Even in Brunei , Women are Less than Men
In response to my article 13 Beautiful Muslim Women where I display disturbing images of Muslim women whose faces were disfigured with acid by angry Muslim husbands, Nurin B., a reader from Brunei, left the following comment:
I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. Not all Muslims are like this. I'm not denying the existence of terrorism and honor mutilations among the Muslims but it has nothing to do with the teachings of Islam in general. It's the people and how they manipulate these teachings to fulfill their own selfish deeds.
I'm a Muslim, living in a Muslim country yet tragic incidents like terrorist attacks and honor mutilations hadn't and will most likely, never happen in our country. It's sad and unfair that all Muslims have to bear the consequences of being severely judged and hated while only a handful of the world's Muslim population believe, agree and practice this abuse and violence.
Islam honors women. One out of many proof is that Islam teaches us that heaven lies (methaphorically) on our mother's feet. It means, to be completely happy, we need to have the approval of our family especially of the woman who risked her life to give birth to us. Islam teaches us to love, care and respect our mother unconditionally.
As for honor mutilations and domestic violence within a marriage:"Many Muslim men who are cowards use Surah Annisa as an excuse to hurt their wives. In fact the Surah explain 3 steps on how to deal with a Nusyuz wife which means the wives who don't respect the marital commitment. The first is to give advice. The second is to warn and the third, then you can hit her, but not on the face and without the intention of actually hurting her." [from the movie Ayat-Ayat Cinta / Versus of Love]
Nurin, the point of the article is not that those of the Muslim faith are the only ones who brutalize their womenfolk, certainly this is not true. The point is that the men in the countries who do these honor mutilations are not prosecuted because the Shariah law of those countries condones the beating and brutalization of wives who have offended their husbands because of some trivial slight to their honor: perhaps too full a face showing under a veil, perhaps saying hello to an unrelated male, perhaps being too slow to sexually satisfy, or perhaps even something so absurd as her brother insulting her husband.
Yes, you read that last one correctly. If a someone from the wife's family insults her husband, then the husband will take retribution upon his wife, sometimes the punishment is a gang-rape.
Some Muslim apologists blame the culture not Islam, you blame misinterpretation of the Qur'an. However when these men go before Shariah courts, the laws favor the men and punish the women. It is Islam that encourages the bad behavior toward women. If Islam truly honored women, barbarism like acid-in-the-face would not be so wide-spread among Muslims.
Something is wrong when thousands of women each year in Pakistan alone are honor-killed. They are honor-killed in every different culture and among various ethnic groups in Muslim countries. Something is wrong when so many Muslims misinterpret how they should treat women.
As much as you may believe that your country, Brunei, is immune from bad behavior towards women, it is not. Many women are virtual slaves in your country.
Read this from the U.S. State Department:
Brunei - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Constitutional provisions notwithstanding, citizens do not genuinely exercise the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. Other human rights problems continued, including restrictions on religious freedom and discrimination against women. Despite government efforts, occasional societal violence against women remains a problem. Labor rights are circumscribed, and foreign workers, particularly in the garment sector, are subject to exploitation.
As for foreign workers being subject to exploitation, the US State Department is being kind; here is what they really want to say: female domestic servants are often beaten and kept as virtual prisoners in employer's homes:
US State Department, Brunei - Human Rights Report
One area of apparent abuse involves female domestic servants. While the level of violence in society is low, beating of servants--or refusing them the right to leave the house on days off, sometimes on grounds that they "might encounter the wrong company"--is less socially unacceptable behavior. Since most female domestics are foreign workers who are highly dependent on their employers, those subject to abuse may be unwilling or unable to bring complaints, either to the authorities or to their governments' embassies.
I have written that most Muslims are in denial about the barbarism in Islam. Nurin believes that "Islam honors women." But even in his own country Nurin is blind to the fact that shariah law treats women like junkyard dogs, from the same US Dept of State report:
US State Department, Brunei - Human Rights Report
In accordance with Koranic precepts, women are denied equal status with men in a number of important areas such as divorce, inheritance, and custody of children. Under the Brunei Nationality Act, citizenship is transmitted through males only. Female citizens who are married to foreigners or bear children by foreign fathers cannot transmit citizenship to their children, even when such children are born in the country. This has resulted in the creation of a sizable population of stateless children, estimated at more than 5,000 residents, who are entitled to live in the country and to be documented for travel by the Government, but who cannot enjoy the full privileges of citizenship, including the right to own land.
And Nurin seems not to know, even though he lives in Brunei, that Religious authorities strongly encourage Muslim women to wear the tudong, a traditional head covering. What does that mean Nurin, to strongly encourage?
Sorry, Nurin, Muslim women in Brunei are not treated with respect. Sad that you do not notice that.
