Women and Islam?
Several news reports about the Palestinian elections talk about the big voter turnout, but only one mentioned that most of the women who tried to run for local offices were discouraged from doing so. Why? Nothing said. It can only be the mentality or the religion of the people which puts women in a lower than low class. I can only compare it to the Taliban in Afghanistan who prohibited girls from going to school and women from walking around unless they were covered, head-to-foot, with a big robe that made them look like walking blobs.
Why would women be treated like that? Based on all I can see, it can be traced to radical forms of Islam, the same radical forms that called for and actually did destroy that ancient statue of a Budda in Afghanistan and call for religious police to monitor the morals of people in places like Afganistan and Saudi Arabia.
I remember a few years ago an American Air Force officer, a woman, complained about being required to cover her head to please the religious authorities in Saudi Arabia. I don't recall exactly how it came out, but I think there was some relaxtion of the rule as it related to her and others in the American military. That probably has riled the religious people in Saudi Arabia and has them gunning, literally, for Americans or anyone who goes against their views.
Why would a relgion call for such strange things? I don't think it is the relgion at all. I believe it is the men who are afraid of their own urges, particularly when looking at a female form. So, the purpose, especially regarding women, is not to protect the women or uphold a religious rule or law. It is to protect the men from themselves! Wild! Yes, but that can be the only explanation.
The rules the extremists Mulims want to enforce do not stop the excesses committed by even those who believe as they do.
I have this haunting memory of a segement of a television program of several years ago based on a film made in Afghanistan by a woman who did so without the authorities in charge at the time, the Taliban, knowning about it. The segement that still haunts me showed three young girls, they might have been 10 or 11 years old, sitting in front of a house in beautifully colored dresses--crying. They cried the whole time the camera played on their faces, and the narrator explained that some Taliban soldiers had been there recently, and they had done terrible things to those little girls!
What a crime, and they probably did those terrible things (rape, no doubt) while shouting, "God is great! God is great!" as they are wont to do when they cut off the heads of innocent people or blow up bombs that they know will kill many more innocent people.
Religion can be a good thing. It can also be a terrible thing. The Muslims have let it become a terrible thing in some parts of the world.
Sad.
posted by Travel Ohio and beyond at
1:20 PM
6 Comments:
AC,
I read your profile. You're from Seminole. That school kicked my high school's butt in football. I am part Cherokee and from Oklahoma. Keep the posts coming.
AC,
Damn...Smink got here before me. Your stuff is good. Keep pushing the honesty. Ideas have power. I am going to post your link to my page.
Ask Smink about Mosul now, he probably has the freshest scoop.
I can tell you that Mosul was a divided city when I was there. The Kurdish side of the river had a little action, but when you crossed the river (on the airport side downtown) shit got heavy.
My solution is to tell the Kurds to take the city back. They would beat the insurgents down in a matter of weeks. The Turks may not like it, but as far as I'm concerned the US got "turked" during the first part of the war, and doesn't owe Turkey jack.
I know I am a bit wordy. But if you like my blog, please send people my way. My blog is at http://iraqperspective.blogspot.com
Cheers,
TBone
Yeah, I remember that Taliban documentary too. Did you know that 1 in 6 Afghan women report attempting to commit suicide under the Taliban. Iran is not much better, all "closed" societies have these horrible stories.
In fact, it is true that women are thought of as temptors of men in Islam. After the Islamic revolution in Iran, it was not long before they were telling the Muslim women, and the Jews too, that "hair" specifically tempted men into hell so NONE of it must show. The eyes are to be averted as well, because when a women looks a man in the eye he can't resist his urges.
This is why we are actually having this "war", not the obvious war, but the real war. The world is growing so small and the internet, sat dishes, picture cell phones and information can't be controlled anymore. This produces two reactions, one is to crawl back in the cave like OBL and ilk and keep repeating that in "Islam" all of the world's rules and the way one should behave and the government should act is all right there. The other response is to embrace it. But you can't have your next door neighbors embracing it, because it will tempt you and your countryment too. So you must fight it. That's what is happening now. This is what OBL's argument is really about at it's root.
So far as I can tell, there's no such thing as "radical" Islam. I don't use the world in my news stories. There is nothing in the Koran or in the equally sacred and screwier Sunnah that would prohibit anything the terrorists have done. When Muslims say that the Koran is a book of peace, keep in mind that this scripture applies only to Muslims. It is not against the teachings of Mohammad to lie to, kill, rob, enslave or tax into submission any infidel.
Thanks for all you comments.
It's true, there is enough in all religious texts for peace and war, and treating the "other" as different from the members of the religion you belong to. Yet, the difference is that other religions have evolved and the Jews have good "lawyers" that manage to get around things. Like orthodox Jews can not work on the Sabbath (neither can Christians) but if you turn ON the television before the sun goes down and program it to change channels so you can see what you want, then you get around that and watch tv. Odd isn't it? However, most Jews don't do all that...just the really religious ones. The Muslims just have not had this kind of reformation yet. They will...trust me..they have no choice. 2 billion are going to adapt their religion, not abandon it. a few hundred thousand will abandon it, and a few more hundred thousand will die to keep it the way it is.
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