shortly after that, many scholars began classifying ahadith based on their chain of narration or topic. As such, the turn of the second hijri century was not the beginning of the collection and preservation of hadith, but the beginning of its classification.

As for the earliest examples of written ahadith, the most famous is Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As's as-Sahifah as-Sadiqah (the Truthful Scroll) which included a thousand hadith (according to ibn al-Athir) which he wrote directly from the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him). This document was cherished by Abdullah ibn Amr and passed on to his family after his death.

May Allah (swt) reward all the great scholars who have dedicated their lives to the collection and teaching of the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and give us the honor of being of those who studied, understood, and applied it.

P.S. I have tried my best to ensure this series of posts is as accurate as possible. Any mistakes are from myself. Please let me know if you find any - jazakum Allah khairan.

Number of Abortions Rising in Middle East, Experts Say

BEIRUT -- Unmarried and pregnant, Ranya gathered up her courage and confided to a friend that she was considering a drastic step: an illegal abortion.

She braced for criticism. But to her surprise, her friend disclosed that she had had one too.

Ranya asked another friend, who also said she'd had an abortion. And another gave her the phone number of a doctor in Beirut who would perform the procedure on the sly. The doctor used no anesthetic. The pain lingered for days, but the guilt engulfed her weeks later.

"It doesn't make me feel guilty because of Islam," said Ranya, 29, a short, brown-haired artist, struggling with her words. "It's a very complicated guilt to explain. I tend to philosophize things. I feel guilty in a weird way. It crosses my mind all the time."

Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

"There's definitely an increase compared to 10 to 15 years ago," said Mohammed Graigaa, executive director of the Moroccan Assn. for Family Planning. "Abortion is much less of a taboo. It's much more visible. Doctors talk about it. Women talk about it. The moral values of people have changed."
. . .
"I think abortions are going up for just for one reason: Sex is becoming more permissive," said Wissam Ghandour, a Lebanese obstetrician and scholar. "I assure you that the majority of girls getting married now are non-virgins and sexually active."

In addition, Arab youths receive little in the way of birth control or sex education, say family planning experts in the Middle East, many of whom work discreetly to provide reproductive health services in conservative Muslim societies that hold women's maternal roles as sacrosanct.

"If access to contraceptives was widely and freely available, abortion wouldn't be necessary," said an official at a Western family planning organization in Yemen. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear her organization would be targeted. Abortion, she said, is "a last resort."

According to most interpretations, Islam strictly forbids abortion after the fetus has reached 4 months, and allows it before then only in cases of violent rape or when birth poses an extreme threat to the physical or psychological health of the mother.
. . .
According to a poll released this month by WorldPublicOpinion.org, 53% of Egyptians, 57% of Palestinians and 55% of Iranians oppose their governments' policies of making abortion a crime.
. . .
Moroccan family planning experts estimate that 600 abortions a day are performed in the North African country, most involving unmarried women. Only a small percentage are victims of rape or sexual abuse, they say.

Despite the lack of frank public discussion of volatile issues such as abortion in the Arab world, there are signs that some taboos are slowly crumbling. Women are talking about abortions.
. . .
But botched procedures are still widespread.

In the spring of 2007, Iraqi obstetrician Donya Taher was on call, roaming her Baghdad hospital, when she was called to the emergency room.

The patient was bleeding heavily, and her blood was turning pinkish. They loaded her up with 10 pints of blood, six pints of plasma and a heavy dose of antibiotics.

"She was dying," Taher recalled. The woman and her husband, both in their early 20s, said she had had a back-alley abortion. They already had two children and couldn't afford a third.

As soon as the woman recovered, the couple slipped away.

"We wanted to know who did this to her," Taher said. "But she wouldn't tell us. Whoever it was should be punished."

Taher was enraged but not surprised. She said that only a few doctors perform relatively safe abortions in Baghdad, a capital city of at least 5 million people. Although she has not detected any noticeable increase in the number of botched abortions, there is a steady stream of injured in the emergency room, she said.

"They use the feces of animals. There are many unscientific methods, herbal medicine," she said. "Sometimes it will cause septic shock."

Source: LA Times

World's Top 10 Public Intellectuals Muslims

Foreign Policy:

Rankings are an inherently dangerous business. Whether offering a hierarchy of countries, cities, or colleges, any such list—at least any such list worth compiling—is likely to generate a fair amount of debate. In the last issue, when we asked readers to vote for their picks of the world’s top public intellectuals, we imagined many people would want to make their opinions known. But no one expected the avalanche of voters who came forward. During nearly four weeks of voting, more than 500,000 people came to ForeignPolicy.com to cast ballots.

...

No one spread the word as effectively as the man who tops the list. In early May, the Top 100 list was mentioned on the front page of Zaman, a Turkish daily newspaper closely aligned with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Within hours, votes in his favor began to pour in. His supporters—typically educated, upwardly mobile Muslims—were eager to cast ballots not only for their champion but for other Muslims in the Top 100. Thanks to this groundswell, the top 10 public intellectuals in this year’s reader poll are all Muslim. The ideas for which they are known, particularly concerning Islam, differ significantly. It’s clear that, in this case, identity politics carried the day.

Granted, the poll's results are not the most objective, but they are still very interesting. For one thing, I was surprised to see how little I know about Muslim intellectuals - I didn't recognize the names of half the people on the list! If you're like me, take a few minutes to get to know the top 10 intellectuals - whether or not your support their thinking or ideology:

1. Fethullah Gulen
2. Muhammad Yunus
3. Yusuf Al Qaradawi
4. Orhan Pamuk
5. Aitzaz Ahsan
6. Amr Khaled
7. Abdolkarim Sorouch
8. Tariq Ramadan
9. Mahmood Mamdani
10. Shirin Ebadi