Recently in the news there were two stories involving Islam and its continued perversion by religious nutcases. First there was the case in Saudi Arabia involving the gang-rape of a 19-year old woman by seven men, for which she was sentence to 90 lashes and a prison sentence (upon her lawyer appealing the sentence and making public comments about it, the penalty was increased to six months in prison and 200 lashes).1 Second was the case in Sudan about the British teacher sentenced to fifteen days in jail and then deportation after her class named a teddy bear Muhammad.2
Being a person who supports women’s rights and logic, I find these events mind-blowing.
If one thing is clear, it is that rape is never the fault of the victim. This woman did not ask to be gang-raped—she was simply getting a photo of herself from a male high school friend because she had recently married. It is true that she violated the laws regarding the segregation of sexes, but these laws themselves are unjust, not only because they are highly biased towards women, but if any violation occurs, the guilt is placed primarily on the woman. This ruling by the Saudi judicial system contains two messages: first, it’s the woman’s fault, and second, she asked for it. This is just one of the many such cases in Saudi Arabia, where women’s rights are shown little respect, if even acknowledged at all. Women are restricted from doing many basic things, including:
- Voting
- Driving
- Showing their faces
- Renting an apartment for themselves3
- Checking into a hotel alone3
- Going out in public without being accompanied by a male relative4
- Leaving the country without permission of a male relative4
- Marrying a non-Muslim man4
Women who break these rules risk arrest, torture, sexual abuse, and execution at the hands of the Saudi religious police, or Mutaween. Saudi Arabia’s cruel and inhumane treatment of women is well-documented. On March 11th, 2002, fifteen Saudi schoolgirls died when they were beaten and forced back into their burning school by the Mutaween for not wearing proper Islamic dress. Scuffles broke out when the Mutaween prevented firemen from attempting to rescue the girls, stating, “It is sinful to approach them.”5 Foreign women are also subject to this same treatment. In 1993, Canadian nurse Margaret Madill and a female friend were taking a taxi home when they were stopped by the Mutaween, who locked them in the taxi in extreme heat for six hours, beat and accused them of indecent dress and public intoxication, and jailed them for two days before releasing the two without charge.6 Such occurrences in Saudi Arabia are common, and not just limited to women—human rights violations are a signature of the Saudi leadership.
Somehow I feel like we should stop giving the Saudis F-16s and oil money.
The whole uproar regarding Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher who let her class name a teddy bear Muhammad, is so ridiculous that it’s amusing. People were out in the streets of Khartoum shouting for her beheading. The Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas stated that, “What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam.”7
Oh really?
I’m pretty sure that a teddy bear won’t bring down Islam, but judging from the reaction of many Muslims and non-Muslims alike to this absurdity8, it will bring down whatever twisted fantasy these fanatics believe in.
Oh, and one more thing. If Sudan has a law against insulting religion and faith, maybe they should put one in there about war crimes, too.
-Gregory Proulx
Works Cited
1 El-Magd, Nadia A. “Saudi Rape Ruling Puts Govt on Defensive.” The Associated Press. 1 Dec. 2007. 4 Dec. 2007 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5itRFLIdKb8OnJpiQRpQl1tHq0oGAD8T8U0UO0>.
2 “UK Teacher Jailed Over Teddy Row.” BBC News. 30 Nov. 2007. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7119399.stm>.
3 Doumato, Eleanor A. “Saudi Arabia.” Freedom House. 4 Dec. 2007 <http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=182>.
4 SAUDI ARABIA: GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST WOMEN. Amnesty International, 2000. 4 Dec. 2007 <http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE230572000?open&of=ENG-SAU>.
5 “15 Girls Die as Zealots ‘Drive Them Into Blaze.’” Telegraph. 15 Mar. 2002. 4 Dec. 2007 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/15/wsaud15.xml>.
6 “Women.” Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia. 4 Dec. 2007 <http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/saudi/briefing/4.html>.
7 Montesquiou, Alfred De. “Sudan Charges Teacher for Teddy Bear Name.” The Associated Press. 28 Nov. 2007. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUYY9aFqMRYNGvVIYkw8XTkcTi0QD8T6PHKG1>.
8 “Sudan Teddy Insult Teacher: Readers’ Views.” BBC News. 30 Nov. 2007. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7115400.stm>.
1 comment:
Thx for the post Greg. It's so easy to forget about the predicament of women in states such as Saudi Arabia. We live in a state where these abuses of women's rights would be laughable but our ideals have not yet penetrated some of the extreme and old-fashioned islamic territories. We we were talked in the kitchen as you writing this post about the moderate muslim views of their extremist companions. We wondered why they didn't rise up and reclaim their religion. However it seems as though "extremist" views such as imprisoning the British teacher are supported by the majority of muslims. In addition to the muhammed teddy bear there was a situation last year where a poltical cartoon was heavily protested because it depicted Mohammed. Moderate muslims joined extremist in the protests. I am a catholic and my religion is trashed all of the time. What would happen if I ran to the streets in protest every time someone talked about catholic corruption? Well for one thing i'd be a great runner.
At some point, however, there does need to be a breaking point. A spark that ignites a revolution to prevent the further corruption of the peaceful islamic religion. The question is when will this spark occur?
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