Afghan Husband Rapes Wife: Culture, Law, History, and Catching Up

Men getting a bit frantic about having children isn't unknown in Western civilization. Take England in the early 1500s, for example.

Henry VIII of England had a problem having children. Boys, anyway, who would live past their teens. Although, given his bed-hopping habits, it wouldn't have been hard to claim that just about boy whose mother was in or near London was an illegitimate son of the "Defender of the Faith" (who later set up his own church).

That was then, this is now. These days, heads of state are expected to keep their shenanigans discretely under wraps: although some still do get a little carried away. (Reuters)

Ishmael to Internet in One Lifetime

I've made the point before, that many Muslims have been dragged across several thousand years of history and cultural change in one or two generations. Stable cultures, carrying on traditions which had been ancient when Abraham moved out of Ur, were relatively isolated until Western civilization needed petroleum.

Then, the world of individual rights, Barbies, beer, bikinis and Mickey Mouse dropped into their quiet world. It must have been like a retirement community suddenly having a frat house near the golf course.

'I Can't Get My Wife Pregnant: It Must Be Her Fault!'

Afghanistan is an Islamic country. It's also in the Middle East - or just outside that region, depending on who you're reading.¹ And, it's not the best spot in the world to live if you're a woman.

Take Shameen, for instance. She's had a rough time lately. She and her husband haven't had children. He blames her, and apparently Afghan culture backs him up.

"... After one severe beating, she ran from her home and to the police station. Her husband promised the police he would not attack her anymore, so she gave in and agreed to go back home with him.

Days later, Shameen's husband took her on a trip to visit her sister's grave -- a 15-year-old sister who was burned to death for displeasing her husband.

"Shameen says her younger sister was 11 years old when she was forced to marry an older man. He would beat and abuse her until one day he killed her.

"As Shameen walked along the graveyard with her husband he took her near a shrine where he forced her to the ground, lifted her burqa and raped her. He then threatened her with a knife and asked her who was going to help her now. She was screaming as he slashed her throat and body.

"A passerby saved her.

"Now, she has no one to turn to -- not even her own parents. In their eyes, she has brought them shame, an offense punishable by death.

"In Afghanistan, a woman is blamed for the injustices she must live through. Shameen says when her sister was killed, her parents turned a blind eye...."
(CNN)

Rape isn't Nice, and We Shouldn't Do It

Rape is a serious offense. And, yes: a husband can rape his wife. It's wrong, it's bad, and it's a monumentally stupid thing to do. But, it's possible.

This definition and discussion of rape might help clarify my views:

"Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right...."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2356)

A key word here is "forcible." Shameen's husband forced himself on her. That may be okay in some cultures - but I don't buy into the multicultural ethic that says morality is determined by culture. Some things are wrong anywhere, and rape is one of them.

"A passerby saved her."

I think there's some hope for Afghanistan. The CNN article says: "A passerby saved her." At least one person in the country doesn't think that sexual assault in a cemetery is okay. And, the Afghan government not only allows shelters for abused women to exist, but cooperates with them.

"... Authorities brought Shameen to a shelter run by Women for Afghan Women (WAW). The organization started in New York to provide humanitarian assistance to women who do not know they have rights.

"In this safe house, WAW is currently providing care, security and an education for 54 women and children.

"Nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffer from domestic abuse, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women...."
(CNN)

I was doing time in a university in the eighties, when political correctness was in flower, so I've got - ambivalent? - feelings 'women's rights' and other PC dogmas. But the CNN article gives no clear indication that political indoctrination is part the WAW shelter's program: And those women desperately need a place to stay.

Islam, Culture, Rape and Attitude

There are more Muslims in America today then there were when I was growing up: but they're still a tiny minority here. My guess is that many Americans get their impression of what Islam is from the antics of Sudan's government, Saudi clerics, and people like Shameen's husband.

