No one knows why he did it, even though he told them
Why did Chaudhry Rashid kill his daughter? In FrontPage today I discuss the mainstream media obfuscation of the clear answer to this question (news links in the original):
Last Sunday Chaudhry Rashid, a Pakistani immigrant living in Clayton County, Georgia, strangled his daughter to death. According to police, Rashid explained to them that he had killed his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, in order to restore his family’s honor, which she had sullied by planning to divorce the husband to whom she had been given in an arranged marriage. Clayton County Police spokesman Tim Owens explained: “Apparently she and the father had argued over the marriage and the fact that it was arranged, and at some point during the altercation he did end up killing his daughter.”The family appears to have adhered to traditional Islamic mores. A neighbor noted: “I would see the young lady outside every once in a while dressed in the traditional Muslim gear.” Added another: “The father, he would pray at certain times of the mornings and evenings.” And indeed, honor killing most commonly occurs among Muslims. While there is no direct sanction given in the Qur’an or Islamic law for it, the practice is encouraged by the shame/honor culture that Islam has created. A transgression of the moral law is not seen only as a sin to be somehow expiated by the individual who committed it, but as a blot upon the honor and purity of the family of the victim – and that blot inheres in the sullied purity of the victim, not the perpetrator.
“Honor killings” are distressingly common throughout the Muslim world. Phyllis Chesler reports that “in 1997, in Cairo Egypt, twenty-five-year-old Nora Marzouk Ahmed’s honeymoon ended when her father chopped off her head and carried it down the street. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘the family has regained its honor.’ Nora’s crime? She had eloped.” And “in 2002, in Tehran, an Iranian man cut off his seven-year-old daughter’s head after suspecting she had been raped by her uncle. ‘The motive behind the killing was to defend my honor, fame, and dignity.’ Some people called for this man’s death under Islamic law, but ironically, only the father of the victim can demand the death sentence.”Chesler recounts many such killings. “In 1999, in Lahore, Pakistan, Samia Imran was shot dead in her feminist lawyer’s office by a man whom her parents had hired to kill her. Her crime? Seeking a divorce….In 2001, in Gujar Khan, Pakistan, Zahida Perveen’s husband attacked her, gouged out both her eyes, her nose, and her ears. He wrongly suspected her of adultery. He was arrested, but male relatives shook his hand and men decided she ‘must have deserved it’ and that a ‘husband has to do what a man has to do.’…In 2005, in Gaza, five masked members of Hamas…shot Yusra Azzumi, a twenty-year-old Palestinian woman, to death, brutalized her corpse, and savagely beat both her brother, Rami, and her fiancé, Ziad Zaranda, whom she was to marry within days. This self-appointed Morality Squad wrongly suspected Yusra (herself a Hamas member) of “immoral behavior.”
Islamic clerics are partially responsible for the strong association of this practice with Islam. One notorious example of this association came in the relatively moderate Muslim country of Jordan in 2003, when the Jordanian Parliament voted down a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported with unintentional irony that increasing penalties for honor killings would destroy families: “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.”
Ignoring the clear and close link between of honor killing and Islamic culture, however, the mainstream media searched for explanations elsewhere. CNN consulted Ajay Nair, associate dean of multicultural affairs at Columbia University, to see if honor killing was a “South Asian” problem. Certainly not, explained Nair: “My immediate reaction was that this is an anomaly in the South Asian community. This isn’t a rampant problem within South Asian communities. What is a problem, I think, is domestic violence, and that cuts across all communities.”
Also ignoring the incidence of honor killings in Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Gaza and elsewhere (including among Muslim immigrants in Germany, Britain, Canada, and Texas), the Chicago Tribune attributed it to the cultural rigidity of Pakistani and Indian immigrants, and even dragged in the crowned heads of Europe: “Such cultural unions serve as social contracts among South Asians and other communities, where a marriage agreement is more about families joining forces than about two people finding love—akin to the arranged marriages of European royalty…”
To this Warner Todd Huston of NewsBusters trenchantly responded: “Last I checked my history books common Europeans didn’t go around killing their daughters for marrying ‘wrong’ and neither did their ages old Monarchs.”
In line with the widespread acceptance of this practice in Islamic culture, when he appeared before a judge, Chaudhry Rashid insisted: “I have done nothing wrong.” Speaking to the judge, he demanded prison food prepared according to Islamic requirements, and declared that he would refuse pork in any form. It was a clear indication of the strength of his commitment to Islam, even as the mainstream media remained determined not to notice any such commitment.
