Terrorizing Muslim Women

By Nonie Darwish

July 12, 2010

There is an article floating all over the Internet, “Joys of Muslim Women,” which discusses the horrific truth about how Islam legally treats women. The article claims to have been written by me, but that is false:  I am not the author. Let me use this occasion, however, to set a few matters straight:

The silence is deafening around the world in regards to the inhumanity and brutality of Sharia towards women. Most of the activism against stoning, flogging and abuse of women under Sharia is heard from former Muslim women, like myself, and a few others in the West who dare to expose the truth.

Muslim women have no choice but to abide by Sharia, since rejecting it is grounds for the charge of apostasy, punishable by death. Having been exposed to Sharia for centuries, Muslim women have learned convoluted coping mechanisms to avoid Sharia’s wrath. Engaging in their own form of Stockholm Syndrome, most Muslim women publicly  defend the very laws that enslave them. Even Obama’s advisor on Islamic affairs, Dalia Mujahed, stated that Sharia is “misunderstood.” Muslim women end up as the guardians of their own jails. It is women who often report younger girls who refuse to wear the head cover, and some wives cover up for the honor killing of a daughter by their husband or son. Many have accepted their inferior status and wear it as a badge of honor.

That is why there is no significant grass-roots feminist movement in the Muslim world today. Muslim feminists are routinely accused of apostasy — with its death penalty hanging over their heads. The only feminist movements to speak of in the Muslim world occurred during British colonial rule and, on a smaller scale, when the French conquered Egypt in 1798. By the end of the British rule, feminism ended inside the Muslim world.

Many Muslims claim that “Islam honors women” just as they claim that Islam is a “Religion of Peace.” The truth however, is just the opposite. Islam does not honor women, but rather holds their very lives in absolute bondage.

America must outlaw Sharia from ever being practiced by anyone on American soil. If we fail to do this, if we permit Sharia to creep into our legal system, we might as well say goodbye to our freedom. Here are just a few examples of what Muslim women must live under:

[1] There is no age limit for marriage of girls under Sharia. A man can pay a dowry and sign a marriage contract with parents of a toddler girl and consummate the marriage at age 9. Recent cases in Yemen and Saudi Arabia exposed this tragedy when 8-year-old girls filed for divorce from their over 50-year-old husbands. Not one Muslim authority challenged the Saudi marriage high official, Dr. Ahmad Al Mubi, who stated in 2008, in an interview that aired on LBC TV: “There is no minimal age for entering marriage. The Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow.”

[2] Islamic law states: “a Muslim will not be punished for killing an adulterer.” Islam, therefore, encourages honor killing of women. Since men have more sexual rights than women in Islam, it becomes harder to catch a man committing adultery. Thus women become more susceptible to becoming the victims of the above law, which allows vigilante street justice against adulterous women. I have never heard a Friday sermon stating that honor killing is forbidden in no uncertain terms.

[3] A rebellious wife is one who “answers her husband coldly” or refuses to go to bed with him.  Rebelliousness on the part of the wife nullifies the husband’s obligation to support her and gives him permission to beat her (Shafi Law m10 and m11 p. 541-2). The Prophet said: “A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife”.–Sunaan Abu Dawud, 11.2142

[4] Divorce is only in the hands of the husband and is as easy as verbally saying “I divorce you.” Thus the wife is divorced whether the husband had the intention to do it or not. Law n3.2 p 559.

[5] There is no community property between husband and wife in Islam. A Muslim wife would be lucky to inherit 20% from her husband. A man’s property after his death is not given to his wife, but is divided among many members of the family such as his parents, other wives; sons take double what daughters get.

[6] A man has the right to have up to 4 wives. Polygamy is not just a right, but loyalty to one wife is discouraged. Mohammed said: “The best Muslims had the largest number of wives,” Bukhari 7.62.7.  A Muslim man does not vow loyalty to his bride in the marriage ceremony and the bride must not expect it. In the Muslim marriage contract itself, the husband is asked to give name and address of wife number 1, 2 and 3 if any. (See a copy of the Muslim marriage contract in my book, chapter 2 of Cruel and Usual Punishment.)

