Most of us live in a society where No means just that, NO! According to reports that are out, President Karzai has signed a piece of legislation that limits the right of women in the Shia minority (roughly 10% of the population). Per the reports the only time a woman has the right to say no to sex with her husband is when she is sick. Basically means that in all other times, willing or not, she has to endure it. Karzai’s aides insist that this is for the women’s protection. WHAT!?!?!?! How is this protection?? In addition to taking away the ability to say no to sex, the law also prohibits women from having child custody and from being able to leave the house without permission. Ergo, the women have to get permission from the men to go to school, doctor or even run little errands. Last time I checked, the Taleban did not pay Karzai bills nor did they place him in his post.
The President’s office refused to comment on this issue, more so with people accusing Karzai for signing this bill to win votes at the urging of many Shia clerics and powerful Shia political players.The women that voted for Karzai last time around did not sign up for this. The platform he ran on previously is being tainted. When are they going to stop viewing women as second class citizens? Why won’t they release the law publicly? What is the difference between what Karzai is doing and what the Taleban did? Its kind of painful and sad to see that the steps are leading away from progress and right back into the middle-ages..SIGH!!!
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That’s Islam for you, not Karzai. There’s a similar law, depending on interpretation, in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, the Sudan and Iran. Women are always second-class citizens in the Islamic countries, all that for their “protection”, however ridiculous that may sound. Did you see the video of a 17 years old girl being flogged by the Taliban in Pakistan? She was literally screaming and crying hard. Her punishment was for visiting a male not related to her and for having an “affair”.
That’s not Islam! I don’t believe the religion propogates rape and it does not justify ill-treating of women. The interpretation of the religion by man is what is skewed, not the religion itself.
I disagree. Islam empowers men to do things they can get away with it and hope for Allah’s “mercy” after they get caught. They take certain sayings from the Quran and use them to justify their actions, depending on what were their cultural upbringings. Honestly, I see too much of bad things from Islam and its practitioners. I read the Quran and it is very heavily ambiguous.
Deaf? I am from Sweden, aslo deaf, and have a blog in the Sweden to magainze Metro. http://www.metro.se
Unfortunately, I must agree with Rob’s comment above - that Islam is doing a lot of prejudice to the rights of women. The simple fact that those countries where women enjoy the lowest status are in LARGE marjority Islamic countries does tell something.
If you haven’t already, I suggest you checking “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, by Khaled Hosseini (the same author who wrote “The Kite Runner” if you’ll recall). Difficult to read but magnificient.