In the Qur’an, a mysterious figure, known as Khidr in Islamic tradition, kills a boy in an apparently random and gratuitous attack. He then explains: “And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.” (18:80-81)
And according to Islamic law, “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (Reliance of the Traveller o1.1-2).
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 suffer.
“Egyptian doctor, 34, is ‘beaten and thrown to her death from sixth floor balcony by her landlord, doorman and neighbor in honor killing for inviting a male colleague to her flat,'” by Chris Pleasance, MailOnline, March 23, 2021 (thanks to Jim):
A female doctor has been beaten and thrown to her death from her apartment in Egypt in a so-called honour killing after she invited a male colleague back to the flat.
The 34-year-old, who has not been publicly identified, plunged to her death from her apartment balcony in Cairo two weeks ago, local media reported.
Three men – her landlord, doorman and neighbour – have now been arrested amid an investigation into her death.
The trio are accused of breaking into the apartment and beating her because she had spent time alone with a male colleague.
Strict social codes in Egypt mean it is considered deeply shameful for a woman to be alone with an unrelated man, though the law does not expressly forbid it.
The men have not yet been charged, according to The New Arab, as police continue to investigate the case.
Reports of the attack vary, with some saying the woman was pushed to her death while others say she fell while being attacked.
The landlord has reportedly denied all wrongdoing, saying the woman killed herself during a ‘psychological crisis’.
Women’s rights activists have called for the men to be punished, and condemned ongoing discrimination against women in Egypt.
The killing comes just weeks after Egyptian politicians put forward a series of new laws that would curtail the rights of women, sparking outrage.
The proposed laws – amendments to the country’s Personal Status Law – would mean women are unable to sign marriage contracts, and that a male relative must approve of their match before it can become legal….
RichardL says
doormen (bawabs) are all informal informers to the mukhabarat and enforcers of street level shari’a. Especially in Cairo, you need to be on good terms with them, although they earn next to nothing. One of our bawabs (actually two brothers) was watching one of the religious channels from the Gulf all day but we got along famously because the first time we came home with cases of beer, he offered to help carry the stuff from the car. The next time we bought a case for him and became best friends. My Egyptian wife an I were not married yet so he was important and he knew it.
Infidel says
RichardL, was your bawab a non-muslim, or was he muslim-in-everything-except-alcohol?
gravenimage says
I have heard this about “doormen” in Egypt. Very disturbing.
“The doormen policing Egypt’s morals”
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20098376
As is so often the case, though, this Westeren reporter thinks that these religious enforcers are somehow all benign.
Henry Mansfield says
It’s human nature to gossip, but it’s hard to imagine living in a society where such gossip gets women brutally murdered.
I’ve worked in construction much of my life, and that meant driving out to an address where a housewife or single woman would show me the work needed to be done before I wrote out an estimate. So far after 30+ years everything has been ‘strictly business’.
This Egyptian woman’s being a doctor and likely earning more than all three of her murderers surely had nothing to do with it. (sarcasm)
gravenimage says
Yes–jealousy over her success may well have been part of it,
Brando says
Muslims commit 90% of HONOR killings in the world,and regarding Egypt:
1.It is the Most Populous Arab Country:100 MILLION
2.There FGM or Female Genital Mutilation reigns supreme:90% of Women
3.They depend on the NILE for Food,which is DRYING UP.And tourism,which is low now.
IN THE MEANTIME
The JORDAN river and Lake of Galilee in Israel are drying up,but they have Essentially Solved Their Problem by creating
a DESALINATION technology that is Reasonably Economic:
“How Israel swims against tide of worldwide water crisis”
https://www.israel21c.org/how-israel-swims-against-tide-of-worldwide-water-crisis/
Infidel says
Landlord, doorman and neighbor – too bad that third world people (yes, Virginia, nosey people are the norm in non-muslim third world countries as well!) have no idea how to mind their own business.
But does it count as an honor killing if none of the killers were her relatives? I mean, what if every member of her family opposed it? Also, the article doesn’t say whether she was single or married: if the former, she was well within her rights, even allowing for the likelihood that her inviting her colleague into her flat wasn’t a signal that she was out to date him
gravenimage says
Yes, it’s still an “Honor Killing”, since the motive was the supposed lack of honor on her part for daring to have a male colleague over.
born saturday says
koranimals!!
tim gallagher says
Islam is so primitive, so totally barbaric. This pathetic throwback of an ideology needs to disappear from our modern world. islam’s outlook on all aspects of the way human beings interact is so primitive and so out of date that it should be as extinct as the dinosaurs. Reading reports like this appalling one is truly like looking back thousands of years ago to the time of primitive human beings living disgusting, vicious and totally backward lives. Muslims need to ditch islam and all its primitive garbage and join the more civilised, non-Muslim part of the human race. Imagine a landlord, a doorman and a neighbour thinking they have the right to carry out this appalling crime. That’s what poisonous islam does to people’s minds.
gravenimage says
Honor killing in Egypt: Woman is beaten, thrown to her death from balcony for inviting male colleague to her flat
…………………..
This *poor woman*.
And anyone can do an “Honor Killing”–in this case it was the victim’s landlord, doorman, and neighbor. There is no freedom in Islam.