Honor Killings: Why they Happen

Arab culture is based on honor, and the concept of honor in the Arab world is the driving force behind wars, killing, & international conflict.  Any perceived injury to the honor of one member of the clan by an outsider is considered an injury to all members of the Arab world.  Therefore, the drive for revenge to cleanse the honor justifies the killing of innocents, who have to pay the price to wipe away the shame.  A family’s respect and position within the Islamic community is dependent on the family’s honor.  The honor is the sole responsibility of the women of the family who are taught from childhood the consequences of their behavior.   The woman is the property of the man, whether her father, brother, or husband.  Shame is linked to every aspect of the woman’s behavior: her dress code, social behavior, her proper head covering, and many others.  

An unmarried woman must remain a virgin until marriage, if they do not bleed on their wedding day, they are often murdered by their family for their dishonor.  Former PLO terrorist Tass Saada confessed that when his sister married in Qatar that the parents of both the bride and groom stood outside the bedroom door as the couple consummated their marriage.  Tass's father had a gun in his waistband just in case it turned out his daughter was not pure.  Had she not passed this virginity test, she would have died on that night.  Once married, they cannot leave their house without her husband’s permission.  It is considered shameful for an Arab woman to be seen with a male who is not a relative, and hundreds of women in the Middle East are killed every year for this very reason.  Even if the girl is raped, she must be killed due to the soiling of the family’s honor.  

In many nations, this is the law of the land.  Honor Killings happen everywhere.  In Palestine in the year 2000, a young girl by the name of Rofayda Qaouda was gang-raped by her two brothers.  Any decent minded person would have thrown those two men in prison for their despicable act.  However, Rofayda’s mother instead gave her daughter a razor blade and told her to commit suicide in order to restore the family’s honor.  Rofayda refused, so her mother came in one night while her daughter slept and spent 20 minutes suffocating her with a plastic bag, cutting her wrists with a razor, and beating her head with a stick before Rofayda finally died an agonizing death.  In many cases, these laws are actually written in the books.  Article 341 of Jordanian Law permits murder when honor is in question.  Article 475 of the Moroccan penal code states that a rapist may be exonerated of his crime if he marries the victim.  This link shows the terrible ordeal that women in Morocco face when they find themselves in this horrible position (Rape Law of Morocco).  

Women in Islamic nations often face a horrible fate if they fall victim to rape.  Surah 24:4 demands that women produce four witnesses to prove that they are raped, and as a woman's testimony is worth only half of a man's (Surah 2:282), this puts them at an extreme disadvantage.  Even if they escape their rapist, they cannot escape the shame stigma that follows them.  As a result, they are often not welcomed back by their families, but for many this is only the beginning of their problems.  Rape in Iran is punishable by death, that is, the victim is hanged.  Atefeh Rajabi was hanged in public for “adultery,” she was 16 (she had been raped).  In Saudi Arabia in 2007, a 19-year-old woman was to receive 90 lashes for being gang-raped by 7 men.  When she appealed and went to the media, she received 200 lashes and her lawyer was banned from defending her & license revoked.  Even foreign women fall victim to this.  In Dubai, Australian hotel worker Alicia Gali was gang-raped by three men.  When she reported the incident, the courts sentenced Alicia to a year in prison for having intercourse outside of marriage.  Women have no authority “There is no salvation for a man or a nation who allows women to rule over them” (Bukhari Volume 9, Book 88, Number 219), and they have no rights.  

As it stands, there is a strong push to change, but this change does not simply involve challenging the the long-standing laws of society, but the teachings of a faith.  Islamic teachings and Arab honor practice are intertwined and the practices are decreed and enforced by Muhammad, and they cannot be challenged.   Surah 4:65 decrees that a Muslim cannot have a true faith unless the accept all of Muhammad's decrees without question.  To challenge any aspect of his teachings and decrees, including those concerning the rights of women, can be seen not only as dishonorable, but treasonous, and we know how accused "traitors" are often treated throughout the course of history.  

Sources

The Holy Qur'an

Hadith of Sahih Bukhari

Hadith of Sahih Muslim

Hadith of Sunan Abu Dawud

Hadith of Jami' at-Tirmidhi

Ahlert, Arnold.  "Forcing Women to Marry Their Rapists."  Front Page Magazine.  March 2012.  Accessed from http://www.think-israel.org/ahlert.marrytheirrapists.html.

Darwish, Nonie.  Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror.  New York: Penguin Group, 2006.

Gabriel, Bridget.  Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America.  New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2006.

Gabriel, Bridget.  They Must be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam & How We Can Do It.  New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009.

Rostampour, Maryam & Marziyeh Amirizadeh.  Captive in Iran.  Atlanta: Tyndale Momentum, 2013

Kokytus Antenora.  "Australian Woman Jailed Because She was Gang Raped: Sharia in Dubai 1/2."  Filmed [May 2013].  YouTube Video, 14:05.  Posted [May 2013].  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWwMSm8EfS8