December 13, 2007
What Honour?
Rarely does a Toronto murder get such visceral international attention.
As you have probably heard by now, Aqsa Parvez (pictured at right), Grade 11 Applewood Heights Secondary School student, was killed by her father, allegedly (according to the girl's friends) because she fought with him over whether to wear a hijab. The news is as big in the States as it is here, with CNN and MSNBC both running stories for a hungry audience.
If you really want to see what people are thinking, though, you need only check out the insanely popular Digg, where the linked news article now has over 1,000 comments. Because users can vote Digg comments up and down, it's easy to gauge how the mass is thinking, and, unsurprisingly, it's not pretty, with the most popular comments ranging from the brutally uninformed ("Just to correct the Story. Mississauga is not a suburb of Toronto. Toronto is a fucked up place, Mississauga is totally separate.") to the racism-driven reactionary ("Don't ya just love the peaceful tolerant religion of Islam."). Back in Toronto, the largest Facebook group devoted to Aqsa's memory has some 2,750 members, and 1,000 wall posts that read like the Digg comment thread sans proper grammar.
The blame for the murder has been placed on Islam, on the father, and, in various dark and ugly corners, on the girl herself. One isolated instance of brutal domestic violence, motivated by religion or not––the only declaration that it was an honour killing has come from the girl's friends––has been spun out into a huge argument over the cultural divide between Islam and the West. In a city with thousands upon thousands of Muslims, fundamentalist or not, there has been no rash of honour killings, no trend that this murder participates in. What is happening, instead, is that our culture's fetish for the other is making us all look ugly.
Photo of Aqsa from Facebook.
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Hmm. Fishing through Digg for trollish comments about a controversial topic and then taking a "tsk, tsk" stance after jumping into the mire is kind of like...um...well, I'm not sure what the inappropriate sexual simile is here, but that's why I'm not a pro blogger. I can only say this is inadvisable.
This case is what it is. People have a right to feel how they want about it and vocalize it. It's murder. The fact that there's an "exotic" religious flavour to it is going to bring out comments that some people won't like.
But that doesn't "make us all look ugly." What kind of comments would you like to see that will make us all look "pretty"? With the web being what it is, and geopolitics being what it is, what do you expect from a public anonymous message board?
"Nothing to see here, folks. Move along now. Might I add, Mississauga is a wonderful bastion of culture."
I got a good laugh from the Mississauga comment. Thanks for passing that one along. :)
Rarely does a Toronto murder get such visceral international attention.
It's a Mississauga murder.
Hell, Mississauga doesn't want anything to do with us? Then we don't want anything to do with them. They can own this one...
75-yr-old hounds child bride in Malda
A 14-year-old girl has become a social outcast in her village here for refusing to stay with her 75-year-old husband, who she was forcibly married to. She and her brother, who helped her escape, are being hounded by their parents and the ‘husband’.
Anaras Khatoon had filed a police complaint against parents Syed Ali and Latefun Biwi, saying that on September 26 they “woke her up at night, put a knife to her throat and married her off to a man five times older”. Her parents had to surrender in a Malda court, but got bail the same day. Then, Anaras’ nightmare worsened.
Her parents filed counter cases against her and her brother Majedur Rahman, and drove away Majedur’s wife from home. Anaras’ ‘husband’ Chand Mohammed also moved court, accusing Majedur of kidnapping her.
Anaras said: “I want to study and, of course, return to my home. But no one is helping me. What shall I do?”
Anaras was horrified when she learnt she was being married off to a man whose youngest child was older than her. Anaras’ father is a labourer under Chand and villagers say he took a “hefty sum” from him for the marriage. The nikah was performed by Qaji Hossain as per Muslim rituals.
Hounded by her parents, she and Majedur fled their home. A few friends — Rabiul Islam, Sk Mustafa, Sk Duku, Sk Ludu and Sk Sirajul — who supported her have also been accused of abduction by Anaras’ parents.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/75-yr-old_hounds_child_bride_in_Malda_/articleshow/2417638.cms
_________________
Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 41:
General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)
Book 41, Number 5251:
Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah:
A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.
