Gay Muslims?

The Qur'an says: "If any of your women are guilty of lewdness (lesbianism) ... confine them... until death do claim them." (4:15) But for males: "If two men among you commit indecency (sodomy) punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways, let them be. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (4:16)

Sodomy is common among unmarried males but usually ceases on marriage. To be the active partner brings little disgrace but the passive partner is despised, although not to the same extent as in the West.

One may ask why it is so easy for the man to obtain a divorce but so difficult for a woman. "If women were given the power of unilateral divorce, it is probable millions of them would divorce their husbands. " 10 because there are times of the month when a woman is not in full control of her faculties; she may suffer bouts of ill-temper, depression or jealousy-be upset by trivia which normally would not bother her.

 Woman in Islam

 Education of Women

Girls are under-educated in Islam. One text, "Women in Shariah" spent 90% of its chapter on "Education" discussing the learning of the Qur'an and the Hadith, and the rest on segregating the sexes in schools. Many mosque schools are still content to have their students recite verses from the Qur'an by rote, in Arabic which they may not understand. No wonder scholarship of secular subjects such as mathematics, science, humanities, business and technical studies is so low in Islam when a disproportionate percentage of the time is given to the Sunna. No wonder non-Muslim governments will not register Muslim schools without demanding that a broadly educational, secular curriculum be taught which will help the students and the nation.

Egyptian psychiatrist, Nawal El-Saadawi ("The Hidden Face of Eve") who specializes in neuroses in women is perhaps bitter:

"Education of female children is a slow process of annihilation, a gradual throttling of her personality and mind... her capacity to think independently... so she will do what others have told her... and be a victim of their decisions."

In 1970, 85% of Arab women were illiterate as compared with 60% of men. Elsewhere similar figures were given for Pakistan but would you believe the definition of literacy? No, not the ability to read a newspaper, 5000 words or some such, but the ability to read and write one's own name! More recently several countries have made attempts to remedy the state of schooling for girls but much more needs doing. A large part of the problem is that a negative view is held regarding girls' education: it may expose them to moral danger, it may increase their expectations, reduce their docility and modesty, and reduce their chances of marriage to self-opinionated males.

Sex in Islam

When one considers the Qur'anic punishments against fornication and adultery, one would think that promiscuity and sex crime in Islam would be minimal. However rape and child abuse are not, in most cases, reported. The reason is that the "victim is blamed": a stigma is attached to having been defiled. For example a study into sexual aggression by grown up men on female children or young girls showed that nearly half of them had been sexually abused in Muslim Egypt-a figure of 45% compared to the United States figure of 24%.

For scientific reasons the ratio of boy to girl babies in any sizeable population is 50:50 so monogamy, group marriage or equal mixtures of polyandry and polygyny are statistically possible. Undoubtedly monogamy is the least complicated socially. However, in Muhammad's day many men were killed plundering and fighting and so it was possible for some males to have more than one wife. Most of Muhammad's eleven wives were widows. Some of them he had made widows himself! (Could you love, honour and obey your husband's murderer?)

Today, however, if richer men have up to four wives, then there must be a number of unmarried or late-marrying males. With prostitution and fornication banned, homosexuality haram, and masturbation disdained that leaves sex within the household. Sisters, cousins and maid-servants often take the place of the girl down the street in western society. A segregated society with strict separation of the sexes creates widespread sexual frustration and suppression. Muhammad's only advice to impecunious men was to weaken the sex drive by fasting.

Islam does not condemn sexuality as such, unlike Paul who managed to become the chief spokesman for Christianity. His ideal state was celibacy. "It is good for a man not to touch a woman. I say to the unmarried... abide even as I (celibate). But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." (I Corinthians, Chapter 7)

However Qur'anic sex does seem to have the male mainly in mind. The Companions of the Garden (houris) "untouched before by man or djinn" are undoubtedly to delight the male. The handsome youths in Paradise, however, are not promised to the women. (52:24)

Islam has an obsession about virginity for girls. God has provided them with a hymen to prove their chastity. Yet only 40% of girls have a "normal" hymen that will rupture and bleed on the wedding night: for 20% it is so fine that it breaks during childhood, and 40% may have an elastic hymen that may not rupture. So much for teleology, the concept that everything has a god-given purpose! What divine justice is there that more than 30% of girls have no bleeding at all during their first sexual act.'³ The father of the bride cannot hold up the white towel stained with blood the next morning. The bride is disgraced and may even be divorced or murdered. In a case where such a murder occurs it is often thrown out of court as a question of Izzat, "honour". There is a double standard, for the male is proud of his sexual exploits and does not stop to think that his fair share of hymens is one per lifetime. To my knowledge, The Prophet Muhammad had only one virgin in his life, the child bride A'isha. He did not regard it as shameful to go where other men had been: he did not, however, cherish the idea of other men succeeding him after his death. (33:53)

There may be several reasons for insisting on virginity in the bride. One, of course, is that there is no danger of having someone else's child attributed to you. Another is that the groom can educate the young bride to his own idiosyncrasies and can not be compared with other lovers. Probably the economic factor is the greater.

