Qur'an 4:34 attaches a woman's value to obedience ("good women are obedient"), and gives men the right -- from Allah's own command -- to beat (yes, beat) women from whom they "fear disobedience." The spirit of that verse is alive and well in those who turned out to grope, shove, belittle, and shout at the relatively few women who dared participate in the "Million Woman March" in Cairo.
The Qur'an also sets a woman's testimony as worth half that of a man (2:282), another clear impediment to assuming a position of authority. And Muhammad himself pronounced that women are "deficient in religion and intellect," and comprise the majority of those spending eternity in hellfire (Sahih Bukhari 1.6.301, 4.54.464).
In other words, the thugs in Tahrir Square yesterday weren't making this stuff up, underscoring the true challenge for meaningful reforms of women's rights in Egypt. More on this story. "Egyptian million woman march ends with a gunshot," by Ekram Ibrahim for Ahram Online, March 8:
Today, on International Woman’s Day, Egyptian men and women activists organized a Million Woman March for women’s rights in Tahrir Square, which turned into a violent scene of confrontation.
“We are not convinced by the amendments of the constitution as they don’t give women the right to run for presidential elections, and there are still no equal rights,” said Reem Shahin, a member of the Million Woman March movement.
The Million Woman March started with activists sharing flyers and their ideas with other people in Tahrir. The ideas of the movement were not acceptable to the majority of the people. “I feel people are disgraceful, they don’t want equal rights for women,” Yasmine Perni, an Italian photographer participating in the march told Ahram Online. Perni had a long conversation with a koshary seller who told her that she is well off and does not need money and for that reason she should not voice her opinion. He also argued that women should stay at home and not engage in political life. The conversation became aggressive and the man started ripping up the flyers of the movement and throwing them on the ground.
People were standing in groups and the majority of conversations were tense. “Egyptian women are too emotional. They are different from western ladies,” Mahmoud Ahmed told Ahram Online.
Others rejected the ideas of the march because of religious backgrounds. “We rule by the Quran and the Quran does not allow a woman to rule men,” said Mustafa Tarek to Ahram Online.
Meanwhile, as a group of activists stood side-by-side holding banners of the movement calling for equality, another group of male protesters came from the other side to disrupt the march. As males and females activists chanted “Men and women, one hand,” “Muslims and Christian, one hand,” the other group described as “thugs” chanted “No, no, the people want women to step down,” and “The Quran is our ruler.”
It was a shouting match more than a dialogue, with neither side hearing the other. The thugs became insulting and aggressive, but the majority of the activists insisted on staying. The thugs then became violent and started pushing and harassing some women. Activists ran away to Qasr El Aini street, thugs running after them until they reached a point where the army was stationed. The army fired in the air, and the thugs ran away. The army sent soldiers to accompany home girls who had been harassed. “I got harassed by those thugs, I don’t know what to say,” said an activist female who preferred to remain anonymous. She was very angry and called on everyone to leave Tahrir Square and not to return, at least for today.
Feminist activist Mona Ezzat who participated in the march thinks that this is a result of culture created by the old Egyptian regime. “This is a natural product of the long years of dictatorship and the absence of culture in Egypt,” Ezzat told Ahram Online. She also thinks that the disruptive people were thugs and do not therefore represent the majority of Egyptians.
Most people in Tahrir Square believe that the old regime pays thugs as one of their counter-revolution techniques. “They come here every day and try to disperse our demonstration in Tahrir Square. The same faces every day,” said Osama Motawea, one of the demonstrators who sleeps in Tahrir Square every night.
The marchers left in sadness, shock and fear. “It is very intimidating, that Women’s International Day ends this way. Women were here every day during the revolution standing hand in hand with men,” Sara Rifaat told Ahram Online....
There is a saying: Man is the measure of all things.
But I would add: Al Qur'an is the measure of all that is bad, retrograde and thuggish.
"Human rights begin in the household". That needs to be the poster that must be carried by protesters in order to begin the process of taking the stars out of Anderson Cooper's starry eyes and those other incredibly naive, myopic MSM "journalists". Any serious discussion of "Human rights begins in the household" will inevitably lead to the exposition of key tenets of Islam which are anithetical to the critical Western line.
Just yesterday, I engaged in a debate with two brothers about Islam and the West. Their baying and howling started immediately: Inquisition, Crusades, etc. I reached for my drink and went silent, realizing once again that I was up against those of a thousand "but..."s. In this case, it was impossible to get to the essence of things, that is, the critical Western line or thrust, the one that has been chosen by the boots of millions from non-Western countries. C'est la vie. But a slow, consolatory smile crossed my face as the words "tequila taqqiya" came into my mind: the killer jihadee use of duped western looking men and women to aid and abet terrorist acts. Taqqiya is used in the deception sense. "Judge and be prepared to be judged." Note: I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Human Rights begin in the Household."
.
Robert:
Could you choose "Human Rights begin in the Household" as the topic of debate with one of our forked-tongue opponents? I'm sure you would be able to decisively defeat any opposition. All muslim men seem to know this about the koran: the status and role of women, honor killing, arranged marriages, etc., and they can't keep their mouths shut about it either.
Islam is so full of get-out clauses that they can't really say what the Koran allows or what it does not allow. You are not allowed to eat pork but you are allowed to eat it if there is nothing else available or if you are under Taqiyya and are pretending not to be a Muslim. You are not allowed to commit suicide, but you can if you want to hurt other people. You are not allowed to kill civilians in war, but you can if you decide that they are are the enemy.
