I got 34 responses.

1. Moe Sam said:
   Friday, May 2nd 2008 at 9:04 pm

   I totally agree. This all sounds so much like KSA to me. The problem isn’t with Islam. Islam never said not to love someone else, not to be seen with them in public, or ordered anyone to kill those who do that. The real problem is with people who mix culture with religion and call it all Islam.

   And if you’re talking about treating men and women equally, then neither should have “”honor” killings. This is just pure stupidity of some old ass Bedouin culture. Thats not Islam at all!

   OK, I;m not a Muslim scholar or Sheikh, but I know common sense and I know what Islam is really all about. Thats one of the things that destroys the picture of Islam to people, not just terrorists and extremists.

   And keep them controversials coming, you’re on fire Mona!

2. Monkey Tale said:
   Friday, May 2nd 2008 at 9:23 pm

   I can’t even wrap my mind around the fact that honour and killing can even be in the same sentence. I’ve never understood arranged marriages either. While I’m sure some end up working out fine, I’ll bet there are more that don’t.

   Gosh… I’ve been dropping entrecards on you quite frequently and I think this is the first time I’ve commented here. I hope you have a super weekend!

3. Lee Doyle said:
   Friday, May 2nd 2008 at 9:47 pm

   I do not pretend to know much about Islam and I have a very stereotypical Western view of it (I guess). I have read about many of these killing here in England and have read some of the stories of women who have escaped from families who try to kill them. One I read that sticks in my mind is a women who was raped by 3 men. She phoned home and told her mother who told her not to report it to the police. She told her to wait for her brother to fly to England to meet her. She met her brother and Father and they took her somewhere. They then tried to murder her but she got away. They even now have tried to track her down.

   I agree with you on the fact that Men and Women are seen as different species in this case. Why is it women have hardly any control over their own lives? I do not understand this… But I can associate myself with it as I believe in England Men now have less rights and no control over their own families…. But I guess that is very different from Death and murder.

   Why is it called Honour Killings? Why not Honour Murder? that is what it is. you have murdered someone to save yourself embarrassment from people who are not perfect themselves.

   I hope people can evolve and one day everyone will be truly equal. This is one reason I hate religion… It divides so many people and puts people in situations just because they were born into it.

4. Lee Doyle said:
   Friday, May 2nd 2008 at 9:49 pm

   I enjoy these posts from you Mona. I do agree you need to write about them more… Not just for Arab readers but people like myself… I love to learn about these things and you have changed many of my views on Islam and religions in general.

5. Brandon said:
   Friday, May 2nd 2008 at 10:44 pm

   Yeah, this is definately a better insight than CNN could bring, being American sucks when it comes to information. Keep this stuff coming.

   //Rant-Philisophical blah
   //Religion
   In the end I say we need to abolish all religion. Why? Because people just can’t handle it. A {person} can understand it and live with it, but if you get two or more {people} together they will interpret differently and fight until the last one standing is “right”.

   Religion is meant to help you understand life, and so many people just don’t get it… They are like programs with memory leaks. (Metaphorically speaking)

   //Humans
   I have no problem with the drinking (with resposibility), drugs (recreation only, no dealing), and sex (not prostitution or rape, but with someone you actually know- married or not) that people do. It is human nature to be curious and try new things. Its the people that don’t think that screw it up for the est of us. :bored:

   The men, and I use the term loosely, that do stupid shit like drink and drive or deal drugs… they should all be charged with attempted murder and/or exiled to another content/launched to space. Kinda like what Britain did with prisoners and Australia I believe.

   //Spare Parts-Rambling
   I’m so glad I took of the training wheels, religion, things are so much clearer when you just think on your own.

   We are all programs, God is the script kiddie :lol: , and this is a test to see if we have any bugs that need patching. Unfortunetely some people had problems compiling.

   The people… monster who honour kill are just as fucking low as people who bomb schools or churches. They will pay when God deletes them and empties his “Recycle Bin”. =D

6. mark said:
   Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 5:51 am

   I do not confess to being knowledgable about The Islamic religion. But I have noticed that it is totally male orientated and that women seem to be repressed. As far as I am concerned we are all put on this planet by God as equals and unfortunately most religions Christianity included do not abide by this rule. As for honour killings I think they are obscene and belong to the dark ages.

7. dreamesence said:
   Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 10:58 am

   People sometimes also forget that honor killings are not exclusive to Muslim culture. They are also practiced by Christians living within parts of Africa and the Near East, such as sections of Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. Of course, people will focus on Muslims because that is what they do best - make a mockery out of one group of people and ignore the rest of the criminals. In any case, honor killings were what Prophet Muhammad (saw) denounced, so anyone that bases them on “Islam” is grossly incorrect.

