Comments on: Crocodile tears for Ayaan

By: DrM

DrM — Tue, 23 May 2006 05:19:59 +0000

pRickler is babbling nonsense as usual. The bnp reject just makes up stuff to force an argument.

By: Shamil

Shamil — Mon, 22 May 2006 17:20:35 +0000

The reason I didn’t mention India is that I didn’t expect there to be any significant Hindu influence in Afghanistan. In the pre-Islamic era Afghanistan was usually ruled by the Persians.

Then again, didn’t the Mughals come from Afghanistan originally? Perhaps Hindu traditions found their way back to the old Mughal homeland…

You’re missing the point. Gender equality is not an anthropological norm.

You can’t trace gender inequality to a few sources. It’s everywhere.

By: George Carty

George Carty — Mon, 22 May 2006 15:26:25 +0000

The reason I didn’t mention India is that I didn’t expect there to be any significant Hindu influence in Afghanistan. In the pre-Islamic era Afghanistan was usually ruled by the Persians.

Then again, didn’t the Mughals come from Afghanistan originally? Perhaps Hindu traditions found their way back to the old Mughal homeland…

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:57:39 +0000

Where there does this lady get all of her erroneous facts from. In Saudi you can hardly even get a decent connection to view non-porn sites, not to talk of state-controlled internet.

Go to the UK office of statistics and let them englighten you about the stats on some of the issues I have listed above.

Stay there.

By: Imran

Imran — Mon, 22 May 2006 10:09:42 +0000

“Why not include India as well. Women are treated badly in most places.”

Well in Indian/Hindu culture females are seen as being lower then males in the caste hierarchy. This has led to a massive male-female gender imbalance in India- due to the widespread practices of female infanticide, feoticide and sex selective abortion.

Also, India was home to the “honourable” practice of “sati” or self-immolation.

All practices which Islam strongly condemns.

By: Shamil

Shamil — Mon, 22 May 2006 08:15:02 +0000

What is the origin of the extreme misogyny in Afghanistan and much of Pakistan? Is it a twisted interpretation of Qur’an and Hadith, or is it of pre-Islamic origin (Alexander the Great, perhaps)?

Why stop there?

Why not include India as well. Women are treated badly in most places. I’m more worried about countries where women are killed in large numbers for fun like Mexico and Guatemala.

By: George Carty

George Carty — Mon, 22 May 2006 07:59:23 +0000

What is the origin of the extreme misogyny in Afghanistan and much of Pakistan? Is it a twisted interpretation of Qur’an and Hadith, or is it of pre-Islamic origin (Alexander the Great, perhaps)?

By: H

Sat, 20 May 2006 21:48:45 +0000

Well it depends on what you mean by proper muslims. Sunnis regard shias as muslims, but there is still a serious difference with regards to some theological points of belief. And going back to the issue at hand, muslims would have supported Hirsi Ali if she was against those practices you had listed, however, she went about it by insulting the religion of the very people who suffer from these things. Added to this her horrendous insults against our Prophet (alayhi salat wa salam), what did she expect, that the muslims would hail her efforts. We would rather back the people who actually work to create some understanding of these issues rather than someone who thinks a good protest would be to write verses of the Qur’an on the back of a naked woman. That is just plain immature.

By: Old Pickler

Old Pickler — Sat, 20 May 2006 20:21:22 +0000

For example, honour killing, muta and punishment for being raped have all been condemned in the Qur’an and Hadith, so in fact Islam agrees with everything you had just said.

If so, then fine, but why is it wrong of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, or of me, to criticise these practices? If they are against Islam, then Muslims should be supporting what Hirsi Ali says instead of condemning her.

As I understand it, Muta, or temporary marriage, which in my view is little more than prostitution, is condemned by most Sunnis, but is allowed by Shiites. Are Shiites not proper Muslims? (I’m not asking that in a hostile way, but just for information.)

By: H

Sat, 20 May 2006 19:48:25 +0000

Pickler, if I understand correctly, your problem isn’t with Islam itself, but rather the practices of certain muslim societies. The reason I say this is because everything you just listed above is not part of the sharia. For example, honour killing, muta and punishment for being raped have all been condemned in the Qur’an and Hadith, so in fact Islam agrees with everything you had just said.