Sunday, April 06, 2008

Two Women, Two Cultures

The path of righteousness in Islam grows narrower every day:

A debate is rising over “honor murder” following a case that belatedly revealed that a young Saudi Arabian woman was killed by her father for chatting on the Internet social network site, Facebook.

British daily Telegraph quoted Monday’s Middle East news sites including al-Arabiya as saying, “Social networking sites, like Facebook, are causing social strife in the Islamic nation and the incident is an example.”

Wrong. What this incident exemplifies is the Arabs’ selective use of Western technology. Mostly they prefer to stick to armament improvements. Young women who learn the ins and outs of “social networking” - which is an inescapable part of Western culture for that age group - are at risk of bodily harm or death for the sin of availing themselves of a remedy for isolation and loneliness.

According to the report by al-Arabiya, a Saudi woman was beaten and shot by her father after being caught while chatting with a man on Facebook.

This is a typical case of honor murder whereby a woman, discovered to associate with another man, is murdered by her family members as punishment for “denigrating the honor of family.” Punishable acts, once limited to offline relationships, such as having a kiss, sleeping together, and sharing a table, have now expanded to online relations.

What these anachronistic leftovers cannot see is that it is they who dishonor their families and their culture, holding them up for ridicule to the rest of the world because of their paranoid need to control women’s access to the world. They aren’t honorable in any sense of the word. In fact…
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…it is no wonder that they still retain slavery as an option for their “workers.” Saudis remain literal slave drivers who insist that women alone will carry the burden of “honor” for them…as though they were camels, beasts of burden.

No, I take that back. They like their camels better.

The tragic incident, which had remained concealed for some time, was revealed to the media when Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki began criticizing Facebook, claiming the network as a “door to lust.” Maliki said, “These days, young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they do on food.” He went on to argue that those sites that destroy Islamic culture should be shut down to stem social strife. He sternly warned women frequenting Facebook to stop visiting the site.

This “incident” isn’t “tragic” at all; it’s obscene and demeaning. The imam sounds like a Baptist preacher from the 1920’s, worked into a lather about dancing and jazz music and playing cards. In fact, one could question Ali al-Amaliki’s emphasis on lust. He’d probably give us an earful, just based on his own experience. Beware the preacher who talks too much about carnal desire: he’s often a closet Don Juan himself.

Facebook is now estimated to have more than 30,000 users in Saudi Arabia. A majority of them use nicknames and post drawings on their pages instead of photographs. Because of this, some have dubbed this the “Faceless” network.

Islam religious leaders blame social networking sites for becoming a hotbed for homosexuals and a place for obscene material. Following Syria’s lead, which banned access to Facebook last November, some Islamic countries have stepped up Internet censorship and are cracking down on those operating the sites.

Muslim women, however, are standing up against these harsh measures. One female journalist said, “The Internet is an outlet where women let out their pent-up emotions and an avenue where they can associate with youth around the world to learn diverse cultures.” She added, “Though authorities ban access to Facebook, we will continue to visit similar social network sites.”

In other words, how can you keep them down in the women’s quarters’ once they’ve been online?

Good luck, fellows. You’re fighting a losing game because you can’t kill them all…though I suppose you could die trying.

Meanwhile, for the other face and fate of females in the Middle East, there’s this story:

History is being made in the Israel Air Force. A female Arab soldier has joined the IAF’s elite Airborne Combat Search and Rescue Unit 669, for the very first time in this illustrious unit’s history.

The soldier currently serves as a medic with the unit, and is also expected to soon receive training to become an airborne medic.

Unit 669 is considered one of the IDF’s premier elite units. Its main function is to rescue and extricate wounded soldiers from combat zones, under heavy enemy fire in most cases. The unit also often helps rescue civilians injured during various catastrophic incidents.

Seeing as the unit is typically involved in sensitive, and highly classified, IDF operations, soldiers serving in this unit require an extremely high security classification.

A Muslim soldier has consequently never served in this unit in either an administrative or combat capacity, that is until the aforementioned Muslim medic managed to circumvent this barrier as well.

The female soldier in question, a resident of an Arab village in northern Israel, volunteered to serve in the IDF, though not obligated to do so. She completed her medic training course with top honors, and was immediately placed with unit 669. The unit was stunned to learn of her Muslim origins, and an investigation later revealed that an error was made concerning her security classification.

In spite of this error, the unit’s commander insisted that the medic remain with the unit because of her truly exceptional skills. The soldier will even attend training to become an airborne medic this July. She could very well make history by becoming the first Muslim airborne medic in IDF history.

There are other Israeli Muslims serving in various capacities in the IDF. Needless to say, they are volunteers. What makes this one special is her skill and intelligence…and the Israelis’ willingness to utilize her gifts in such a critical area.

How long can a culture last when it kills its women for imagined moral lapses? When the oil is gone, Saudi Arabia will sink into the sand.