It's sort of like knowing Christianity from the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church and the KKK in the sixties. (November 26, 2007) Yes, those outfits claim to be Christian - and their members may believe it sincerely - but their actions are not typical of Christianity as a whole.

With Islam, it really is different. It looks to me like we've got a situation equivalent to entire nations being controlled by analogs of the Ku Klux Klan, as was in the sixties, at least; and the Westboro Baptist Church, with it's notions about the American military being part of a homosexual plot. (October 31, 2007)

But, based on what I've read - and correspondence with Muslims and Muslimas who do not think terrorism is a good idea - I think that Islamic belief is highly influenced by the culture of whatever region Muslims live it. I see a strong analogy to the "Bible truths" preached by some Christian groups: like 'alcohol is the work of the Devil' or 'rock music is Satanic,' which appear to stem more from the personal preferences of the pastor and mores of the local culture, than anything else.²

I've used Indonesia as an example of a very Islamic country that doesn't act like Sudan or Saudi Arabia. I don't think Indonesia is perfect, by any means. (August 22, 2008) Indonesia's officials may be struggling with reconciling their own beliefs, demands by Islamic crazies, and awareness of what's happened since the Magna Carta: and trying to run a country where terrorists have a limited - but significant - number of supporters.

For that matter, I don't think America is perfect. Which is another topic. (July 3, 2008)

I'm old enough to remember the 'good old days,' when significant numbers of Americans - including judges - figured that if a woman got raped, she must have been asking for it. Okay: In some cases, the victim was behaving imprudently. But that wasn't an excuse for rape. Not. At. All.

That attitude, and an indulgent view of drunk driving, seem to be on the wane. At least, I sincerely hope so.

Afghanistan is in Bad Shape - Abandoning Them to the Taliban Won't Help

I've said, often, that who wins the war on terror matters (July 30, 2009, for starters) Abandoning Afghanistan and the rest of the Islamic world to the Taliban and Saudi clerics isn't just wrong, it's a bad idea. There are Muslims - many, I hope - who would say "this is not us" about jihad as imagined by Bin Laden's Al Qaeda and the Taliban. (August 9, 2007)

If they're not given an opportunity to develop an Islamic world that's a bit more post-18th-century than what the Taliban and Al Shabaab have in mind, I don't think it would be long before the rest of the world had a relatively united block of terrorist nations to deal with.

Related posts:

• "Sudan, Women, Trousers, Culture and Common Sense"
  (September 7, 2009)
• "The War on Terror: Yes, Who Wins Does Matter"
  (July 30, 2009)
• "Eight-Year-Old Raped - Time to Think and Pray"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (July 25, 2009)
• "Marriott, Ritz-Carlton in Indonesia Bombed: It Could Have Been Worse"
  (July 18, 2009)
• "Mickey Mouse Must Die! Agent of Satan Targeted by Saudi Cleric"
  (September 19, 2008)
• "Sandeela Kanwal, Chaudhry Rashid: Honor Killing? Maybe, Maybe Not"
  (July 9, 2008)
• "The West and Today's Somali President: The Enemy of Your Enemy is Your Friend?"
  (March 19, 2009)
• "Muzzammil Hassan's Beheaded Wife No Honor Killing - Move Along"
  (February 19, 2009)
• "Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan, India, and the Lizard People"
  (January 14, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Israel and the 'Great Satan America'
• "Saudi Cleric Wants Women to Use One Eye - I'm Not Making This Up"
  (October 4, 2008)
• "United States of America: 232 Years in the Freedom Business"
  (July 3, 2008)
• "Indonesian Deradicalization Program Working: In Indonesia, at Least"
  (January 15, 2008)
• "Indonesia, 'Allah Akbar,' and Muslim Tolerance"
  (August 22, 2008)
• "Islam, Christianity, Culture, and Kooks"
  (November 26, 2007)
• "Tolerance Only Goes So Far"
  (October 31, 2007)
• "More about 'Yeh Hum Naheen' / 'This is Not Us' "
  (August 9, 2007)

In the news:

• "Afghan women hiding for their lives"
  CNN (September 24, 2009)

---

¹ With a world population of a bit over 6,000,000,000, somebody's going to have a passionate opinion about whether or not the term "Middle East" should be used at all.