   Islam emerged in the Arab peninsula during a time when infanticide of female babies was commonplace and women were treated worse than cattle–they were killed, beaten to the pulp, regarded as subhuman, and the list goes on. When the Prophet (saw) came, his aim was to establish humanity in the world. He wanted to teach these barbaric human beings how to live in a civilized manner, and he taught them how to treat their wives the proper way. While the Prophet (saw) was teaching his people that Muslim women are humans with real sentiments that should be respected, there were conferences in France and other western nations being held in which educated men of the elite debated for hours whether or not women have souls. The consensus was that women have the body of a human and the soul of a devil.

   People should learn to differentiate “Islam” from “Muslims” who are merely those who profess that they follow Islam. Whether they ACTUALLY implement its tenets into their lives is another question altogether.

8. Hannym said:
   Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 11:49 am

   Unfortunately the real problem is Islam, and its incompatibility with our time. The root of the the problem is in Islam’s unacceptable and rigid practice of not allowing any kind of critic. There are so many intellectuals from Islamic background who were pointing at this. For example Ibn Warraq. I am not an Islam hater only like to think in an open and analytic way and my opinion is that Islam is the really big problem not only for Arabic people but a real problem of the whole world.

9. dreamesence said:
   Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 1:32 pm

   Hannym, you are obviously oblivious to the reality of Islam and its roots. If you were to read my comment above, you would realize that Islam began as a mechanism to WIPE out horrible happenings such as honor killings and infanticide, not to further propagate them! And honor killings, again, are not exclusive to Muslims! Followers of other religions practice them as well! If I were to base my beliefs about a religion on its followers, then I would say that Christianity is a dark, twisted cult given the actions and ideology of the Ku Klux Klan. However, that would be a bigoted assumption on my part considering the KKK doesn’t represent authentic Christianity.

   *Rolls eyes*

10. nicole said:
    Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Well said, Mona.

    Btw, I don’t see you as an “opinionated, big-mouthed Arab girl”. I see you as a woman with an opinion, who is willing to speak out. It is a good thing.

11. Danny D said:
    Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 8:14 pm

    Well posted! very good article and very well said!
    I would agree that a lot of people have Islam mixed with their culture and traditions and that is so wrong. It is with regret that Islam too gets high jacked as well when a few do these short of things and that is sad because Islam is beautiful and peaceful if followed in the correct manner.
    Keep up the great posting - rebellious as always! :whee:

12. Brandon said:
    Saturday, May 3rd 2008 at 11:25 pm

    Huh… Iso I was just listening to some music. ANd I realised that Trivium did a song about this, honor killing. The song is called “Unrepentant”, may be a little too heavy for your musical taste though. =P

    Pretty much has the same message as you stated.

13. The BoBo said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 3:15 am

    Thanks for taking the time to post this discussion. It was very informative.

14. Farah said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 6:18 am

    Dear Mona,
    I read your blog since a long time but this is the first time I comment. I just want to say that you’ve done a great job with this topic! you teach to people what Islam really is. Other comments I really apreciate are dreamesence’s ones: he/she explains our religion perfectly. Well done guys and keep writing about such controversial issues!
    Farah

15. Mona said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 9:07 am

    Lots of great input from everyone. I am glad that non-Arab/Muslim visitors were able to relate to this post and give us their input. I am glad they learned a thing or two about the situation.

16. Hamid said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 12:10 pm

    As a person who knows iraqis, I know ppl who were prepared to ‘kill’ their sisters if they saw them with a man… wow.

    The person said this despite the fact that he has goes out with whores every night in the UK, I thought, why don’t they honor-kill him if he did any wrongdoings? like adultery?

    In my case, I think that honor killings and executions have the potential to be interchanged if you were in an ISLAMIC country, where crimes like adultery, gay sex, drugs and other such activities can get you executed. For those crimes, I think exections/honor killings are ok IF AND ONLY IF there is thorough evidence pointing to the perp(s).

    As for killing a female relative just because she was talking to an outsider about work or something and the witness thought she was arranging for a time to go to bed with him, that’s just stupid… darn imbeciles.