So the rules of the Koran are basically, meaningless.
I think what Muhammed MEANT to say was 'Muslims are deficient in intelligence and religion.' That would explain alot.
A story for CNN or FOX news: "What no Muslim spokesman is willing to discuss: Human rights in the household."
Very good Iceman. Islam is the blank check "religion".
While I was LOLing at these fools during the protests knowing full well they would get what they deserve and wanted I was praying that our western governments do NOT allow these idiots "refugee" visas after they start reaping what they have sewn.
And here we have a fool, already regretting the outcome yet too stupid or stubborn to understand exactly why things are now the way they are. To quote Mona Ezzat:
“This is a natural product of the long years of dictatorship and the absence of culture in Egypt,”
No, you stupid cow, this is a product of islam. The dictatorship kept those "thugs" somewhat in line. Now that you idiots have chased out the secular dictator the bearded religious dictators have free reign to do what they do best and that is to oppress kaffrs, infidels and women. It aint just "da joos" they hate, darling. They hate and oppress anyone without a penis and anyone that doesn't believe exactly like they do.
mohammadans are so stupid, so stubborn, so utterly devoid of reasoning or common sense that when roasting in hell alongside mohammad they will be gnashing their teeth and blaming "da joos," America and kaffr for their predicament.
Well, Miss Ezzat, I sincerely mean it when I say: may the first stone kill you outright so you don't suffer while your "sisters" gleefully throw consecutive stones because they're just happy it's not them buried chest high in the ground.
Istanbul_Chick:
" it's not them buried chest high in the ground."
or worse, buried up to their necks in the ground.
On the other side of the coin, some of the most vile Muslims who have commented here ...were Muslim women..
Bingo!
Exactly why I never shed a tear for or sign petitions to save some vagina virgin in (insert name of islamic craphole) from death by stoning or hanging for breaking (or allegedly breaking) some sharia law.
The vagina virgins are just as poisonous and pious as their bearded co-mohammadans and spread as much taqiyya and kitman in defense of their vile ideology as the men do.
Live by islam, die by islam.
As we in the counter-jihad piece together a definition of what qualifies something to be considered (legally or otherwise) a genuine religion, the iceman mentions the matter of Expediency as a principle. "Do it if you can get away with it. Do it if there's a way to make it look good". Expediency is connected to another principle: "Might makes right. The strong shall rule the weak". Just for starters, any "belief system" holding to and espousing these particular principles must be declared to be an anti-religion. The Quran and the shariah are full of escape clauses, exceptions to every rule, patently insincere moralizing, sanctimonious contradictory dogmatizing. All real religions have an ethic exactly the opposite of that. There is such a thing in this world as a fake religion.
Istanbul_Chick: How right you are. I visited Egypt 7 times, and a love this country; however, their idea of democracy is as far from ours as the moon from the Earth. I was absolutely appaled when CNN commentators started praising the "urge for democracy and freedom" in Egypt. Lara Logan is a horryfying example of what is in stock for naive idiots from the West. What happened to her was the symbol of what we can expect from evolving islamic "democracies".
I only hope the Egyptian army will be able to find an appropriate substitute for Mubarak (that is, another dictator) as soon as possible. If not - all financial injections from the West MUST BE CUT OFF IMMEDIATELY!
The Inquisition, for good or for bad, is one of the reasons, along with the Reconquista, why Spain isn't like Pakistan today, and the Crusades delayed the Jihad against the West by the best part of 200 years, and the time bought was one of the reasons why Vienna didn't fall in 1529. Muslims murdered more in one day in New York than what the Inquisition killed in its 350 years existence. We are free at least for now because of the Crusades and many more. Without Charles Martel's victory at Tours, we'd all be getting down on our prayer mats and facing East, or if we were Christians, we'd be getting buried up to our necks and having rocks thrown at our heads if we dared criticise our Muslim masters. Perhaps that is something for your brothers to ponder over.
translation:
You women were very useful when there was a chance we would get a bullet from the dictator as human shields. Now that the dictator is away, you are no longer useful and your aspirations are no longer important. The important issue now is how to establish the caliphate... now, just stay home.
I am with you brother all the way. Just last night I watched a Swedish film about the Crusades, "Arn: The Knight...". Brought tears to my eyes.
Actually I wouldn't be so sure they are muslim women. The posters could be muslim men saying they are muslim women...could they not?
Are muslim women even allowed to touch the computer? Especially to blog?
Robert...can you answer this question above? What do you think?
Anyone else...what are your thoughts on this?
That's exactly the reason! They always use women and even children to hide behind! Yellow bellied cowards can't even fight like men unless of course it's fighting a woman...then they are real men!
Interesting that a woman quoted here blames the old regime for the behaviour of the thugs. Amazing if she does not see the effect of Islamic teaching in this.
Istanbul_Chick "may the first stone kill you outright so you don't suffer"
Thank you for that phrase. The next time a burqa bitch starts a tirade against Western values and praises Islamic ones I am going to throw that phrase at her.
Kudos to those women and men who marched together to honour the International Women's Day. Yes, they might have a long thorny road, but I stand in solidarity with them, at least in spirit since I cannot be there (and even though they might all look the same to me.)