The price of this politically correct refusal to confront the ugly realities of the Islamic link to honor killing will be, quite simply, more honor killings. No one will call upon Islamic groups to do something about this practice. No special scrutiny will be focused upon Muslims in the United States, or any studies undertaken about how honor killings can be prevented. No one will examine the question of unrestricted Muslim immigration in light of this problem. While learned analysts search for clues in South Asian cultural habits and the practices of European royalty, more young women will be murdered by their Muslim fathers, husbands, and brothers to cleanse their family’s honor. These young women are the ultimate victims of political correctness.
This will offer us all a perfect gauge as to whether or not the MSM can stand to report this story accurately.
If not, it's time for us to apply pressure to all News outlets not being honest. Bombard them with letters, emails, phone calls etc.
The insanity can't continue to happen, we'll end up like Eurabia has.
Honor killings are only the most extreme form of behavior. A corpse is impossible to deny.
What else is being done to hundreds of millions of Muslim women behind closed doors, all in the name of Islam? Such practices come to the West with the Muslims who emigrate. It seems all are put under the rubric of religious freedom. It takes a murder for us to look further. Even then, there are people ready and willing to make excuses for barbarism.
Throw Ted "Chappaquid-dick" Kennedy behind bars with him for opening up the floodgates of jihad with his wreckless landmark immigration bills starting in the 60's, and his continued betrayal of the American people, including his rather conservative brother John, ever since (except for the braindead/anti-US Demos in Mass, who continually reelect this bloated monster.)
"Chaudhry Rashid insisted: “I have done nothing wrong.” Speaking to the judge, he demanded prison food prepared according to Islamic requirements, and declared that he would refuse pork in any form. It was a clear indication of the strength of his commitment to Islam, even as the mainstream media remained determined not to notice any such commitment."
Of course Rashid should be executed, but if he only gets life in prison, it should be in the toughest women's prison in the U.S.
A few comments and questions.
I've looked at several internet articles on this crime. Every article notes that the family was Pakistani, but only a few note that they were Moslem. So apparently it's o.k. to suggest that Pakis are prone to this behavior, but not to suggest that Moslems are.
One article brought in a Hindu Indian neighbor, who noted that his own marriage was arranged, and that such marriages often work out well. Here the implication is that this is a South Asian practice, nothing particularly Islamic about it. The neighbor didn't say how often Hindu girls are murdered by their fathers.
Comments to the articles were also revealing. One article noted that Rashid had asked for a Moslem diet while in confinement. A comment complained that the writer was trying to demonize Moslems by such comments, that they were being portrayed as "the Other". Yet the bit about the Moslem diet was only there because Rashid himself had brought it up.
One last remark: the daughter wore "traditional Moslem gear"; she was forced into an arranged marriage; and she was killed by her father for "dishonoring" the family. That's 3 out of 4. The 4th is: was she circumcised?
ebonystone,
I had the same thought, given that the people we call Pakistanis are really Indian Muslims.
One of my best friends is from India and her husband repeatedly threatened to kill her and their daughters. He beat her because she didn't bear him any sons (which was his fault, of course!).
There might be something to calling it a "south Asian thing" because, just like in China, Indian tradition places a higher value on boys than it does on girls. Maybe it's a melding of Islam and ancient Indian (subcontinent) traditions. Rather than being discarded, the prejudices against women have been given religious sanction.
All Shariah imposed executions, except those imposed for ordinary crime, are 'honor killings'.
Iran now wants to make apostasy a mandatory death sentence. These also are 'honor' killings.
The 'honor' of Allah and Islam comes first.
I pointed out previously that 'Islamophobia', is a two edged sword. Fear 'of' Islam, and fear 'for' Islam. Fear for Islam is the basis of 'honor' killings. An insult to Islam consists of any resistance at all. Allowed to stand, this resistance will grow and cause 'mischief in the land'.
It is the umbrella duty of all muslims, especially the men, to uphold the honor of Islam, and themselves as upstanding muslims. The superior and the supreme must challenge, and act, on even the smallest infraction, to keep purity pure. (Cartoons).
This is why Rashid claims he did nothing wrong.
He was only upholding his, and Islam's honor.
'Muslim Islamophobia', fear 'for' Islam is the culprit behind the curtain, the Islamic 'Wizard of OZ', Mohammad, and his henchman Allah...Oh yes, and don't forget the wizards book of spells, The Quran, the root of 'Muslim Islamophobia' is contained within its pages...
