Via PowerLine (with thanks to Uncle Jeff) comes this post from the now-infamous photographer Kevin Sites’s blog. (Sites took the picture of the Marine killing an Iraqi in a mosque that has become the Islamic world’s latest focal point of indignation, although those who are indignant have yet to say anything about Margaret Hassan, or Ken Bigley, or Nick Berg, etc.)
Anyway, this is an informed response from poster Monir Kazemi to a poster named Jana who declared: “you should ‘ve said that yes there are parts of the Koran that some people interpret for their own way and do it but you are not allowed in any way to say…that the Koran has recommended that women to be beaten up if they didn’t obey…because I challange you there is no part in the Koran that said so…litrary and metaphorically unless you yourself want it to mean that….”
This, of course, is common in the West: commentators routinely say that the Qur’an condemns what it does not condemn, and teaches what it doesn’t teach. Even Ralph Peters said yesterday that “The grisly decapitations caught on film…are not sanctioned by a single passage in the Koran,” in blithe ignorance of Qur’an 47:4, which commands Muslims to “strike the necks” of unbelievers. Peters also said that the decapitations and other acts of terrorism have “nothing to do with the message of the Prophet Mohammed,” although I challenge him or anyone to come up with anything in Muhammad’s message that forbids them. Even the most commonly invoked verse, Qur’an 5:32 (“We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people”) contains a key loophole (“for murder or for spreading mischief in the land”) that virtually anyone can use — and in any case it is presented as a warning to the Jews, not as a general principle. Nowhere else does the Qur’an even come close to sanctioning anything but harshness for unbelievers (cf. Qur’an 48:29).
So Jana tries to do the same thing: deny that what is in the Qur’an is really in it — which after all is an effective tactic in a society where few are aware of what the Qur’an really says. But Monir Kazemi is ready:
Jana says: “Monir you dont know anything about Iraq or Islam or the Koran ….”
Dear Jana, I was born in the Middle East and went to Islamic school and at one time I memorized parts of the Koran. I am from a neighboring country to Iraq.
The Koran says Sureh 4, Verse 35: Men have authority over women (not just the wife but sisters, daughters, maids, etc.). If they disobey, “first admonish them, then refuse to sleep with them, and then beat them”. You can read it for yourself at http://www.light-of-life.com/eng/reveal/ or other sites. Also try http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/index.html to see the 2nd class citizenship of women in Islam (for example they are counted as half of one witness, or receive inheritence half of a man).
Now Jana you are wrong that this is a matter of interpretation. When the Koran says women receive half the inheritence of a man, then this is not an issue of interpretation. It says Sureh 4:11 – “A male shall inherit twice as much as a female”. Now how can you interpret mathematics in multiple ways?
You say that I am “not allowed” (by whom may I ask?) – that I am not allowed to say that the Koran has recommended to beat women or to disinherit women because of their gender. And why cant I say this? What stops me and other open minded people to say that the Koran contains nonsense of this sort? If it offends you that I say this, well then take a cold shower, and if you are a moslem (by the sound of it) then change your religion instead of being so embarrased about it, as I am just repeating what is in there complete with verse numbers and am exercizing my right to free speech, and I can say all I wish about Islam, including facts about the Koran – and this is exactly why the Marines are in Fallujah beating the hell out of these Islamofascists – because they want to stop me from saying the facts, and no Jana, you cannot stop me as those Marines are protecting me, the Iraqis, and ultimately America, and neither can you stop the good Marines who are risking their lives, to bring out the truth about this decrepit religion. You should be ashamed of yourself to undermine our men and women in danger at in the battlezone who are fighting tyranny, while people like you suck up to it.