Under the Whip

 
Tigerhawk has an interesting link to a UAE newspaper report. It seems that a maid has been discovered to be pregnant and has been sentenced by a Sharia court to 150 lashes, after which she will be deported.

It was her national sponsor who reported her pregnancy to the police, accusing her both of adultery and of being pregnant. Leaving the adultery charge aside, what is fascinating in the news report is what is missing. Here are the facts we are permitted to see:

She refused to reveal the name of the child's father, despite being interrogated by the police and the public prosecutor. The public prosecution department referred her to the emirate's Sharia Court. She refused to identify her lover again. The court sentenced her to 150 lashes, to be administered in two stages. She will then be deported.

Here are the missing pieces:

• We aren't told the miscreant's nationality. In all probability she is from the Philippines. Poor women are often recruited for domestic work in the Middle East, hoping to send money home to their families. Instead, they end up as virtual slaves, in bondage to their employers.
• We can guess that her "national sponsor" is this self-same employer. What Muslim would sponsor a kafir domestic into the country except as his own employee?
• Given her virtual slavery, three guesses as to who had physical access to this "maid"? And therefore, who is the father? And might there be an angry spouse in the background? Or was she handed around to guests or family members?
• Another three guesses as to why she refuses to name the father. One hundred and fifty lashes is better than dying "accidentally" for speaking out. Though she will never fully recover from her punishment. Think about it. Would you?
• Finally, she is not Muslim. A Sharia court would've had a Muslim woman stoned to death. After she delivered, of course.

If you're the praying sort, offer a few petitions for this poor woman today. She is someone's daughter, someone's mother and she has suffered for a long, long time. Just 150 more lashes and she gets to go home.

While you're there, light a candle in gratitude that this is not your story, is not your mother or your daughter.