Narrated Abu Huraira : I heard the Prophet saying. "Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits."
From the website Islam QA
Question 27305
Marrying a thirteen year old girl
Question:
I'm a boy of 26, and i have come to know a very nice girl, belonging to a very good family. I wish to marry her and to propose to her parents for this purpose. But the problem is that the girl is still a child, and only 13 years old, which makes her 13 years my junior in age.
I wish to ask if its morally acceptable for me to think about her, be attracted to her and to propose for her in marriage. And do u think our relationship would be legitimate and socially and religiously acceptable with this age difference.
Also, if per chance it is acceptable, it raises a question that islam advocates soliciting a girl's opinion in marriage, but how can such a young girl make an intelligent decision for herself. In such case, what are the basis for islam's allowing such a marriage to take place.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
There is nothing wrong with your marrying this girl, even though there is this difference in age between you. What matters is that she should be religiously committed and of good character. These are what matters when it comes to marriage, and are the factors that lead to harmony and happiness in sha Allaah.
The validity of marriage to a minor girl is proven by the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):
“And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the ‘Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubt (about their periods), is three months; and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their ‘Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death]”
[al-Talaaq 65:4]
Question:
Could you explain me what is the medical benefit of girl’s circumcision?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Just as Allaah has created mankind, He has also guided them that which is best suited to their interests in this world and in the Hereafter, so He sent them Messengers and revealed Books to guide mankind to what is good and urge them to follow it, and to teach them what is evil and warn them against it.
Islam may enjoin or forbid something and the people – or most of them – may not be able to see the wisdom behind this command or prohibition. In that case we are obliged to obey the command or heed the prohibition and to have certain faith that the laws of Allaah are all good, even if we cannot see the wisdom behind them.
Circumcision is one of the Sunnahs of the fitrah, as is indicated by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): "The fitrah is five things – or five things are part of the fitrah – circumcision, shaving the pubes, plucking the armpit hairs, cutting the nails, and trimming the moustache." narrated by al-Bukhaari (5889) and Muslim (257).
Undoubtedly with regard to the Sunnahs of the fitrah, some of the wisdom behind them is obvious, and that includes circumcision. There are clear benefits to it which we should pay attention to and understand the wisdom behind it.
In the answer to question no. 9412 we have discussed circumcision, how it is to be done and the ruling on it. In the answer to question no. 7073 we have explained the health and shar’i benefits of circumcision for males.
Circumcision is prescribed for both males and females. The correct view is that circumcision is obligatory for males and that it is one of the symbols of Islam, and that circumcision of women is mustahabb but not obligatory.
There are reports in the Sunnah which indicate that circumcision for women is prescribed in Islam. In Madeenah there was a woman who circumcised women and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to her: “Do not go to the extreme in cutting; that is better for the woman and more liked by the husband.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (5271), classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.
Female circumcision has not been prescribed for no reason, rather there is wisdom behind it and it brings many benefits.
Mentioning some of these benefits, Dr. Haamid al-Ghawaabi says:
The secretions of the labia minora accumulate in uncircumcised women and turn rancid, so they develop an unpleasant odour which may lead to infections of the vagina or urethra. I have seen many cases of sickness caused by the lack of circumcision.
Circumcision reduces excessive sensitivity of the clitoris which may cause it to increase in size to 3 centimeters when aroused, which is very annoying to the husband, especially at the time of intercourse.
Another benefit of circumcision is that it prevents stimulation of the clitoris which makes it grow large in such a manner that it causes pain.
Circumcision prevents spasms of the clitoris which are a kind of inflammation.
Circumcision reduces excessive sexual desire.
