Rape and Islam "A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No one  to blame but herself. She displayed her beauty to the entire world. She dagraded herself by being an object of sexual desire and thus becoming vulnerable to man who looks at her for gratification of his sexual urge..."  Sheik Faiz Mohamad, speech at Bankstown Town Hall, Sydney, Australia, on March 18th 2005.  Source: " Veiled threat an insult to all."  by Miranda Devine, The Sun Herald April 24, 2005, Does Islam permit rape?  What is the status of women in Islam? And what does the Qur'an have to say about women? “If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive/slave) that your right hand possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.” Qur'an 4:3. “Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will....” Qur'an 2:223. “And all the married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives/slaves) whom your right hand possess....” Qur'an 4:24 The part that your right hand possess refers to slavegirls. I often receive emails from irate Muslims - male and female – who vehemently insist that  I got the situation of women in Islam all wrong, that Islam respects women and has given women rights when they had non. Some of them blame the media for giving their religion a bad name, others blame tradition and nearly all are angered with anyone criticizing Islam, even though the criticism is justified by facts and scripture. The issue of women and Islam is in the spotlight yet again. In one of his sermons, Sydney based, Sheik Hilaly  likened women to pieces of meat which is left uncovered for the cats to eat. He quotes a highly esteemed, Islamic scholar Rafii who lays the blame for rape and adultery on the woman. Furthermore, he implies that Muslim men cannot and should not be expected to exercise control over their actions and therefore not be responsible if they are “led astray” by uncovered women and commit rape or adultery. Here’s the sermon: Those atheists, people of the book  (Christians and Jews), where will they end up? In Surfers Paradise? On the Gold Coast? Where will they end up? In hell. And not part-time. For eternity. They are the worst of God’s creation. Who commits the crimes of theft? The man or the woman? The man. That’s why the man was mentioned before the women when it comes to theft because his responsibility is providing. But when it comes to adultery, it’s 90 per cent the women’s responsibility. Why? Because a woman possesses the weapon of seduction. It is she who takes off her clothers, shortens them, flirts, puts on make-up and powder and takes to the streets, God protects us, dallying. It’s she who shortens, raises and lowers. Then it’s a look, then a smile, then a conversation, then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, then Long Bay jail.  [Hilaly laughs}. Then you get a judge, who has no mercy, and he gives you 65 years. But when it comes to this disaster, who started it? In his literature, scholar al Rafii says: “If I came across a rape crime – kidnap and violation of honour – I would discipline the man and order that the woman be arrested and jailed for life.” Why would you do this, Rafii? He says because if she had not left the meat uncovered, the cat wouldn’t have snatched it… If you take uncovered meat and put it on the street, on the pavement, in the garden, in a park or in the back yard, without a  cover and the cats eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem. If the meat was covered, the cats wouldn’t roam around it. If the meat is inside the fridge, they won’t get it. If the woman is in her boudoir, in her house and if she’s wearing the veil and if she shows modesty, disasters don’t happen… Satan sees women as half his soldiers…Satan tells women you are my weapon to bring down any stubborn man… The woman was behind Satan playing  a role when she disobeyed God and went out all dolled up and unveiled and made of herself palatable food  that rakes and perverts would race for. She was the reason behind this sin taking place. Even though the uncovered meat analogy  is quoted from scholar al-Rafii, we can gather the following beliefs about women: ·    Rape and adultery are women’s fault. ·    Women are Satan’s weapon in causing men to sin. ·    Unless women are at home and fully covered, they are provoking men, in other words, asking for it. ·    Men should not be held responsible for rape. ·    Non-Muslims are evil. What I like about Sheik Hilaly is that he calls the spade a spade! None of this rubbish about Islam respecting women that we often get from Islamic apologists. Like every body else, the Sheik has the right to free speech. However, if his view leads to someone committing rape then he would be partly responsible. I am glad that the Sheik’s true feelings are out in the open. Those misguided multiculturalists and those who are ignorant of the dangers that Islam and religion in general pose to the world, will hopefully wake up, pull their heads out of the sand and face facts. The Sheik’s sermon was intended only for his flock, unfortunately for him, and for the Muslims who think, it leaked out and now more and more people know about the hatred for women and the West that is preached in mosques. Their hatred for the US, is understandable, it’s the deep hatred for women and the West which I find terrifying. It seems that the main reason that Muslims hate the West is because of the freedoms that Western women enjoy, they live in constant fear that Muslim women will also demand the same freedoms.  They are so sensitive on the matter of women in Islam, that anyone who speaks out about it, puts his/her life at risk.  In 2004,  Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim fanatic for making a documentary –“Submission” – about the plight of Muslim women. Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin is living in hiding because she too, rightly, criticized Islam’s treatment of women. Dutch parliamentarian Ayan Hirsi Ali, also lives in fear of her life after assisting Van Gogh with the making of “Submission” and for speaking out against the abuse of women in Muslim communities. Prior to entering politics, Ayan worked as an interpreter at battered women’s shelters and recalls the disproportionate number of Muslim women trying to escape violence. Sheik Hilaly’s sermon was not simply his opinion of women but a reflection of Islamic thought and culture. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, every two hours a woman is raped in Pakistan and every eight hours a woman is subjected to gang rape. The Hudood Ordinances are a set of laws in Pakistan intended to make the criminal justice system conform with Islamic law. These laws cover offences including Zina crimes (unlawful sexual intercourse including adultery and rape) and Qazf (wrongful accusation of Zina crimes). The maximum punishment for Zina crimes is death by stoning. Many women are imprisoned for years, convicted or awaiting trial for Zina crimes. These laws place an almost impossible burden of proof on women and girls who are raped. If they report a rape to the police they are often charged with Zina crimes because they have in effect admitted to sexual intercourse outside of marriage and been unable to prove absence of consent. In such cases, the victims are more likely to be convicted than the perpetrators. Pakistani law is punishing victims of rape as though they were criminals while the perpetrators go free.[1] When Muslims migrate to countries  where the culture is diametrically opposed to Muslim norms, it’s inevitable that there will be a conflict  of cultures. This conflict manifested itself  in the rapes of Anglo-saxon women. The rapists were Lebanese Muslims and they specifically targeted Australian girls whom they called sluts, pigs, whores etc. At that time, Sheik Hilaly condemned the rapes and flatly told the rapists’ parents that “Your sons, are rapists”. Yet in his latest sermon he puts the blame for rape on the women and excuses the rapists. It seems that we have two versions of Islam, one for the Western media and one for the mosque.  We know now to take everything they (the Islamists) say with a grain of salt. Indeed, it is the Muslim men’s behavior which contributed to the Cronala riots. The problem has been brewing for some years now. Young Muslim males would be marauding the beach, harassing non-Muslim women, calling them sluts and whores. The locals had have enough. The situation exploded when a group of Lebanese males beat up three lifeguards. The locals retaliated with various other groups from outside the area joining in and indiscriminately targeting anyone with ethnic appearance. Could the riots have been prevented if the authorities have taken action from the beginning? Probably. Could the harassing of non-Muslim women not have occurred if imams and Muslim parents have not taught their sons that non-Muslim women are sluts and therefore fair game? Definitely. And how do I know what Muslim males think? I went to school with them and I observed their attitude towards female teachers and women in general. In Sydney, a cosmopolitan city, there are over a hundred different nationalities. Why is it that we do not have Greek, Vietnamese, Italian or South American rape gangs. Why are the gangs composed of mainly Muslims and why do they target Australian women? It’s not because they cannot find willing partners for sex or because they cannot restrain themselves at the sight of unveiled women, it is because they resent the freedoms that Australian women enjoy and are terrified of the thought of their own women demanding the same freedoms, That is why they use rape as a weapon in putting and keeping women in their place. There are  rapists in all cultures,  religions and nationalities. Let’s not forget the horrific rape, torture and murder of Anita Cobby and the more recent rapes commited certain football players. However, we do not support rapists and we do not punish the victims. Of course, rape is not problem in Islamic countries because women stay home and are protected by the hijab or the burqa. Right? Now let’s look at the reality, recent efforts in Pakistan to reform the rape laws in order to make them fairer to the victims have met with opposition from clerics and conservatives who claim that the reforms are against Islam. That’s right, justice for rape victims is against Islam! Clerics have also opposed proposed laws that would punish perpetrators of honor killings. What many Muslims do not understand is that a piece of cloth will not protect a woman from rape, if only it was that simple! In some parts of the Amazon forest there are tribes  where women, and men, wear little more than a loin cloth, yet these tribes are not experiencing an epidemic of rape, why?  When Christian missionaries first arrived in the Pacific Islands two hundred years ago, they were horrified to see women running around with bare breasts. The Polynesians at that time regarded bare breasts as a means for feeding babies and not as sexual objects. As soon as the missionaries managed to convert the islanders to Christianity, they proceeded in covering the women in mother hubbards (long baggy dresses). You see, modesty is in the eye of the beholder. In the Netherlands where there is equality of the sexes and a healthy attitude towards women and sex, there are very few rapes committed by Scandinavian males. Most of the rapes in those countries are committed by migrant Muslim males. [2] [1] Rape laws in Pakistan: http://web.amnesty.org/wire/July2004/Pakistan  [2] Muslim Rape Epidemic in Sweden and Norway - Authorities Look the Other Way, because of multiculturalism: http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/02/muslim-rape-epidemic-in-sweden-and.html Raped in Oslo:   http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1754 Unveiled women invite rape and Muslim girls disfigured for not wearing the hijab: http://www.dhushara.com/book/sakina/stoningetc/hijabrape.htm Rape: Nothing to do with Islam? http://www.islam-watch.org/Fjordman/Islam&Rape.htm Voula Papas Satan's best weapon 2006 Home | Articles | Quotes | Humour | Resources | Links | Site Map | Email