Despite sixty years of failed attempts by their enemies to eradicate the Jewish homeland, Israel will still be there, prospering in the area they have made fertile and productive. By then, the suicidal in-fighting of the Arabs will have returned their peoples back into wandering desert tribes.

Both outcomes are cultural choices


Hat tip: Rolf Krake.

5 comments:

Little Green said...

In any culture or country, you can find criminals. Isn't it in the west where every year many children are sexually abused by their relatives? Or babies micorwaved or beaten to death or ignored? What is unacceptable is to generalize that crime to the whole nation. That's called prejudice and bigotry.

Islam has never authorized the killing of a teen who has chatted online. That father is a criminal under the Islamic law and should be punished. These psychos are the left-overs of the ignorant pre-islamic Arab culture that has resisted the Islamic moral standards.

spackle said...

Little Green --

"Islam has never authorized the killing of a teen who has chatted online. That father is a criminal under the Islamic law and should be punished. These psychos are the left-overs of the ignorant pre-islamic Arab culture that has resisted the Islamic moral standards."

Youre kidding right? As to the first line in this astounding statement. Give it time. The internet is still pretty new.

Unknown said...

Isn't it in the west where every year many children are sexually abused by their relatives?---

check your facts baby. that's in the middle east, where it even goes unreported cause it's normal, there's not many official numbers for obvious reasons. oh and last time i checked... err, those countries are not nice for women for obvious reasons:

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/326354

if you wanna live in a fantasy world then go ahead, but reality says than in muslim countries the life of a woman/child has no comparison to the life of a woman/child living in the west. if you're comparing both then please GTFO and kill yourself, seriously.

and in the West as you call, most of the crimes are commited by immigrants, specially in europe from immigrant origin(mostly arab, nort african), and in us from mexican origin or black.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article190268.ece

again... check your facts baby ;) don't embarrasss yourself anymore.

sexually abused victims in the muslim world are always afraid to speak up for obvious reasons, they get punished instead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7098480.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australian-muslim-cleric-blames-women-for-rape-421803.html

Islam has never authorized the killing of a teen who has chatted online. ---

is not only about islam but culture in general. and you either have ADD, asperberg syndrome or you're just plain retarded cause in the story the main issue was:

--l-Arabiya as saying, “Social networking sites, like Facebook, are causing social strife in the Islamic nation and the incident is an example.”

in muslim countries they always blame the west or point out at the "HORRIBLE WESTERN UNCIVILIZED VALUES" ETC ETC..."

"the intent is also to isolate their adolescent and teenage daughters from the corrupting influences that they see in much of American life."
"Little girls are walking around dressing like hoochies, cursing and swearing and showing disrespect toward their elders. In Islam we believe in respect and dignity and honor."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/america/muslim.php

all in all this is not only about a religion but a culture that by general rule is just not compatible in any way with the west. and again... please don't even try to compare both.

abuTrevor said...

little green

Qur'an 2:228 says that men (or husbands) are a degree aove their wives.

Qur'an 4:34 says that men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has made the one superior to the other.

Qur'an 2:282 says that the testimony of a woman is worth only half that of a man.

A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (Volume 1, Book 6, Number 301) says that women are deficient in intelligence and religion.

Honour killings occur, not only in Saudi Arabia, but also in Egypt, Jordon, Syria, Palestine, Pakistan and other Muslim coutries.

Now that significant numbers of Muslims are moving to the West, we see more and more honour killings in eg. the UK, France, Germany, the US etc.

I'm sorry little green, but it seems to me that there is a strong correlation between honour killings and Islam.

Also, little grren, the West is where crimes against woman and children are publicised, investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished.

Sexual abuse of children is rife in the Middle East and countries such as Pakistan. However, these crimes are hidden, unreported and swept under the carpet.

abuTrevor said...

Moving on from the distraction of little green's comments I want to point out that, just as Muslim immigration is having an effect on the West, we are also having an effect on them.

You may not be aware of this, but the internet was only legalised in Saudi Arabia in 1999! Despite the censorship (eg. of LGF and FFI), Saudis now have access to a huge array of outside influences.

After the first Gulf War, King Fahd prohibited the Mutawa (religious police) from carrying sticks. Now, you hardly see them at all, except during Ramadan.

When the idea of women being allowed to drive was first mooted a few years ago, there was a howl of protest from the religious conservatives. Now. the question is not if but when.

Of couse, we are a long way away from the average Saudi agreeing that a Muslim should be allowed to change his faith without punishment.

However, the West is changing them almost as much as they are changing us.

It is true that there has been recently a trend in the ME towards greater adherence to Islamic norms. However, there is also an opposing undercurrent of openess and a desire for certain freedoms.

Events in Saudi Arabia such as this honour killing and the recent jailing of rape victim are dreadful, but this report highlights the fact that young Saudis are using Facebook and other online services to obtain freedoms not otherwise available in their society.

Also, the fact that these events are being reported at all shows a diminishing tolerance for such behaviour.