The Lethal Combination of Tribalism, Islam & Cultural Relativism
by Azam Kamguian - 05 June, 2007
It is not a democracy and an open society where a man can talk about politics without anyone threatening him. Democracy is when a woman can talk about her lover without being killed. - Saud M. El Sabah
I intend to contribute to the debate surrounding honour killings as an activist and writer engaged in issues affecting women in the Middle East and in societies under influence of Islam. I shall examine the legal, social, religious and tribal dimensions of honour killing and will discuss the issue as it stands in the region, in the West and among intellectuals and the academic world. I will conclude my talk with my analysis of what needs to be done.
Is honour killing tribal? Is it Islamic? Is there any justification for violence against women in the religion of Islam? What is the role of religion in honour killing? Can we explain honour killing within the general framework of domestic violence against women? Is honour killing a form of universal patriarchy?
Hundreds of women get shot, burned, strangled, stoned, poisoned, beheaded or stabbed every year in Muslim inhabited countries because their male relatives believe their actions have soiled the family name. They die so that family honour may be preserved. According to tribal and religious culture a woman is a man's possession and a reflection of his honour. It is the man's honour that gets tarnished if a woman is 'loose'. Being killed deliberately and brutally is, in fact, a price that victims pay for attempting to practice their minimal human rights.
It takes far less than a pre or extramarital relationship for a woman to be condemned as dishonourable and deserving of death. There is no 'typical' case one can speak of: 'honour crimes' can include a husband killing his wife for leaving the house too often, a son killing his mother to prevent her from remarrying, a brother killing his sister and her husband for marrying without the family's consent, a man killing his wife for refusing to wear the veil when leaving home. Reputation and rumour play an active role in instigating honour crimes and the killing of women. This phenomenon is comparable to the emphasis on the chastity of wives in Victorian morality. Because the concepts of male honour and female subservience are deeply ingrained in Islam and in tribal culture, honour killings have become commonplace in Arab and Middle Eastern countries, in other Muslim inhabited countries and Muslim immigrant communities in the West.
The available statistics in honour killings show just the tip of an iceberg. The reality is far darker. The statistics do not show the number of female suicides provoked, or engineered to cover up an honour killing, nor the number of mysterious disappearances. Many honour killings never get reported or registered. Many are mislabeled.
In Egypt between 1998 - 2001 suspicion of 'indecent' behavior was the reason behind 79 per cent of all crimes of honour. The women were killed just because of rumours or suspicions that they may have crossed the line. The UN statistics for 1997 show: Yemen 400, Pakistan over 1000, Egypt 52, and Jordan 25 -35. The UN also reported that as many as 5000 women and girls worldwide were killed last year by family members, majority of them for the 'dishonour'.
Read all here: http://islam-watch.org/Azam_Kamguian/Lethal-Tribalism-Islam-Cultural-Relativism.htm
What is to be done
A society ruled by a misogynist tribal and Islamic laws and values permits the killing of women. Honour killing is a reflection of ancient patriarchy embracing Islamic misogyny and ancient tribal values. In the West, in collaboration with cultural relativism, it has created a deadly mix that has brutally victimised many young girls and women.
Honour killing, which contradicts many basic human rights and values, is clearly connected to the subordination of women. The prevailing culture of discrimination and misogyny in Islamic religion and society will not change without the implementing a comprehensive and radical socio-political and legal changes in the situation of women.
The civil rights of Arab citizens generally depend on their status, class, tribal affiliation and proximity to the regimes. This altogether discriminatory culture strongly affects women. It is not easy to dislodge let alone eliminate honour killing and other forms of violence in the absence of a radical transformation of the unequal social and economic order.
The only effective strategy to abolish honour killings is to safeguard and advance women's rights and status; by fighting against Islamic, patriarchal and tribal traditions; by separating religion from the state; and by forming secular and egalitarian governments in the region. Then, when equality before the law, civil rights, human rights, justice, freedom are achieved and safeguarded for all citizens regardless of their gender, class or race, women will benefit by extension. The struggle against honour killing is inseparable from the struggle for women's civil liberties, for the separation of Islam from the State, the struggle against political Islam and Islamic States in the region. All restrictive and backward cultural and moral codes and customs that hinder and restrict women's freedom and independence as equal citizens must be abolished. Severe penalties must be imposed for the abuse, intimidation, restriction of freedom, degradation and violent treatment of women and girls.
These are the tasks of women's liberation movement along with the progressive and egalitarian movements in the region as well as in the West.
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