"According to police, Rashid explained to them that he had killed his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, in order to restore his family’s honor, which she had sullied by planning to divorce the husband..."
Sandeela Kanwal planned to divorce her husband. She was planning it. She hadn't yet done it. Talk about your Thought Police!
She had a husband. Wasn't she her husband's chattel, rather than her father's? When, exactly, does the transfer of ownership take place? I mean, this was an arranged marriage, so I'm sure there was legal paperwork involved in the process. There had to be a statement regarding her new owner's rights, or at least an implication that her husband was her new owner.
Maybe one hundred people (and that's really stretching it) would have given a rat's ass about his daughter's divorce. So, where is the affront to this man's honor? Who is he going to kill, for the dishonor of having been imprisoned and being placed on trial? Who is he going to kill for that?
Excuse me, Mr. Rashid, but you've dishonored yourself. There are now people from coast to coast in the continental US, and a few in Alaska, I'm sure, who know you are scum. Dishonored scum.
It's not about honor, and it's not about Islam, except for Islam and its illah being the excuse. Nor is it about culture. It's about a man with a murderous temper, who lost control. Islam is merely his umbrella.
Well, that's fine. Let Islam be this "man's" umbrella, or if we're going to be PC about it, call it a cultural thing. That works, too. Either way, certain people are going to have to face the ostracism of the Rest of Humanity, for their "customs".
Why did he do it.......? I'll speculate:
1. Because he is psycho-sexually disfunctional. I believe all muslim men are. If they don't hate women, they love boys.
2. Muslims men love shedding blood, no matter whose it is. It is THE hallmark of muslim manhood. Killing, signifies they are loyal to their tribal beliefs.
3. Fear of loss. Not of his daughter's life, which meant nothing to him, but of losing face in his peer group.
4. Identity. Whether alone or with others, killing establishes their identity; I kill, therfore I am.
These men are brute beasts, parading under the banner of an irrational god, who requires and then rewards all of their irrationality.
It is sad that the big media is the enemy of the people...the very people who provide them with the funds to exist at all.
"Excuse me, Mr. Rashid, but you've dishonored yourself." --Abscedere
And there's the supreme irony of Honor Killing.
The thing that he didn't want done to his family - dishonor - he has done. Total and complete irony.
Perhaps Condi should consider hiring this man as a consultant with expertise on the subject of islam -- can I say that word?
After all, he is a subject matter expert:
Besides, its a race-culture thing. Shall we start him out with a consulting fee of $200 million for the first six months?
(We always like to use blocks of $200 million when we give the taxpayer's money away -- kinda customary)
darcy,
You have to wonder if this guy bothers to read the papers, or receive any kind of national news, on occasion. If he did, would he not realize that the greater part of society in the US is opposed to honor murders?
Is his mind so primitive that he can't grasp the concept that the rules are different, here? Doesn't he know about the public outrage (expressed mostly on comment boards, admittedly) about Amina and Sara Said?
Ah... all rhetorical questions. His actions have already answered them.
The media really has their hands full trying to make this Muslim "Poster Child" look good. But they are really giving it that old "College Try".
darcy,
You have to wonder if this guy bothers to read the papers, or receive any kind of national news, on occasion. If he did, would he not realize that the greater part of society in the US is opposed to honor murders?
Is his mind so primitive that he can't grasp the concept that the rules are different, here? Doesn't he know about the public outrage (expressed mostly on comment boards, admittedly) about Amina and Sara Said?
Ah... all rhetorical questions. His actions have already answered them.
Posted by: Abscedere at July 10, 2008 10:12 AM
Abscedere, it seems that not only Mr. Rashid, but also great numbers of Mohammedans both here and in WE "can't grasp the concept that the rules are different" in the West.
What was that recent case in Sweden posted on DW about the Mohammedan couple who "didn't know female circumcision was illegal" in Sweden? Yeah, right! Of course they knew, they just didn't care. They don't care because they are the "superior peoples" as their Warlord fake prophet ordained them. I believe the same reasoning applies to Mr. Rashid - he knew "Honor Killing" is not a Western practice - but he just didn't care. Because he is "superior" to us.
That's what I think occurred in his "primitive mind" - "I'm a Muslim so I'm superior to these filthy Kuffar whose land I happen to be living in - (but take no notice of that hypocrisy) - so, I'm just gonna do what I damn well please, insh'allah, and allahu akbar."