I try to use terms that most people who understand English are familiar with. And "Middle East" is a whole lot shorter than "the-swath-of-countries-along-the-south-and-east-shores-of-the-Mediterranean-around-the-Caspian-and-south-shore-of-the-Black-Sea-and-eastwards-to-India."

Sure, "Western Asia" sounds cool - but leaves out the northern tier of nations in Africa, and Sudan: which have more-or-less-strong cultural similarities to the other Middle Eastern countries.

² There's an anecdote, which I haven't traced to its source, about a Christian denomination with members on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. Sometime in the 20th century, when transportation technology made a national convention practical, delegates from north and south got together.

The 'Bible truth' that one set believed was that alcohol was okay, but tobacco was the work of the Devil. The other was okay with smoking - health problems notwithstanding - but knew that God Himself had declared alcohol to be the work of the Devil.

They had, I heard, quite a lively theological discussion before thrashing out a compromise.

House of Saud Lashes Old Woman: Another Tale from the Weird Side

More weirdness from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' desert kingdom.

This time, a Saudi court sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman named Sawadi to deportation. First, though, she'll be lashed 40 times, and imprisoned for four months.

She's guilty of what, in Saudi Arabia, is a serious offense: lingering with men. Two of them. Much younger than she is. Who were bringing her bread. Five loaves. Sawadi seems to have been accused of corrupting them, too. Which, considering that she asked them to bring the bread, is sort of true.

Providing that you really think that bringing bread to an old woman warrants lashing her 40 times.

This may sound crazy, but in Saudi Arabia it's the law. As enforced by the 'religious police.' Or, more formally, The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. (Translated into English)

The religious police are the chaps who enforced the 'no-red' rule on Valentine's Day this year.

"...The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man's permission to travel...." (CNN)

Saudi Arabia: Leader of the Islamic World, or a Sort of Sideshow?

Islam got started in what is now Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia's king seems to take quite an interest in Islam: hence the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" title.

How good a representative he and his religious police are is, I think, a point that Muslims around the world should consider. Seriously.

In a way, the antics of Saudi Arabia's rulers shouldn't be in a War on Terror blog. But, since this conflict involves what some people think Islam ought to be, and since Saudi Arabia is thought by some (including, apparently the king), I think it's reasonable now and again to discuss the Keystone Cops show that passes for Saudi law and justice.

Related Posts:

• "Saudi Arabia Bans Valentine's Day - and the Color Red"
  (February 10, 2009)
• "What is Islam? Even Muslims Don't Seem to Agree"
  (February 6, 2009)
• "An Egyptian Doctor, a Saudi Princess, and 1,500 lashes"
  (November 11, 2008)
• "Saudi Cleric Wants Women to Use One Eye - I'm Not Making This Up"
  (October 4, 2008)
• "Mickey Mouse Must Die! Agent of Satan Targeted by Saudi Cleric"
  (September 19, 2008)
• " 'Will the Real Islam, Please Stand Up?' "
  (February 6, 2008)
• "Saudi Arabia's National Day, Islam, and Tribalism: This is Big"
  (September 27, 2008)
• "Muslims Are Not All Alike"
  (August 19, 2007)
• "More about 'Yeh Hum Naheen' / 'This is Not Us' "
  (August 9, 2007)

In the news

• "Saudi court sentences 75-year-old woman to lashes"
  The Associated Press (March 9, 2009)
• "Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling"
  CNN (March 9, 2009)

Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.

Holiday Attack on New York City Planned - Maybe

It's all very iffy: federal officials learned about discussions between Al Qaeda members, of plans to set off bombs in New York City's mass transit system; the information they got made sense, but they haven't been able to confirm it yet.

