An attempt to add to the rapidly increasing number of Islamic honor killings in the U.S. Is this the kind of society we want to have in America? Are the assumptions that underlie this practice really compatible with Western principles of the rights and dignity of the human being? If our public officials at this point truly had the best interests of American society at heart, they would begin to examine this phenomenon as part of an examination of Muslim immigration into the U.S., with an eye toward ending that immigration. They would be calling upon Islamic groups in America to confront and fight against the assumptions that lead to honor killing.
Instead, we get the boilerplate “this has nothing to do with Islam” statement in this article, and the blaming of “South Asians” again. Yet Amina and Sarah Said were murdered by their father just months ago — and they were Egyptians, not South Asians. If this practice has nothing to do with Islam, why did Jordan’s Parliament quash an attempt a few years back to stiffen penalties for honor killings — with Islamic politicians leading the way and making their arguments on Islamic grounds? When will American officials call on Muslim leaders in the U.S. to stop the blame-shifting and finger-pointing and take some real action against this practice?
“Henrietta Muslim knifing called ‘honor attack,'” by Michael Zeigler for the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, July 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed her outside their Henrietta home, prosecutors allege.
Afterward, he told Monroe County sheriff’s investigators that he attacked his sister because she had disgraced their family and was a “bad Muslim girl,” according to court documents.
Mohammad, 22, is scheduled to appear Friday in Monroe County Court on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the May 8 attack on Fauzia A. Mohammad, 19.
The case is the second in four years in Monroe County in which an immigrant from South Asia is alleged to have killed or tried to kill a family member over the perceived loss of family honor “” an occurrence that is not uncommon in South Asia but is rare in the United States.
Although the defendants in both cases are Muslims, resorting to homicide to restore family honor in mostly Muslim South Asia is a custom that predates Islam, said Aly Nahas, a retired professor of pharmacology at the University of Rochester who is a student of Islamic tradition.
“In my belief, it has nothing to do with Islam,” said Nahas, a practicing Muslim. “I know Islam well, and I do not believe it is Islamic. There is nothing in Islam that talks about honor killing.”
Nahas said, however, that many Westerners don’t accept his assertion.
“And they will not because it occurs in countries that have been Muslim for 1,000 years,” he said. “People will ask, ‘Why isn’t it stopped?’ I can’t answer that.”
According to the United Nations Population Fund, up to 5,000 women are killed each year in South Asia for allegedly disgracing their families. Some of the women are killed after becoming rape victims or rejecting arranged marriages.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph Waldorf, who is prosecuting Mohammad, declined to characterize the case as an “honor attack” or otherwise.
Fauzia Mohammad is recovering from her wounds, Waldorf said….