Oh, put me on the list with Binty, Odeon and Walkie.
And that abusive husband needs the most severe punishment possible. And ostracicing by his Muslim community.
Like that is going to happen.
Yes, there are muslims who very clearly distance themselves from all kinds of extremist actions. Be it in the domestic or the public realm. And it is more than one or two.
They are definitely not the ones running Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran or Afghanistan. Honor killings of errant daughters, putting 14 year old rape victims to death, wife beating, marrying 9 year olds. What other cultures tolerate or encourage such behavior in the 21st century Hyke? Please stick with present times, shit that happened hundreds of years ago is old news.
I was thinking about the muslims I know, the ones in the western world. Before I lived in this village I lived in a part of a city where half of the people were muslim. They differ as much from eachother as non-muslims.
You do see changes in muslim ways of life. Divorced women being warmly welcomed back home, in stead of being ostracised, or worse, killed. Gay muslims joining to openly celebrate the end of the ramadan. There are changes. It's not happening everywhere, it is a start. And, alas, the past ten years brought changes for the worse too. Since 9-11 there are more burkas than ever before. And that sucks. It's not even based on religion, but on one culture, and somehow it spreads as being a real muslim thing. It is not. I think burkas should not be allowed in public. When someone wears a balaclava, it will have to be removed when asked for an identity check up. There can be no exception for a burka.
I see changes in the 21st century.
I also know there are horrible regimes, and that regimes like to use religion to keep their people under control. Fear just works well.
There is no way to change foreign policies, apart from lots of diplomatic pressure and public action.
Within a western country, well, someone coming here has to respect the culture that is here. That means that forced marriages are not condoned, and, that for girls threatened to be given away in marriage during a holiday, there should be safe-houses, and repercussions for the parents. Girls need the same educational rights as boys. You see muslimas doing better in school than the average muslim boy btw.
Religion can't be an excuse to condone horrible practices. That is just as wrong as subscribing all horrible practices to a religion.
Our whole western culture has a strong history of racism, sexism. Doesn't mean that it always will be like that. But, as long as it was economically or politically profitable, our society was that, and there were excuses to be found, be it in christianity or in observations of nature.
And yes, islam religion can be used easily, but isn't used for that by default. And if you attack the religion, instead of the one doing the atrocities, that is not going to help. And it will make it harder for the religion to evolve in something more adapted to this era.