Then Dr al-Ghawaabi refutes those who claim that female circumcision leads to frigidity by noting:
Frigidity has many causes, and this claim is not based on any sound statistics comparing circumcised women with uncircumcised women, except in the case of Pharaonic circumcision which is where the clitoris is excised completely. This does in fact lead to frigidity but it is contrary to the kind of circumcision enjoined by the Prophet of mercy (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he said: “Do not destroy” i.e., do not uproot or excise. This alone is evidence that speaks for itself, because medicine at that time knew very little about this sensitive organ (the clitoris) and its nerves.
From Liwa’ al-Islam magazine, issue 8 and 10; article entitled Khitaan al-Banaat (circumcision of girls).
The female gynaecologist Sitt al-Banaat Khaalid says in an article entitled Khitaan al-Banaat Ru’yah Sihhiyyah (Female circumcision from a health point of view):
For us in the Muslim world female circumcision is, above all else, obedience to Islam, which means acting in accordance with the fitrah and following the Sunnah which encourages it. We all know the dimensions of Islam, and that everything in it must be good in all aspects, including health aspects. If the benefits are not apparent now, they will become known in the future, as has happened with regard to male circumcision – the world now knows its benefits and it has become widespread among all nations despite the opposition of some groups.
Then she mentioned some of the health benefits of female circumcision and said:
It takes away excessive libido from women
It prevents unpleasant odours which result from foul secretions beneath the prepuce.
It reduces the incidence of urinary tract infections
It reduces the incidence of infections of the reproductive system.
In the book on Traditions that affect the health of women and children, which was published by the World Health Organization in 1979 it says:
With regard to the type of female circumcision which involves removal of the prepuce of the clitoris, which is similar to male circumcision, no harmful health effects have been noted.
And Allaah knows best.
I was wondering how long it'd take for the comment thread to completely degenerate. Apparently, less than 5.
All of those quotes are sourced from FaithFreedom.org, which has a serious hate-on for Islam (and attracts a lot of racist shits in their forums) and pulls extreme quotes from Islam-QA, all of which is written and edited entirely by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid, who has extreme and strictly literal views—much more so than most Muslims living in Toronto, certainly.
I think we can all agree that extremism and fundamentalism is what's problematic here, whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, whatever. Killing your daughter because she won't wear the hijab (which hasn't been confirmed as the reason, BTW) is extreme fundamentalism—it is not the reality for most Muslims. I know many Muslims and I've been to many Muslim countries, and Muslims aren't the bogeymen that people want to imagine (just as Jews or Christians or Atheists aren't bogeymen).
Isolated incidents like this just tend to draw out people who feel their ignorant suspicions are being confirmed. That kind of knee-jerk judgment is exactly what people criticize these religions for in the first place.
I didn't read the long comments above (get your own blog), but I think that Digg is highly limited. Digging comments is anonymous, everyone hides behind a screen name, and there are a lot of kids too.
Faith Freedom International is a grassroots movement of ex-Muslims, those who dared to ask questions and on that account lost their faith. Its goals are to (a) unmask the hoax known as Islam and show that it is an imperialistic ideology akin to Nazism but disguised as religion and (b) to help Muslims leave it, end this culture of hate caused by their "us" vs. "them" ethos and embrace the human race in amity. We strive for the unity of Mankind through the elimination of Islam, the most insidious doctrine of hate. Islam can't be reformed, but it can be eradicated. It can't be molded, but it can be smashed. It is rigid but brittle. That is why Muslims do not tolerate criticism of it. To eradicate Islam, all we have to do is tell the truth. It's that simple. Truth about Islam is out. It's all here in this site. Now it is up to you to spread it. With truth, the decent Muslims will leave Islam and with each Muslim that leaves, we gain a new soldier in our fight against terrorism. We are growing exponentially. The days of Islam are numbered and world peace is around the corner. Many of us will see that day. We might have to go through tough times meanwhile. The storm is approaching.
Like I said, a serious hate-on.