Saying "I divorce you" three times is equivalent to the decree nisi in western society except that only the husband can say it. The divorce does not become absolute until the iddah is observed. The iddah of three monthly periods satisfies the ex-husband that he has not left an heir in the womb and satisfies any prospective new husband that the womb is ready for his breeding alone.

 Rape In Pakistan

Unfortunately, since Pakistan has reverted to an Islamic state, rape against women has increased dramatically. Of course, official figures would say the opposite as, under Shariah, it is almost impossible to prove that rape has taken place. Rape is often used as revenge against a woman's husband, father, brother or son. When it is used against a political opponent it is called "power rape". The rapists often cut off the noses of their victims to show that they are "fallen women

Rape can only be proven if there are four adult male witnesses. (A female's testimony is not even taken as half-value in the case of capital crimes.) If the case is unproven, the woman can be charged with fornication which carries the death penalty. There are thousands of women in jail in Pakistan charged with zina. Even if the crime is not pursued, relatives may expect the woman to commit suicide, preferably by burning herself. Alternatively the husband may divorce her or, if he has to pay back too much dowry, have her committed to a lunatic asylum. "Human Rights Watch estimates that Pakistani police abuse 70 per cent of the women in their custody, though no officer has ever been penalized. "18

Nakedness is generally considered ugly and the chaste wife sneaks under the bed covers. The Qur'an tells Muslims: "0 ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed clothing upon you to cover your shame..." (7:26) "Let not Satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame."(7:27)

In hadith 134 (Sahih Muslim) the Messenger said: "A man should not see the private parts of another man, and a woman should not see the private parts of another woman." It is also forbidden for both men and women to see the private parts of the opposite sex. The husband can expose his equipment before his wife and vice versa at the time of sexual intercourse but it is not desirable to see it. It is, however, allowable in case of extreme necessity for example medical examination and treatment. Yet in many cases a husband has not allowed his wife on her death bed to receive treatment from a male doctor.

Hadith 135 (Sahih Muslim) relates how the Children of Israel lost their modesty and indulged in moral depravity by bathing nakedly in front of each other. Only Moses took his bath alone. However, on one occasion he left his clothes on a rock and the rock moved so that Moses had to chase after it. By the time that Moses had caught up with his clothes and chastised the rock by striking it, everyone had had a chance of viewing his equipment. This cleared up a bone of contention: some had thought that Moses was modest because he had a scrotal hernia.

Muslim Women in India and Bangladesh.

Muslim women defer to men. They have been conditioned to feel dirty because they menstruate and bear children. Their economic dependence and lack of power makes them feel inferior. The traditions handed down from mother to daughter over the centuries have made them ideologically subordinate to males. They have accepted ideas which devalue and degrade them and provide them with a negative self-image.'⁶

"Wife beatings are often an outlet for a man's sense of impotence and frustration in the face of grinding poverty. The threats of polygamy and divorce help husbands to ensure their wives' obedience. Polygamy rarely brings happiness as the wives quarrel and compete for love and attention."'⁷

Marriage is well nigh universal and may take place soon after the girl's first menstruation. Much of a woman's life is spent bearing and rearing children. Absence of children is the fault of the woman. The wife who fails to provide her husband with male heirs is denigrated for the line dies out without a male to carry the name. Also sons are considered insurance against destitution in old age.

Unlike in the Western world men tend to live longer than women. Suicides are almost exclusively female because of the desperation in their lives. For the fifty million Muslim women in India the life expectancy is 45.6 years compared with 47.1 years for men. The average woman near menopause has had 6.4 live children born to her and this does not take into account a large number of still-births or pre-natal mortality. Women are more likely to die than men due to the dangers of pregnancy as they are often undernourished and lack hygienic medical facilities. in poor families the husband eats first, then the children and the woman last and least.

