...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

 A “tribal” crime: A father and his son stand accused of murdering a young woman—their daughter and sister—because she balked at the father’s authority and refused to wear a headscarf: One of those “honour killings” we’ve heard so much about, whereby the family considers that its “honour” resides between the legs of its female members, and the family’s men folk are moved to “defend” their “honour” by offing any uppity chicks. Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington weighs in on an (alleged) local honour killing, as does an imam, who insists it is “tribal” and has nothing to do with religion:

…"This is not Islam, this is barbarism," Stephen Rockwell, host of Saturday's national TV show Call of the Minaret on Vision TV, said of the strangulation murder of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez that many believe is a cultural honour killing.

"Dishonour killings," is how blogger Ellen R. Sheeley describes these homicides.

"There should be no discussion of this honour business," writes in Ron Date. "If these people want to maintain their 'honours' customs, they really should return to their homeland."

It's a hot topic and Peel police should be commended for recognizing honour killings have gotten out of control in some countries, like in Germany last year where a Kurdish man from Iraq received a life sentence for killing his 24-year-old wife for leaving him. "He was proud of his evil deed," said Stephen Brown, a columnist for Front Page Magazine which covers this subject matter extensively. "Only three hours after his wife had successfully divorced him in 2006, he ambushed her, stabbed her 12 times and then poured gasoline over her, burning her alive. He told the court she had betrayed him and 'my religion and culture forbid that.' "

However in all the reaction I received from yesterday's front page showing the arrest of Aqsa Parvez's brother on first-degree murder charges, I did not get one Muslim writing in defending this homicide of the Applewood Heights 11th grader on Dec. 10, 2007. Or any homicide.

Actually it was the contrary - many believing it should be up to an individual if she wants to wear a traditional head scarf and/or embrace western traditions. Perhaps a proper, open and non punitive discussion with Muslim women will emerge out of this with real dialogue on whether they want to continue wearing the Hijab and if they are concerned for their safety should they not want to.

Either way, the Syrian-born Rockwell and many e-mailers said that debate should never end up with a homicide.

"Teen Aqsa was innocent in the sense that irrespective of 'Hijab' or 'no Hijab,' she had equal right to live in this world," writes Qasim Abbas. "No fundamentalist or otherwise have any authority to force any one to follow any act of Muslim religion in accordance of teaching in Muslim Scripture."

Rockwell, the spiritual leader of The Downtown Mosque on Bond St., agrees, "if they want to leave, they will leave. You can't stop them and you can't persuade them."

Nor should you. "Verse 256 of the second chapter in the Koran," said Rockwell. "Let there be no compulsion in religion. It is ridiculous. You can't legislate religion down somebody's throat."

Having said that, though, Rockwell does not want to see people using this murder to label Muslim families in a country where "if you bash Islam, you are given press time."

He said he reminds new Canadians of Muslim faith, "everyone will be standing before God. I preach on TV to love Islam and practice it the way it came, don't use tribalism." …

The thing about the Koran is that for every hearts and flowers verse about there being no compulsion in religion you can usually find another one that contradicts it. For instance, while there may be no compulsion in religion (a moot point, since under the terms of sharia, all non-Muslims must “submit” to Islam’s authority) in matters of gender, the man is definitely superior to women. It says so right here. Those words, too, are a product of tribalism—the 7^th Century tribalism of the Arabian subcontinent. And to this day they are used to justify the acts of fathers, brothers and uncles who murder daughters, sisters and nieces for failing to comply with the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

It would be helpful if, instead of dismissing “honour” murders as being entirely “tribal,” moderates like Rockwell could acknowledge that the desire to control women springs in no small part from what is written.

Posted by: scaramouche at 09:49 | link | comments

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