Fundamentalist anything is bad, whether it be the hillbilly Taliban forcing women into burqas, the loopy LDS fundies and their gated communities in Colorado City, or the wacko Christians homeschooling children to protect them from contrary thought. Extremism can also extend the other way, like the folks of Faith Freedom calling to eradicate Islam from the face of the earth. The majority of people of faith aren't fundamentalists.
Yeah, I didn't hear too many people calling to end Christianity when parents were "rebirthing" their children which ended with the kid being suffocated under a blanket. Or when parents refuse medical treatment for thier children letting "God" do his thang.
There are people who can twist religion, books, music,(Manson with the Beatles)or anything else...if people can conjure up an image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast, they can twist anything."Um, no, I don't see it annnnnd you're scaring me"
Also, notice there aren't too many extreme-fundamentalist Buddhist or Hindu's killing their kids or shooting up clinics?
"Dude, what happened?"
"Oh, one of those extreme-fundamentalist Buddha guys wished me peace and serenity...so I punched him"
There aren't too many calling for the end of Christianity, but they exist too... In my experience they're usually angry ex-Christians who claim to be atheists but do a poor job in the 'not believing' department.
I'd love to see Christianity, Judaism and Islam all go buh-bye. Have more people been killed/died in the name of anything else?
Tell someone you saw a UFO, you're nuts, tell someone you saw an angel, you get a teary-eyed, standing ovation on Oprah and a book deal/Lifetime special. My answer is D) Don't know (and don't care).
Look, this is going to be exploited in the west because he was a muslim, which is ridiculous, if he were jewish or a christian, it wouldn't be a point of debate. It just makes uninformed people paranoid about Islam in a twisted way to continue to justify this war.
Remember, John List was a devout Christian, he killed his whole family (top that!).
This guy (allegedly) strangled his daughter, I don't care about his religion, he's a piece of shit.
Onward Christian Soldiers!
WannaBin:
There are actually quite a few incidences of Hindu extremism and violence. It is such a broadly defined term, basically covering a huge number of, sometimes, vastly different religious groups, that some forms of Hinduism are almost unrecognizable as compared to others. Especially in India there is a fair bit of Hindu violence and extremism.
Though far less common, I have read of Buddhists taking to violence (even monks).
It happens. Inflamed passions are physically manifested and problems escalate. Violent reactions are found in every religion.
I am a member of the R.I.F.
I am a fundamentalist reader. Reading IS fundamental. Any book can be our book of faith. We meet in libraries and bookstores and drink overpriced coffe-drinks. CONFESS!!!
or face the comfy chair.
:- ) Just adding a touch of levity.
Take away the element of their religion and you still have a man who killed his own flesh and blood. In truth, that is all we know for sure and that should be enough. The hijab, the religion, the beliefs did not kill her.
The rules and books and scriptures of religion are dead. They can't force people to do anything. Individuals give action and meaning to those words. As a person who has never been thrust into religion in any way, I am skeptical and somewhat nervous about it but I see a difference between the religion and the individual. This man is sick- I'm afraid of him, not of his religion.
thank you for this refreshing take on this tragedy.
One honour killing is one too many. I know many teenagers who disobey their parents and do sneaky things to get around family rules (I used to do this not too long ago) but you don't see parents killing their children because they disobey. Its completely unacceptable.
I dislike all religions equally and I feel like pointing out the ugly side of religion, no matter which one, is important. It just so happens to be Islam this time and people should not be afraid to talk about this just to be politically correct. If some radical Christians or Jews or Hindus do something that is WRONG (and this not doubt was very wrong) people should speak out against it. I understand that Islamophobia should be avoided, BUT, tragic events that occur due to Islamic beliefs should be talked about, if only to stress the true, peaceful message of Islam and that that part of the religion should be practised and not other forms.
What's odd, is the absolute silence coming from the feminist camp. Nothing. Zip. Not a word about how Islam treats and abuses -- and in this case strangles -- women; especially those who don't tow the party line.