[7] Mutaa or pleasure marriage gives the right to a man to marry a woman for a fixed amount of time, from a few hours to several years. That takes away any holiness in the concept of marriage. The only condition is that the man must pay the woman money (dowry) in exchange for sexual rights over her body. This is simply legalized prostitution, exploiting needy and poor women. This form of marriage is not registered or regulated by the State.

Urfi marriage is another form of marriage that is usually kept as a secret. Sharia has not forgotten the traveling man and gave him “Misyar” marriage allowing him “wives” in different cities. Sharia satisfies men’s urges at the expense of women’s dignity and humanity with total disregard to limitations and wholesome standards for men to live by for the benefit of a healthy family life.

[8] The Qur’an often uses the word “nikah,” which literally means sexual intercourse, to mean marriage. The dowry is called “ugur” in the Qur’an, meaning wage. It is payment for owning a woman’s private parts to be used by the husband as he wishes. “The dowry is given in exchange for the woman’s sexual organs.” (Ibn Kathir)

[9] A man is allowed to have sex with slave women and women captured in battle, and if they are married their marriage is annulled. Qur’an 4:24: “All married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.” Sharia never abolished slavery and highly regulates it, that is, makes it “regular.” Saudi Arabia officially abolished slavery only as late as 1962 after pressure from the “infidel” Western Judeo-Christian culture. To this day, the Muslim leadership in Egypt and Saudi Arabia refuses to annul slave sexual rights for men in Sharia books.

[10] The testimony of a woman in court is half the value of a man, law o24.7. You can  guess who usually wins if a man and woman face each other in court.

[11] Revered Muslim theologian Imam Ghazali (1058-1111) defined marriage [2] for generations of Muslims without apology as: “Marriage [3] is a form of slavery. The woman is man’s slave and her duty therefore is absolute obedience to the husband in all that he asks of her person.”

[12] For a Muslim woman to prove rape, she must have 4 male witnesses. “Proof of adultery and rape will be either confession of accused or eye-witness of four male adult Muslims.” Hudood ordinance #7 of 1989 amended by #8B of 20 of 1990.

[13] A rapist may only be required to pay the bride-money (dowry) without marrying.” law m.8.10, page 535. This law tells the man that all he has to do to rectify a rape is to pay a dowry to the rape victim. Rape is almost always blamed on the girl who must come up with 4 male witnesses, especially if she was not covered up the Islamic way. A Muslim preacher in Australia blamed rape by Muslim men on Australian women whom he described as “uncovered meat.”

[14] The Prophet said, “I looked at Hell [4] and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women.” Bukhari 4:464. There is a book sold in British mosques entitled: “Women Who Deserve to Go to Hell” by Mansoor Abul Hakim.

[15] A Muslim woman must cover every inch of her body since Islam regards every part of a woman’s body as “Awrah,” a sexual organ. Some sects of Islam demand the covering of the face and others don’t. This kind of extreme cover of even the face deepens the feeling of isolation, gender segregation and becomes the symbol of Islamic submission and presence in the West.

[16] Muslim scriptures describe women as deficient in intellect and faith, toys, crooked, half devils, harmful and detrimental to men. Also the prophet stated: “After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women.” Bukhari V 7, B 62/33. “A woman’s jihad is to please her husband” is taught by some Muslim women websites such as Takva.com, posted on 11-2-2008.

This article is dedicated to Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman in jail who is awaiting death by stoning for alleged adultery. Under international pressure, Iran just announced that her stoning is “postponed.” [5] But the regime still plans to execute her.

This article was originally published here, Click here to see the original footnotes.

Nonie Darwish is the author of “Cruel and Usual Punishment” and “Now They Call Me Infidel” and president of FormerMuslimsUnited.org.

Click here to sign a petition to stop death by stoning in Iran and for improved women's rights.