We begin with one of the most sad and ironic tales of the year thus far, which is the killing and beheading of Assiya Hassan (37) by her husband, Muzzammil (44). They were the poster couple for Islam in America -- working together through Bridges TV, to show Muslims in a more positive light; but they were also well-known to the local police, for their tortuous six-year history of domestic abuse.
“I think of Aasiya as a martyr,” said Faizan Haq, a local professor who
helped launch Bridges TV, the station in Orchard Park that the Hassans
started in 2004. “She has given her life to protect the image of
American Muslims. And as an American Muslim community, we owe it to her
not to let this happen again.”
Of course one domestic squabble doesn't a mysogynistic sect doesn't prove, but few could miss the incongruity of having a man chosen to evangelise for the Muslim cause while being a bully and wife-beater. This may just show what a hollow endeavor it is to whitewash Islam. Our prayers for her soul, may she now rest in peace.
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In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal for women to drive. So one woman asked for a ride from a stranger and paid a terrible price: the driver took her to a house where he and four friends gang-raped her. Not only is she now pregnant, but she's also been charged with adultery (for having intercourse outside of marriage), will be imprisoned for a year and will endure 100 lashes after the birth of her child. Who thinks of these laws -- and applies them without mercy or mitigation? What kind of God would their religion worship?
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It is with great sadness that we read that Somalia has embraced Shari'a for its guiding light. There is a long history of war between Muslims and Christians, but followers of Muhammed have been there for centuries. It is with greater sadness, though, that we read that Shari'a is extending its influence in Europe, where women might otherwise have access to a fairer system of laws. This woman has the very credibility to speak to this injustice because of her own story.
[“Hannah Shah”] is ... the
daughter of an imam in one of the tight-knit Deobandi Muslim Pakistani
communities in the north of England. Her father emigrated to this country
from rural Pakistan some time in the 1960s and is, apparently, a highly
respected local figure.
He is also an incestuous child abuser, repeatedly raping his daughter from the
age of five until she was 15, ostensibly as part of her punishment for being
“disobedient”. At the age of 16 she fled her family to avoid the forced
marriage they had planned for her in Pakistan. A much, much greater affront
to “honour” in her family’s eyes, however, was the fact that she then became
a Christian – an apostate. The Koran is explicit that apostasy is punishable
by death; thus it was that her father the imam led a 40-strong gang – in the
middle of a British city – to find and kill her.
Hannah Shah says her story is not unique – that there are many other girls in
British Muslim families who are oppressed and married off against their
will, or who have secretly become Christians but are too afraid to speak
out. She wants their voices to be heard and for Britain, the land of her
birth, to realise the hidden misery of these women.
The beauty of her story is not only that she found Christ, and not only that she wishes to help other Christian converts, but that she has witnessed to the power of forgiveness in her own life. Despite being betrayed by her father, by her mother who didn't protect her, and by the British system that stupidly sent her back to her cage of abuse, she knows the path to peace:
So does Hannah offer Christian forgiveness to the father who raped and abused
her and who, by her own account, was even prepared to murder her?
“It’s taken a long time and it’s only in the past few years that I’ve got to
that. It’s very hard to get there and it’s taken a lot of shouting and
screaming behind closed doors, and praying, to get me to the point of being
able to say: I forgive. I have to, partly because otherwise I would be a
very bitter and angry person and I don’t want to livea life that’s full of
anger.”
This at least allows this installment of "Wednesday Woes" to remind us of the brilliant, dazzling silver lining that is our God of Mercy. Please pray for all the women trapped by mysogyny, injustice and violence. Perhaps we could also benefit by reading her book (though it sounds like very painful reading.)
Comments
“People have realized that the complete removal of the feminine element from the Christian message is a shortcoming from an anthropological viewpoint. It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity."
This is just another of the unintended consequences of the cultural acceptance of contraception and abortion! Men's sexuality has been robbed of its creative essence. It is now viewed as something that imposes a burden on women (when conception happens to occur), something used to control women or something that is purely recreational. Why would men bother?? In taking away their responsibility, we've also robbed them of their significance! In the big picture of humanity, men have been made into nothing more than a nuisance women have to figure out how to control in order to bring about the next generation. Men don't see it as their task to protect the vulnerable because they see themselves as the vulnerable ones. A few well preserved vials of sperm would make men entirely obsolete in the world's ethos today!!
That is astounding Robin, and good for you for standing up. At the heart of that matter, I think, is even worse than a gender mixing message. There is an increased sharper and sharper focus on the "self." Solid Catholic teaching returns our focus away from ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The original sin, Eve denied her womanhood when she desired to be like "gods." Since the only god she knew was the Father. Where was Adam? He stood impotent... in other words, they were divorced. There's a young girl at Robin's son's high school who was just told that she is the center of the universe and it's a tragic disservice to her.
Ditto what Mary said! A lot of high schools have very poor math and science depts, for boys and girls. I also am educated as a chemical engineer, but chose to teach the two years before we had children because its hours were more suited to spending time with children. (I was looking ahead). When it came time and I was pregnant with our first, I realized that I did not want to leave him with someone else, and was able to stay home full time. I am not sure it would have been that easy if we were used to another engineering income and not just a private school teacher income. Also some of my first job offers were out on oil rigs - I had no interest in that at all even though I enjoyed my engineering classes and did well in them. No one discouraged me from an engineering job, on the contrary I got a lot of flack for my decision not to pursue an engineering career.
I've been lurking, but this is one that irritates me. Beats the heck out of me what these "barriers" are. I was educated as a chemical engineer, where 1/3 of our class was women. However, in electrical engineering, only 1 or 2 out of 30 were women. Is it possible that women are Just Not Interested in some areas? Nah, it must be The Man keeping us down so we must legislate (and, I agree -- when they say "legistlate", I hear "quota"). And actually, I have a friend that was also a chemical engineer. When she lost her job, she decided not to go back into engineering and started working from home so she could spend more time with her 3 kids. Also, if nothing else, there are all kinds of incentives for women to enter science and engineering -- scholarships not available to men, guaranteed housing on campuses that do not guarantee housing to the general population, etc. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that schools in general are not preparing students for the hard sciences. It is truly a sad state of affairs, the lack of science education these days.