17. caz said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 5:48 pm

    i always thought if you thought through a murder like honor killing it was premeditated end of…there kurdish guy his daughter was h/killed her stoning is on you tube poor kid 17yrs old….poor father he could do nothing cos they going kill rest of family….he on bbc world radio news last week think his name kalmid he fighting get this evil brought to world attention….not satisfied with stoning her to death they then mutilated her body and slang it in the rubbish….they try to say it not islamic but kurdish tradition but they do it in gazza and that islamic without traditions…

18. Mona said:
    Sunday, May 4th 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Caz.. if you are from the UK why can’t you write English properly? I had hard time reading your reply. If it is fake English, I don’t understand why it is necessary to do so.

19. Crista said:
    Wednesday, May 7th 2008 at 1:54 pm

    It breaks my heart to see women getting killed over there for the dumbest reasons. They blame a woman for getting raped so she is the one who suffers and not the rapist. I think that is why men over there do whatever they want because they get away with it scot-free and that isn’t fair. I agree that men should get punished for their sins also. I remember an article about a woman who has been on trial for killing a guy who raped her and she was from around that area. We all signed a petition to set her free because they were going to give her the death sentence. I hate that women are treated as dirt in the Islam religion. Its nice to see that you are speaking out about these issues because they are so important.

20. SAJID PATEL said:
    Thursday, May 8th 2008 at 5:39 am

    I agree honour killings is a serious topic - infact it is nothing short of a heinous crime.

    In my opinion the root cause of this evil along with many others is illiteracy and ignorance among the members of the society - not religion! No religion condemns murder!

    Discussion is not a solution, but never-the-less a very big step. But I think we should also be discussing how common people like you and me can contribute to the society to eradicate such evils.

21. ali hojeij said:
    Thursday, May 29th 2008 at 6:22 pm

    there is no such thinkg as honor killing in islam. honor killing is an old arab belief. that also included burying thier daughters to prevent the whole probability of a mistake.

    islam, penalizes both mena nd women the same way. if one is to claim honor and uphold it, then he should also restrain himself from offending other people’s honor.he should uphold and protect the idea he so much loves that he can kill a loved one over.

    I can say i will protect my honor with pride because i will never and i never attempted or accepted to go close to anyones honor.

    honours are not protecting by killing, protecting is a proccess not an action. you protect by loving your sister caring. taking time to build a relationship where she too understands the importance of honor and protect it. that is assuming the man is oplder otherwise the mother and father can teach it. honor is not the property of the man but of the family.

    Islam does not accept honor killing and the penalty is not death if they are both unmarried and if any any any any party is married then he would be stoned(i am not even sure if it is in the quran and if it is dont to death) if u look into the act of stoning in islam, it is used duriong haj to stone satan and it is done with small stones.. so if satan gets a small stone what does a victim of satan who is god loving otherwise gets..

    we do not need to kill anyone we need to clean the hearts and minds of our men who belief that sleeping with a large number of women is somehow a great acomplishment. honor is great….

    p.s islam is not synanmous with arab …
    they are two diffrent things.. one can be arab and a muslim . arab not a muslim and muslim not arab.. it is a zionist idea to turn them into a falasy that can be exploited for propaghanda

22. Lee Doyle said:
    Thursday, May 29th 2008 at 10:41 pm

    Saying it does not exist is just turning a blind eye. You may not want it to exist but it does… It is linked to Islam also.

    I am not saying it is a part of Islam for everyone… because its not… but it for some.

    Saying it is not happening is what lets them get away with it.

23. ali hojeij said:
    Friday, May 30th 2008 at 2:39 pm

    what i am saying is that it does sxist as an act. but it is not under the umberella of islam. an individual who comits honor killing is a killer uder islamic law. its in sorat alnesaa in the quran. there a thousand refrence that does not accept honor killing. and no where that it is promoted in islam.

    now people use islam to justiy it… yes ,,, so do criminals that use excuses for being criminal.

    i for one never did and will never turn a blind eye at injustice. my passsage was intended more to awaken muslim audience(no disrespect intended). it is not easy to understand honor. in the western culture all we know about it is the killing. not the responsibility and love associated with honor. Killing is a side effect that we need to fight with all might and heart.

    I am glad you brought it up and i am also thankfull you expressed what might be misunderstood from what i said.

    in short, i am liberating honor from honor killing and bring it back to the great thing it is. having honor stops a human being and her family from being nihilist or the last man or woman(neitzche explanation of that)

    p.s perhaps the blogger can shed light on this issue

24. Lee Doyle said:
    Saturday, May 31st 2008 at 12:28 am

    Your right. It is not a Islam ONLY problem as you could say many murders are honour killings… This is true and the act itself is just simple murder.

