“Honour” Killings

Posted on 17th October, 2005 by

Why oh why oh why?

Both The Times and the BBC have recently reported on another “honour” killing in the British Muslim community. A disgusting remnant of Indo-Pak life that has sadly been brought over to the “west”. The alleged perpetrators in this case are Bangladeshi Muslims.

Non Muslims and non Indo-Pak Muslims fail to grasp the stranglehold such a dim-witted and senseless “back-homelandia” (a phrase coined by Sunni Sister) attitude has on first, and some second, generation, Muslims in the “west”.

The father, its usually the elder of the household but never limited to him, perceive a huge pressure from their egos to right the “wrong” that has been brought upon their family, more often than not, by a member of their immediate family.

Further pressure is heaped on by their Indo-Pak family, friends and neighbours. A small minority of these crazy fools play a hand in perpetuating this dim-witted and senseless attitude. The dirty looks in the street and the back biting in the community. Some even have a morbid love to turn up at the house for the sole purpose of constantly bringing up the “transgression” and asking what action they will taking. Worse of all are the idiots who offer their “expert” services.

All this coupled with living with such a shocking attitude all their life, (knowing of no other way to resolve such an issue), and in some instances been witnesses to some of the “retribution” meted out “back home” is enough to turn a seemingly sane person, (this isn’t limited to the male of the species) into a cold murderer or become a party to the killing(s).

Note:To explain isn’t to justify or condone. Note 2:The analysis above is from my own take on things that I have seen or heard but not related to the case in question.

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  • thabet

    Euphemistically termed “honour killings” have been committed by Kurds, Turks and Jordanians too, not just “back-homelandia” Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

    These acts are usually committed, not by deranged murderers, but by quite sincere people who would otherwise eschew violence — in fact many Pakistanis (and Indians) who moved to the UK and elsewhere did not respond to verbal and physical abuse they endured in the 70s; and these were threats to their very person. So the answer requires some more thinking — what is it about a woman and family ‘honour’ in these cultures that provkes such a brutal — and inhumane — response, and just as worringly, ambivalent attitudes by others around them?

    Having said that one will find that violence against women is a problem for “open” cultures just as much “tribal” or “backward” ones, even if the rates of murders and the ‘reasons’ underpinning such acts is different.

    assalaamu ‘alaykum

  • http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/89 Pickled Politics

    Blogs: a weekly round up of chatter

    A slightly shaky start as I was supposed to publish this yesterday, but here goes anyway. Readers are welcome to send me links for next week’s round-up. 1) Haroon asks whether “the [Kashmiri] rubble popped a Jihadi bubble” in Osama,…

  • http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/ Yusuf Smith

    Also, it’s not just Muslims, or even foreigners, who kill female relatives because of relations they disapprove of. I’ve heard of white people doing this. Not common, but it happens.

    Also, related to this is blood feuds - the BBC reports today that two Albanians got themselves smuggled into the UK just to kill someone who had killed one of their brothers (accidentally, or so he claimed). These people were all Christians, by the way.

  • http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/ Yusuf Smith

    Can the person who posted the most recent comment to this entry please repost it, as I deleted it by mistake.

  • DrunkenBlogger

    Also, related to this is blood feuds - the BBC reports today that two Albanians got themselves smuggled into the UK just to kill someone who had killed one of their brothers (accidentally, or so he claimed). These people were all Christians, by the way.

    Well yeh its got not so much to do with religion but culture. Their are Hindu & Seikh ‘honour’ killings aswell. Muslims do get undue coverage in this arena.

    OT

    You say your are the moderate voice of Islam, yet no-one is allowed to critisce Islam on here, is that true?

  • http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/ Yusuf Smith

    DrunkenBlogger: it’s a common practice on blogs or groups for certain groups or movements that discussions of whether the subject is itself good or bad is excluded. There are many other places where people can criticise Islam, and other places where the most insulting language is tolerated when the target is Islam. This is not meant to be one of those places. I will censor insulting and off-topic comments. It’s my right as I pay the bill.

  • Mazhar

    Can the person who posted the most recent comment to this entry please repost it, as I deleted it by mistake.

    Why thankyou brother. :-)

    I know that “honour” killings isn’t an Indo-Pak phenomenon and neither is it limited to Muslims. Its as common, if not more, in Hindu and Sikh cultures, as well as others, too. The victims are not always female either.

    Being from that community myself I was trying portray some reasons for why such senseless acts are committed by Indo-Pak Muslims. Although looking back I wasn’t very clear on this part in the blog entry.

  • Shamilaskov

    “Also, it’s not just Muslims, or even foreigners, who kill female relatives because of relations they disapprove of.”

    But it was the man who was seeing their daughter who they killed in this instance.

    I’ve also heard of incidents where men were killed after refusing to marry their child to another families child when they had formerly agreed.

    It isn’t just women who are the victims.

  • http://nabahani.blogspot.com Abd ul-Rahman Hilmiِ

    Although I am against taking the law into your own hands, I really cannot feel any hint of simpathy for the ‘Muslim’ women who commit fornication. A Muslim women killed in Iraq or Palestine or Kashmir burns my heart. I “Muslim” women who is killed by a maniac relative is… well, I can’t say anything less than, to hell with her. I might sound cold, but I honestly cannot feel any simpathy. Should honour killing be stopped? Yes. Should it be stopped in simpathy or help for those whores? Certainly not. It should be stopped because law should only be implemented by a government body. When the khilafah is re-established everyone will have a fair trial and the shariah law will be passed on everyone justly, but until then we should not implement it on our own.

  • sima

    Hi there, Would anyone on here be willing to put their side of the story with regard to these ‘honour killings’? GG2Life, a new Asian Lifestyle Magazine is looking to write a real-life ‘honour killing’ feature, and would like to invite anyone who has personal experience to come forward. You do not have to reveal everything, your story will be treated with sensitivity and we will be fair. Don’t hesitate to drop me an e-mail at life@gg2.net. Thanks. Sima

  • http://anarchomuslim.blogspot.com/ Yakoub

    Years ago, I had a friend whose family murdered his sister. To me, it seemed like an excuse for his two brothers - both psychopaths (one an ex-pimp) - to engage in a little homicidal blood letting. In short, I don’t think the social processes behind ‘honour killings’ are always the same. I always ask myself, why isn’t there a neat anthropological catagory for defining misogynistic killings done by white folks? Don’t you think gangs of meat-headed ‘blokes’ pouring venom on women in the pub might be comparable to the neighbourhood visits pressuring families described here?

  • http://www.harveyharte.com Harv

    So many Muslim and Sikh people claim their religions are ‘peaceful’. Yet in order to control the population, lives and vaginas of the female members of these peaceful religions, the males will murder females and claim that the honour of the family was and is at stake. This attitude ranks with the Pope’s recent position that the antiquated Latin sermon/rites will be reintroduced. These attitudes are outdated and primitive. I congratulate the uneducated dimwits of these religions for being anchored in the past. The fundamental errors in these positions is that (a) the value of human life is of little value, and (b) clutural change is not tolerated. The fear of non-conformity seems to greater than any vestige of their religions being peaceful or progressive. (note: the Inquisition did not officially come to a close until late in the 1990’s and honour (oxymoron herefor sure) murders are still rampant. In Canada three recent ‘honour’ murders (one lady was pregnant, one a bride of just one week) are examples of the Right-wing, red-neck, small ‘c’ conservative, reactionary, primitive, Texas-style justice methods still in vogue for the myopic gutless male adherents of these non-progressive components of their ‘peaceful’ religions/cultures.