AP recently lied: “The killers routinely invoke Islam, but rarely can they cite anything other than their belief that Islam doesn’t allow the mixing of sexes. Even Pakistan’s hard-line Islamic Ideology Council, which is hardly known for speaking out to protect women, says the practice defies Islamic tenets.”
Here is the reality: Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but “the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour ‘provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.’” And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.”
Until the encouragement Islamic law gives to honor killing is acknowledged and confronted, more women will be victimized.
“‘Honour Killing Bill against Islam,’” The News International, October 8, 2016:
Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Siraj-ul-Haq on Friday said Imam Hussain (RA)’s mission was the establishment of the rule of law with equal rights for all citizens, a system based on Shoora (consultation).
In a country established for Islam, the rulers had thrust a system based on tyranny and exploitation, exactly opposite to the message of Karbala which was to fight against oppression and tyranny, he said while delivering Friday sermon at Mansoora Masjid. Siraj-ul-Haq said the passage of a so-called Honour Killing Bill by the joint session of the parliament in conflict with Quran and Sunnah proved that the ruling party was out to demolish the ideological boundaries of the country.
He said denying the right of compromise to the parties in the cases of honour killings was repugnant to divine injunctions, and added that any law in conflict with the Shariah would not be tolerated. Siraj-ul-Haq pointed out that PPP’s founder ZA Bhutto had never imposed his socialist ideology on the country.