    From the people I know who are in Islam I have always been amazed as how close the family ties and bonds are…. But I have also noticed how much pressure in on many family members due to this. I am not saying that if they did anything wrong that would effect their families honour they would be killed (Really I’m not) but I do see how some situations could lead to that in some areas of the world.

    I have read many stories about people who have escaped these honour killings… And this is just the ones who got away and told their own story, so think about the ones who have not. Its big news here in the UK as many killings have been found. We also have a big issue of babies being murdered because of their sex when born.

25. ali hojeij said:
    Wednesday, June 11th 2008 at 1:28 am

    i am glad you have looked into the issue before making your comments. i respect that, esp the ability to see it from a neutral point of view. this is a problem and until it is identified correctly, it will never be stopped.
    we always have to know what it is we are fighting. by saying it is islamic when it is not we are fighting the wrong battle.we are fighting the source that can be a resource to stop honor killing.

26. Brdington said:
    Sunday, June 29th 2008 at 6:45 pm

    I am very saddened that my fellow women have to be afraid for thier lives in any way. I was, by my parents considered a wild girl, although I never took drugs or hurt myself or others in any way. I was because I wanted to look at/examine life in a way that was frightening to my family. Although in my mind I understand what made them afraid,it was never enough to make me stop wondering what else there was out there for me.

    If we are afraid of ideas, we have nothing.

    I will help anyone, anytime who wants to live the examined life.

    B–

27. Mona said:
    Sunday, June 29th 2008 at 7:52 pm

    People are different and some still have backwards mentality and don’t realize the peer pressures and problems that are currently in our world.

28. Recovering said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Honor Killing is contradictory and haram.

    You shouldn’t kill and killing a woman is so stupid.

    Obviously this is sort of killing allows stupid men to have power.

    What’s with you guys marrying your cousins and the grandfathers being able to sleep with their daughters and granddaughters.

    Islam is a cancer to the planet and I can find VERY little good about Islam.

    Reject this pervese, incestious, VIOLENT and EVIL religion.

29. Mona said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 4:18 pm

    Islam is not cancer on the earth. It is a religion that is peaceful. People interpreted it wrong and are practicing it wrong! That’s the problem. Our generation is trying to change that. To speak out and put awareness to everyone that we condemn these people’s action, but never our religion!

30. Lee Doyle said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Attacking a religion does you nor anyone any good. You have no facts to back up anything.

    All religions have their bad sides. Just look at the UK and our so called “Christian” roots. We used to burn women in fires because we called them witches. We used to drown women for being witches.

    You should not judge everyone based on their religion and how you think you see it. Find facts first and then judge on individual grounds.

    I am not religious at all. I so not believe in any book or god. A lot of people see Atheists as sort of Devil Worshippers or something silly. They think we can not be good people just because we do not read and follow a book.

    I give everyone a chance… I will admit that in the past I have been quick to judge based on religions… But Mona and other people from many religions have shown me that we are all human… The religion is just part of that person and not the whole.

    I know I said I do not believe in any religion… But I have read the bible and have studied religion. I do find they have some good things in them… And some bad things. here is a good quote you should learn:

    “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”

31. ali said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 6:35 pm

    let me guess recovering,s middle name .. sunny… that is because u r too bright …. ignorance is a bliss. u have the answers dont u.. more than a billion people are completly misled and another 5 billion of tolerant beings are wrong and u and the few fighting souls of the KKK figured it out. you might not belong to the KKK but trust me your answers to any problem is as simple as theirs…

    p.s i think lee answer is right and great but not suffient for geniouses like recovering..

    last question what are you recovering from ..love? humanity? or thinking?

32. ali said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 6:36 pm

    lee doyle do not waste your answers on people like him ..they think they are born learned.

33. Lee Doyle said:
    Wednesday, July 9th 2008 at 8:46 pm

    if you talk to people like this and explain things clearly maybe they will learn. I have learnt that shouting at people like this does not work… I was once like it myself and only learnt through people explaining things.

    religion is always a touchy subject… I tend to offend people with my views without meaning too. When you truly believe in things it is very hard for someone to say that are silly or stupid… Because in some eyes my views are silly or stupid (Well… many peoples).

    s/he will learn in time.

    Here is another quote I love:

    “The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will contract.”

34. ali said:
    Thursday, July 10th 2008 at 1:02 am

    i pray that u are right but i am sure i like what u said and it makes lots of sense.

Leave a Comment

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website

Wait for comment to be approved. There is no need to resubmit your comment.

Notify me of follow up comments via e-mail