Is this because a lot feminists belong to the cult of multiculturalism and don't want to be seen as " imposing " their western value system on people from the third world?
If this had been a white girl from an upper middle class Toronto home, I suspect feminist groups would be up in arms protesting and chanting etc. ie: Jane Creba -- the pretty blonde haired blue eyed debutante who was shot to death in gang warfare on boxing day in Toronto a few years back. There were vigils for this girl like you wouldn't believe. It went on night after night. And it's not that I disagree with that at all.
Black girls from the projects get popped all the time, but the feminist groups never to seem to say or do anything when that happens either. I just find it all rather curious.
Predictably, ironically, Asqa Parvez' family buried her yesterday at some Mosque. Which is probably not what Aqsa Parvez would have wanted. I suspect she would have wanted a non-denominational service that featured her favorite hip hop, rap and pop tracks.
And just to add insult to injury, in an attempt to keep control of the service, someone mislead the interested about the starting time. Thousands of her non-Muslim high school friends and supporters of her freedom, intended to show up. The posted time for the funeral was 4 pm or something. So her supporters showed up at the appointed hour, only to be told the service had already happened, at noon. So go home. Get out. Allah has spoken.
As if that wasn't enough, a throng of Islamic Women appeared and staged a candle light vigil for the television cameras. And their spokesthingy kept saying " this is not about a clash of cultures or religion. It's about teen rebellion and domestic violence. " Blah blah blah. How universal the problem is. etc.
In the meantime, a storm extraordinaire rages over Toronto and no is talking about poor Asqa Parvez; who was strangled for Allah. And I guess we won't hear any more until the trial. Or sadly, until another kid is finished off in another " honor " killing.
She was not "strangled for Allah," she was strangled because her father has control issues, similar to people who rape women or molest children. She was being defiant, he couldn't control her, and he flipped out. I doubt anyone in Toronto's Muslim community is defending him for murdering his daughter. Please.
And then to claim that feminists are also silent when "black girls get popped in the projects," which really also has little to to with feminism and more about culture and class. Really, WTF?
And then to say that Asqa would not have wanted a Muslim funeral, but a non-denominational one instead. What?! She was still Muslim, and just because she was at conflict with a violent, controlling father, that doesn't mean she's going to abandon her faith. Plus, that's purely speculative and a ridiculous assumption.
As for having a private funeral, I don't even know why I'm bothering explaining it, but the grieving family does have the right to privacy, believe it or not, especially considering that hundreds of kids from her school were planning to attend, plus the endless train of media trucks, plus the general public. I would have done the same thing, frankly, and it has nothing to do with "Get out, Allah has spoken." Plus, Muslims, like Jews, are expected to bury the body within 24-hours of death, whenever possible.
Shrouding your racism under the veil of being a proponent for women's rights doesn't make it less offensive. I don't think that most people would deny that women around the world aren't oppressed at the hands of politicians and religious leaders (and that forced coercion and compliance is wrong), but all of these warnings about the Great Muslim Threat are misguided and incorrect. It brings to mind the irrational fear that people had/have of Jews and the wartime cartoons of the hook-nosed Hassidim holding bags of money and baring sharp teeth.
Organized religion can cause severe, horrible damage to human beings and scripture is too often used as a weapon, but people of particular faiths and cultures can't be painted with one brush, especially when it comes to gigantic faiths like Islam or Christianity, where thousands of different factions around the world believe different things—and which are also tightly tied to their respective countries' political structures.
As in fundamentalist Christianity, isolated events that don't reflect the reality of most become big news pretty quickly, and given that it's often the only thing that most people see, it serves to reinforce incorrect stereotypes and fear. Southern American bible-thumpers aren't all abortion clinic bombers, and a brown-skinned person having a panic attack on an airplane isn't a shoe-bomb-wearing Muslim terrorist who hates the Western infidels.