It is sad that the big media is the enemy of the people...the very people who provide them with the funds to exist at all.
Posted by: interestinconundrum
That explains why they're losing readership and viewership. Soon they'll have to go to the philanthropic foundations for the money to continue operating.
The networks once lost money on their news operations but it was considered a public service. Once they decided news divisions had to make money their reporting began to decline.
Earlier in the year I decided not to renew my subscriptions to two major news weeklies to which I had subscribed for two decades. They weren't worth the expense.
I ran across this article as it had a bit more details of this subject
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/doc4872e338182b2121887069.txt
It appears that Mr Honor Killers wife is not his daughters mother....What ever happened to wife number 1?????
Is his mind so primitive that he can't grasp the concept that the rules are different, here?
Abscedere,
Not primitive - arrogant. The rules here don't apply to him. Islam tells him he can do this, so he does it. Who cares what an infidel law says? Sharia is the only law he knows and respects.
Abu_Lahab
I suggest that everyone contact their local newspaper, as I have just done, requesting they run a copy of this article (after acquiring Robert's permission) in their editorial pages.
Ladywolfnl, I read that PC Chicago Trib article, too. From the article:
"Such cultural unions serve as social contracts among South Asians and other communities, where a marriage agreement is more about families joining forces than about two people finding love -- akin to the arranged marriages of European royalty, she said."
The "European royalty" angle is so lame, so deficient, so utterly nuts it just defies belief. But, let's make sure to connect the Barbarians' culture to our culture at all costs! That's what matters! Because we're exactly the same! (sarc on on on, into infinity)
Just heard Irshad Manji on a Fox News interview. This silly Canadian woman, who thinks feminism and Islam are compatible and that medieval Islam allowed for all kinds of wonderful diversity which unfortunately has dried up but needs to be restored to the enlightened Islamic faith, was talking about this honor killing. She distinguished between the culture where this brute came from and Islam. It's the culture that condones the killing, she averred, not the religion, even though she acknowledged that slaughter/daughter kinds of dads utter "Allah" a lot when doing the deed. Oh, and what a shame that is because Islam itself, of course, is just so beautiful a faith.
Manji did maintain that this guy should be prosecuted for murder but she then slipped in that stuff like this used to happen in other cultures like Catholic Italy but that it has mostly disappeared from there. Whoa! What a relief, no? In short, the woman was too slick by half and would have left the uninformed dhimmi viewer with the distinct impression that Islam has nothing to do with such murders. It's the culture, you see.
Wellington,
How does one separate Islam from the culture when Islam imposes itself on the culture and strips it of all that is non-Islamic or incorporates everything from that culture into itself?
Islam IS the culture in Muslim countries.
This guy makes Hannibal Lector look like a choir boy!
As an aside, is it hilarious what Jesse Jackson said about Hussein Obama when he thought his mic was off? As is all over TVLand "I'd like to cut his n**** off." !
LOL! What a hoot! JJ must have soiled his pants when he heard that the mic had been on! So LOL
The "European royalty" angle is so lame, so deficient, so utterly nuts it just defies belief. But, let's make sure to connect the Barbarians' culture to our culture at all costs! That's what matters! Because we're exactly the same! (sarc on on on, into infinity)
Posted by: darcy
---
The European royalty angle produced Philip the Bleeder and Princess Charles!
So much for that one!
Great call, darcy! Exactly what they are trying to do.. humanize the bastards by attaching these peasant-brains to European lineage and culture.
It's painful to witness the Great Sellout that is going on!
PMK: In complete agreement with you about Manji's inability to see that Islam and the culture are inextricably mixed. I concluded years ago this woman is clueless. I do believe she honestly believes the drivel she spouts about Islam being such a beautiful, fabulous religion that, sad to say, has been hijacked by intolerant men. She makes a nice appearance too what with her stylish hair-cut, glasses that give her an intellectual air, etc., but at bottom she's a ditz. After all, what truly enlightened woman brought up in the Islamic faith could not see that the most important thing she could do for herself and her gender is to leave Islam when she gets the chance, risky though that might be? Actually, I find folks like Manji extra annoying precisely because they keep trying to put a happy face on Mohammedanism. I prefer Muslims undiluted, in all their full glory manifesting hate, intolerance and contempt for all who are not part of the ummah. Straight, no chaser.