 Muslim Women Threaten Suicide

Pune, the Indian Muslim Women's Equality Forum, wants an end to "instant talaq" and polygamy or hundreds of Muslim women will burn themselves to death in public places all over India. Due to the infamous Muslim Personal Law, Muslim women in India are subjected to some of the Shariah provisions found in Islamic states even though they are living in a supposedly secular society.

"Muslim women have suffered worst atrocities, sex and religious discrimination, massive humiliations and persecution due to the outrageous Muslim Personal Law. Muslim women are ready to make the supreme sacrifice rather than tolerating injustices for ever. Millions of women are ready to leave the ummah. We cannot be forced to remain in a community practising terrorism against women.

"If you do not permit us to live with honour, you cannot stop us from dying with dignity."

 Women In Afghanistan

Afghanistan has long been Muslim: the conquest of the region in 1000 CE led to the massacre of the Hindu population, indeed Hindu Kush means "Hindu slaughter". In April 1992 Islamic rebels overthrew the Communist Government after 14 years of civil war. Fifty thousand Hindus had to flee Kabul, the capital.

In reality the communists had held only Kabul and the other towns. Life in the mountains had continued on much the same as it had for centuries before. Society was patriarchal: girls were murdered for refusing arranged marriages and for breaking Islamic taboos. Education for girls in the countryside was non-existent: in the whole of Afghanistan only 11 per cent of young women can read compared with 46% of young men. Male doctors could not examine women and health care was marginal - the life expectancy of an Afghan woman is 42 years of age. Only 8 per cent of births are attended by doctors or trained midwives and the maternal death rate per 100000 live births is 690 compared with 8 in the USA.

The impetus for the rebellion was the "feminism" evident in the towns: women wore jeans and denim jackets, skirts and blouses. They let their hair show, danced with men and wore make-up. Girls went to school and mixed with boys. Women held jobs and did not have to stay at home. They chose their own lovers and husbands. Such a carry on" had to be stopped, and it was. Indeed, the one thing which united the disparate Muslim groups was the perceived need to suppress women's rights.

Afghanistan Update from "Left Shoe News" (http://hraic.org.au )

Jan 1999 Most of Afghanistan has been overrun by the Taleban militia, an ultra-fundamentalist group of Islamic students supported by Pakistan.

They have re-introduced amputation for theft, stoning for adultery, banned music, dancing, chess, videos and TV. Some ways in which women are particularly targeted:

16/8/97 Women are banned from participating in sport.

27/2/98 Thirty thousand spectators at the Kabul sports stadium watched while a teen-age girl received a hundred lashes for walking with a non-related male.

8 Oct. '98 The Taleban Miniistry for Promoting Virtue and Suppressing Vice has banned tailors from taking women's measurements.

5/8/98 A researcher for Physicians for Human Rights, Zohra Rasekh who speaks fluent Farsi states that Islamic Taleban has targeted women for extreme repression and punished them brutally for infractions." "To our knowledge, no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half the population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of punishment from showing their faces, attending school and seeking medical care without their husband, father, brother or son escorting them."

"In public women must be covered from head to toe in a burqa with only a mesh opening to see and breathe through."

Aid organizations working in Afghanistan have complained that their access to female aid recipients has been severely curtailed by the Taleban's rulings.

 Woman in Islam

The Two Faces

of Islam

"The Governments of the world should know that Islam cannot be defeated. Islam will be victorious in all countries of the world and Islam and the teachings of the Qur'an will prevail all over the world." (Ayatollah Khomeini)

Statements such as this make it hard for Muslims living in Dar-al-Harb ("Territory of War", enemy countries, nations with non-Muslim rulers) for they must try to present Islam favorably replete with tolerance and sweetness, peace and light, faith and charity, equality and brotherhood. The "misunderstood Muslims" must tell themselves that jihad, "striving for Allah", can encompass teaching and proselytizing, bringing up sons (to fight for Allah) or even donating money for Zakat (especially if it goes to buy weapons). Their spokespersons quote the less belligerent verses of the Qur'an e.g. "Dispute with them (the Jews) in the kindest manner" (16:126, translator Rodwell) and "Let there be no compulsion in religion." (2:256) knowing full well that there are other verses in the Qur'an which apply in times of Harb (warfare). Examples abound such as: "Wage war on the people of the Book, who ... do not accept the religion of Islam." (9:29) "Fight against them (the Jews and Christians)! Allah shall punish them, at your hands." (9:14)

 Muhammad said to his companions, "Chase him and Kill him."