Islam undoubtedly has its problems, especially when integrating with Western culture (as brilliantly outlined in Irshad Manji's The Trouble With Islam, interestingly renamed as the allegedly less-inflammatory The Trouble With Islam Today for the U.S. market), and nobody is denying those problems. Discussing them is the right thing to do, but not with an uninformed, knee-jerk blanket assumption of what Islam is or who Muslims are.
Jeez, human beings of all cultures and beliefs basically just want the same thing—to be safe, act morally, love their families, live happily, and not be misunderstood.
As for the conveniently anonymous warmflash, it's not your place to be the Great Freedom Saviour of Islamic Oppression, and I question why you're so openly passionate about wiping out the religion.
Marc, respectfully, it's hard to swallow the Asqa Parvez murder was simply a matter of a father with " control issues. "
If her battle over the hijab does not indicate the central role Islam plays in her death, I don't know what would? Interviews with her friends make it clear this was battle over religion and female subservience.
The secondary status of women in Islam is not exactly a secret. The Koran makes their low caste abundantly clear.
As for covert racism, all manner of people from all manner of ethnic backgrounds can and do follow Islam.
All I'm asking is, where are the voices of the feminist movement in regards to the murder of Asqa Parvez?
Lastly, to " be safe, act morally, love their families, live happily and not be misunderstood " all take on a variety of different meanings when filtered through the medieval prism of Islam.
Islam says that women and men are equal. It was only later in its development where women were segregated, much of which was due to the politics of the ruling dynasties of the Middle East. The castes in contemporary Islamic society are politics-based, historically, and though the Koran demands modesty, for example, so do the Bible and the Talmud (which are rooted from the same books anyway).
Friends of the Parvez family said that Asqa's sisters also did not wear hijab, and that it wasn't the reason for her murder, but a sad end to a string of conflict with a controlling father.
Islam may be "medieval," but both it and Christianity stemmed originally from Judaism, and all three are pretty much stuck in tradition and "medieval" beliefs. The current Catholic pope, for example, is stuck in an archaic version of Catholicism long abandoned by many that sees adultery as a mortal sin, birth control pills as close to murder, and same-sex marriage as an obstacle to world peace.
Finally, feminist voices are anything but silent when it comes to the oppression of women by Islam.
I highly recommend Antonia Zerbisias's column from Friday's Star.
I was planning on posting the link here, anyway, but I think it happens to respond to some of warmflash's concerns nicely.
Haroon Siddiqui's column from today mostly parallels what David says above.
@Jonathan: the downside of these columns is that the rational opinions in them didn't prevent the Star from playing up the religious angle in earlier regular coverage and headlines.
@warmflash: You'd do well to heed Siddiqui's closer: "It's certainly no time to be scoring points in cultural warfare, the antithesis of the common good." Attacks on existing religions have failed for thousands of years to produce peaceful change. By repeating them, you show your disinterest in compromise and practical solutions.
It's remarkably ignorant and presumptuous to judge an entire religion (that is practiced by a billion-and-a-half people and which has been around since the 7th century) based only on fragmented, incomplete information acquired over the last six years that has been filtered through a climate of irrational fear—which is how most of the Western world knows Islam today.
Islam, like other organized religions, has some very serious problems and some very dangerous adherents, and it is deserving of a lot of the criticism aimed at it, but to paint Muslims as intolerant, war-mongering radicals is not only drastically inaccurate, but also reminiscent of some very alarming and horrifying periods in human history.
With all the stabbings and shootings in Toronto this year, I have to wonder if any media outlet has cast a single one of them in the same Violence and Religion light. Somehow I doubt a single article or news segment played up the Christianity of any of the attackers. I also doubt many people saw any of this year's other murders as some sort of side effect of religion.
" Islam says that women and men are equal. "
The Koran says men and women are " spiritually " equal.
This equality, however, does not does apply to the physical realm of life.
As they exist day to day, the roles, rules and expectations for Islamic men and women are anything but equal.
Ah. Here it is. And written by a feminist.