Here is some information on domestic violence in the United States. I do not know how this compares to the rest of the world. There is no honor killings in the United States maybe this is the first. Spousal killings.
http://endabuse.org/resources/facts/DomesticViolence.pdf
http://www.silentwitness.net/sub/violences.htm
darcy.. I wrote the following on the Jesse Jerkson deal on another blog:
What if Hitlery had made that remark or - GASP!! - a REPUBLICAN?!
As for the liberal "prophet" Hussein's remarks on foreign language and how he is ashamed that Americans only know how to say "merci beaucoup" I wonder if he was talking about the good ol' rev. JJ who continues to mangle the English tongue by slurring it out of both sides of his cleft-lip mouth.
I think the guy hates America so much that he can't even bear to respect the language by speaking it well.
I think someone should think about making a special Jesse Jackson nutcracker figurine for next Christmas.
While we are still allowed to clebrate this wonderful holiday.
Who'd-a thunk that we'd be celebrating Christmas as an act of defiance inside our own lands someday?!
Who'd-a thunk that we'd be celebrating Christmas as an act of defiance inside our own lands someday?!
Posted by: Ummah Gummah at July 10, 2008 12:05 PM
That is a great point. Celebrating Christmas as an an "act of defiance." Fighting against "Holiday tree." It truly is shocking, UG.
And concerning JJ - that is truly justice that the loudmouth got exposed like that! "I'd like to cut his n*** off!" LOL! Wow, Reverand, you sure have a crude tongue for a religious feller!" It's just going to make me chuckle all day!
"Actually, I find folks like Manji extra annoying precisely because they keep trying to put a happy face on Mohammedanism."
Wellington,
It almost makes you wonder whether or not Manji is really part of the jihad. War IS deceit.
Imagine Hillary had said that "nutty" thing.. or a - GASP - Republican!
Can you IMAGINE the media frenzy..?
All this proves is that the rev. Jerckson is a definite nutter.
I am not going to judge anyone's relationship with God, but Jesse sure appears to be a slick con-man who uses the title of "Reverend" to cover his proclivities.
He has NO forgiveness for the white race, and forgiveness is a major factor in having a relationship with Jesus.
The price of this politically correct refusal to confront the ugly realities of the Islamic link to honor killing will be, quite simply, more honor killings.
.........................
Excellent, excellent article, Robert.
Acknowledging the existance of "honor" killings is extremely important--but sometimes, even that is not enough.
Here is an excerpt from an article in City Journal magazine, by the inimitable Bruce Bawer, about one unbelievable reaction in Norway to these ugly crimes:
"Last year, that country’s most celebrated lawyer, Tor Erling Staff, argued that the punishment for honor killing should be *less* than for other murders, because it’s arrogant for us to expect Muslim men to conform to our society’s norms." (emphasis mine)
I don't know if this vile idiocy has been embraced by other Norwegians, but it is appalling enough on its own. While he's being so "sensitive" to the tender feelings of murderous Muslim men, I'm not sure he's considering the feelings--or rights--of Muslim women, who he clearly considers to be worth less than both Muslim men and Scandinavian women--although I'm sure Mr. Staff would protest that he was being misunderstood if accused of such a thing.
The entire Bawer article, "An Anatomy of Surrender", is well worth reading. Here's a link:
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_2_cultural_jihadists.html
Why do we need a special law for premeditated murder with hate?
He has admitted doing the crime, apparently. Let's give him a fair trial and then the death penalty.
The only question is, who else in the family deserves to be charged as accessories.
Let's not make this simple act of barbarity into a sophisticated mental illness defense.
For the Islamics, honour killing is not in the Quran.... it's a cultural thing preached by their sick, demented, perverted, twisted..... mullahs.
I see it here in Afghanistan as well.... it's a sick and twisted cultural thing
So here we go again. Honor killing = Islamic practice. Hence lets bash Islam again for the millionth time. Mr. Spencer, I fail to see what your point is. You talk about 'media obfuscation', by which i guess you are trying to making the innuendo that there is some conspiracy to keep Islam out of the picture. Perhaps you should consider the possibility that you are looking for things that may not really be there. So what if Mr. Rashid is claiming to be a Muslim. Isn't history, and life in general, full of rogues who have used religion to justify murder? Needless to say, more needs to be done to stop honor killings. However, I am still looking for a convincing connection between Islam and Mr. Rashid's looney ideas of justice. Just because Mr. Rashid would like to be thought of as honorable doesn't make him so in the eyes of this Muslim.