I have been hesitating to put up this story, because what this article says is true: honor killings are indeed not sanctioned by the Qur’an. And obviously it has no clear connection to jihad.
But there is a reason why the problem of honor killing is so rampant in Islamic society, and it goes back to attitudes toward women that are rooted in the Qur’an, the Sunna, and Islamic jurisprudence. It was not really a surprise that last September in Jordan, a law stiffening penalties for honor killings was rejected, partially on Islamic grounds.
This article likewise notes that “because honor killings are accorded special status, murderers serve little or no jail time . . . Some men convicted of premeditated murder serve as little as three months and are treated as celebrities by family and friends upon release.” And that thousands of women have been murdered in the name of honor. Anthropologist James Emery says that “are murdered in their homes, in open fields and occasionally in public, sometimes before crowds of cheering onlookers.”
As Islamic culture makes it presence felt increasingly in the West, all these attitudes will come along with it. (Thanks to jbnegri.)