How Canada let Aqsa down
Barbara Kay, National Post
Published: Thursday, December 13, 2007
We have this week two news items of tragedies involving girl victims. Both will serve to reinforce the belief of many Canadians -- count me in -- that the alliance of feminism with multiculturalism has created a two-tier sisterhood.
The top tier, Western women, have achieved full equality rights. Any and all male aggression against a top-tier woman triggers a public outcry and a million lit candles. The second-tier women -- those from other cultures -- are not so fortunate. Feminists exploit multiculturalism to justify their moral abandonment of the women who most need them: girl victims of dysfunctional or socially unevolved cultures.
We begin in Australia, and the trial results of a 2006 rape of a 10-year-old aboriginal girl by a group of nine aboriginal men and adolescents. District Court Judge Sarah Bradley gave all of them probation or suspended sentences -- no jail time and no criminal records. Bradley concluded that the victim "was not forced and she probably agreed to have sex with all of you."
This girl had been a sexual pawn since the age of seven. She is the kind of human wreckage that should have inspired amongst anguished feminists a mass demonstration with candles, white ribbons and demands for life sentences for her attackers.
But the judge was a woman, the girl and her attackers from a minority culture, creating the perfect ideological storm.
How could any woman get it so wrong? It's like this: Indoctrinated in multicultural feminism, Judge Bradley is a moral and cultural relativist. Any sexual aggression against her own daughter would be anathema, but the cultural values of the Other are sacrosanct, and must be respected.
Thus, that judge didn't see a 10-year-old girl. She didn't see an individual. She saw aboriginal Others engaged in behaviours particular to their culture, and she assumed it would be wrong to impose her standards on them. Believe it or not, I am sure she thought she was
being sensitive to their "difference."
Back to Canada and, if appearances turn out to be reality, Canada's first honour killing. Sixteen-year-old Mississauga teenager Aqsa Parvez died on Tuesday of wounds suffered in an attack on her on Monday -- allegedly by her father. (A brother is also charged with the crime of obstruction.) Friends of Aqsa painted a picture of a young girl eager to integrate into Canadian society, in ongoing conflict with her conservative Pakistani father who insisted she wear the hijab, the Muslim symbol of sexual modesty.
Multiculturalists would have us believe that the hijab is merely a religious symbol, like the Sikh kirpan or the Christian cross, freely embraced by the girls wearing them. It isn't, as many Muslim commentators, including Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hassan in these pages yesterday, have frequently explained. The hijab is rather a public sign of supervised sexual modesty, and marks those wearing it as chattel, leashed to their fathers and brothers as surely as if they were wearing a dog collar.
But you'll never hear a feminist murmur a word of complaint about these girls' lack of autonomy, for the same reasons the judge in Australia couldn't imagine that an aboriginal girl should be treated with the dignity and respect her own daughter would take for granted.
I have argued before in these pages that the hijab, however benign-seeming, is still one end of a female-submissive spectrum that ends in the burka, a garment virtually all Canadians find antithetical to our values. If public schools, which are supposedly secular, had banned hijabs as France did, along with all other religious paraphernalia, in order to create a level social Canadian playing field, Aqsa would have had Canada on her side.
Aqsa's father in turn would have had to accept the fact that his family lived in a country where women are not forced by any man to wear uniforms that define them as property or symbols of their family's "honour." And she might be alive today.
How many thousands of other Aqsas hate the hijab but wear it without complaint because they fear their fathers' and brothers' wrath? How many girls in minority cultures are sexually mutilated or degraded without intervention or censure?
Feminists and multiculturalists would rather not go there: Where the suffering of girls in other cultures is concerned, our feminists and multiculturalists adhere to the policy of "don't ask, don't tell."
Your comments would have worked, Warmflash, if they weren't from a right-wing toilet paper passing itself off as a important part of the fifth estate, and if you weren't so anti-Muslim. As it is, you've still lost this round.