Marisol already wrote about this here, but I had some additional thoughts. Robina Niaz is doing good work. So why lie? “Her ‘duty’ is helping Muslim women heal after abuse,” from CNN, September 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):
NEW YORK (CNN) — Toward the end of her marriage, Rabia Iqbal said she feared for her life.
Iqbal was born in New York to parents who had immigrated to the United States from the tribal areas of Pakistan. She had a strict Muslim upbringing and when she was 16, her parents arranged her marriage to a 38-year-old man. She claims her husband turned violent during their 10 years of marriage.
When she finally left him, she did not know where to turn. Going home wasn’t an option, she said.
“My parents … made clear that they would disown me,” Iqbal said. “My father even said … ‘You’re lucky you live in America because if you lived back home, you would have been dead by now.’ “…
A devout Muslim, Niaz stresses that there is no evidence that domestic violence is more common among Muslim families.
“Abuse happens everywhere,” said Niaz. “It cuts across barriers of race, religion, culture.”
But, she said, Muslims are often reluctant to confront the issue.
“There’s a lot of denial,” she said. “It makes it much harder for the victims of abuse to speak out.”…
Niaz said she firmly believes that domestic violence goes against Islamic teachings, and considers it her religious duty to try to stop abuse from happening.
“Quran condemns abusive behavior of women,” she said, noting that the prophet Mohammed was never known to have abused women. “Allah says, ‘Stand up against injustice and bear witness, even if it’s against your own kin. So if I see injustice being done to women and children, I have to speak up. It’s my duty.”…
“Quran condemns abusive behavior of women,” but says it is okay to beat them.
Imagine! Where could they have gotten such an idea? Koran 4:34 tells men to beat their disobedient wives after first
warning them and then sending them to sleep in separate beds? This is,
of course, an extremely controversial verse, so it is worth noting how
several translators render the key word here, وَاضْرÙبÙوهÙنَّ,
waidriboohunna.
Pickthall: “and scourge them”
Yusuf Ali: “(And last) beat them (lightly)”
Al-Hilali/Khan: “(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)”
Shakir: “and beat them”
Sher Ali: “and chastise them”
Khalifa: “then you may (as a last alternative) beat them”
Arberry: “and beat them”
Rodwell: “and scourge them”
Sale: “and chastise them”
Asad: “then beat them”
Muhammad was “never known to have abused women,” yet Aisha, his favorite
wife, says that at one point “he struck me on the chest which caused me pain.”
“There’s a lot of denial,” says Rabia Iqbal. You can say that again.