The New York Police Department's Paul J. Browne, said that the city's mass transit system was being assigned more more officers in "an 'abundance of caution.' "

And now, it's in the news: so a whole lot of people know about the possible plot.

Sounds good to me.

America's leaders may finally understand that Al Qaeda is a bigger threat than the FBI. (Quite a few of the discussions of FISA didn't do much to improve my opinion of America's congress ("FISA: Senate Decides Al Qaeda Bigger Threat than FBI").)

Of course, the federal officials involved were almost certainly in law enforcement and security: a somewhat more level-headed bunch, I think, than the politicos who are protecting us from Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover.

It's What We Haven't Seen, That's Impressive

I think this sort of "abundance of caution" is a big part of the reason we haven't seen a replay of the 9/11 attack. Al Qaeda and like-minded groups are still quite eager to kill in support of their notion of Islam. The fighting in Mumbai right now shows that the war on terror is still very real.

What impresses me almost as much as the lack of a second major attack in America is the comparative lack of fussing about being warned about possible attacks. I have not heard of anyone complaining about how much money is being wasted by sending more cops to guard the New York subways.

That's Interesting

Our old friend, the unnamed source, says that information about the planned attack comes from the tribal areas of Pakistan. Hardly surprising: Pakistan's government doesn't seem to have much control over that area, and has had a far from perfect record of cooperating with foreign powers like America, which are trying to help.

In the news:

• "Authorities on Alert After Report of Al Qaeda Plot"
  The New York Times (November 26, 2008)
• "Al Qaeda may target New York trains, feds say"
  CNN (November 26, 2008)
• "NY warns of possible al Qaeda attack"
  Reuters (November 26, 2008)
• "FBI Warns of Possible Terror Plot Against New York City Subway During Holidays"
  FOXNews (November 26, 2008)

With Friends Like These, Does Islam Need Enemies?

Osama bin Laden may not succeed in what his son calls "defending the Arab people and stop anyone from hurting the Arab or Muslim people any place in the world." He has, however, made people in the west a great deal more aware of Islam, and countries where Muslims are a majority. So far this week, these countries have been in the news:

Country	Major Religion	Form of Government
Afghanistan	80% Sunni Muslim 19% Shi'a Muslim	Islamic republic
Malaysia	60.4% Muslim	constitutional monarchy
Turkey	99.8% Muslim	republican parliamentary democracy

• The Malaysian state of Kelantan is the only one run by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. As part of a policy to support Islamic values, the Islamic Party is strictly enforcing boy-girl segregation of checkout lines. That's "to safeguard the ladies," according to Chief Minister Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
  
• Meanwhile, Turkey has blocked YouTube. It seems that there's a video there that insults Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. If that sounds familiar, you're paying attention. Last March, Greeks and Turks had been posting insults at each other on YouTube. These included videos insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It's a crime to insult Ataturk in Turkey. It's also criminal to insult "Turkishness:" and both offenses can lead to a prison sentence. So, the Turkish court was perfectly justified in shutting down access to YouTube in Turkey. Justified by Turkish standards, that is.
• More seriously, an Afghan court sentenced a journalism student, Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, to death. Due process (for Islamic Afghanistan) was followed by the three-judge panel in Balkh, a province in northern Afghanistan. They say that Mr. Kambaksh published a paper that "humiliated Islam," as the northern Afghan province's chief judge, Fazel Wahab, said.

National Journalists Union of Afghanistan's head says that the death sentence is legal, under Article 130 of Afghanistan's constitution. It says that if a court runs into an issue that isn't covered by a constitutional law, a court should use Hanafi law. Hanafi is a Sunni Muslim set of rules used in southern and central Asia.

It seems to me that nobody, journalism student or not, needs to humiliate Islam. Islam's defenders, and the leadership of Islamic countries, are doing that on their own.