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Islam and Women: Difference between revisions
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==Women in the modern Muslim world== | ==Women in the modern Muslim world== | ||
=== Strict enforcement of hijab === | ===Strict enforcement of hijab=== | ||
In the holy city of Mecca in March 2002, fifteen teenage girls perished in a fire at their school when the Saudi religious police, the muttawa'in, refused to let them out of the building, because in the female-only school environment, they had shed the outer garments that women are required to wear in the presence of men. They had not put these garments back on before trying to flee from the fire. The muttawa'in, favoring the victims' death to the transgression of Islamic law, battled police and firemen who tried to open the school's doors to save the girls.<ref>Christopher Dickey and Rod Nordland - [http://www.islamawareness.net/MiddleEast/Saudi/fire.html The Fire That Won't Die Out] - Islamawareness, 2002</ref> | In the holy city of Mecca in March 2002, fifteen teenage girls perished in a fire at their school when the Saudi religious police, the muttawa'in, refused to let them out of the building, because in the female-only school environment, they had shed the outer garments that women are required to wear in the presence of men. They had not put these garments back on before trying to flee from the fire. The muttawa'in, favoring the victims' death to the transgression of Islamic law, battled police and firemen who tried to open the school's doors to save the girls.<ref>Christopher Dickey and Rod Nordland - [http://www.islamawareness.net/MiddleEast/Saudi/fire.html The Fire That Won't Die Out] - Islamawareness, 2002</ref> | ||
=== Domestic abuse === | ===Domestic abuse=== | ||
According to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, over 90% of married women report being kicked, slapped, beaten or sexually abused when husbands were dissatisfied by their cooking or cleaning, or when the women had 'failed' to bear a child or had given birth to a girl instead of a boy.<ref>[http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/010/2002/en-http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/010/2002/en Pakistan: Violence against women: Media briefing] - Amnesty International</ref> | According to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, over 90% of married women report being kicked, slapped, beaten or sexually abused when husbands were dissatisfied by their cooking or cleaning, or when the women had 'failed' to bear a child or had given birth to a girl instead of a boy.<ref>[http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/010/2002/en-http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/010/2002/en Pakistan: Violence against women: Media briefing] - Amnesty International</ref> | ||
=== Insufficient value of testimony in cases of rape === | |||
In March 2007, a 19-year-old Saudi woman received a sentence of 90 lashes. A man had threatened to tell her father that they were having an affair unless she met him alone. When she did, she was kidnapped and repeatedly raped, after which her brother beat her because the rapes brought shame to the family. After this, a Saudi court sentenced her to be lashed ninety times because she had met a man alone who was not related to her. Fuziyah Al Ouni, a feminist activist, said she was outraged by the case. 'By sentencing her to 90 lashes they are sending a message that she is guilty.'<ref>[http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2007/march/middleeast_march71.xml Saudi gang-rape victim faces 90 lashes] - Khaleej Times Online, March 5, 2007</ref> | |||
In 2004, a sixteen-year old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was hanged in a public square in Iran. Rajabi was charged with adultery, although it had likely been a case of rape. Her rapist was not executed. Rajabi told the mullah-judge, Haji Rezaii, the he ought to punish men who rape, not their victims. The judge both sentenced and personally hanged Rajabi because, in addition to her crime, he said that she had 'a sharp tongue.'<ref>Alasdair Palmer - [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/08/29/do2903.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/29/ixportal.html Death and the maiden in Iran] - The Telegraph, August 29, 2004</ref> | |||
On November 1, 2008 a 13-year-old girl in Somalia was stoned to death after being raped by three men. She was unable to produce the required four witnesses to the rape and was therefore accused of adultery as required by Shari'a law. It was reported that the girl begged for mercy before being buried waist high in the ground and pummeled to death with stones by a crowd of some 1,000 Muslims.<ref>[http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2419716,00.html Raped girl, 13, stoned to death] news24.com,2008-11-01</ref><ref>David Williams - [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1081214/Somali-girl-pleaded-mercy-Islamists-stoned-death-raped.html?ITO=1490 Somali girl 'pleaded for mercy' before Islamists stoned her to death for being raped] - Daily Mail, November 5, 2008</ref> | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||