Tags
…is an honor killing, nonetheless.
Last year I posted on a spate of honor killings in Italy, which demonstrated that the act is not defined by location, but rather by ideology.
The post touched upon the murder of 17-year-old Hina Saleem, who was killed in 2006 by male relatives for ‘dishonouring the family’ while cohabiting with an Italian man, wearing jeans and working in a pizzeria.
Her father, Mohammad, confessed to the killing and along with two male relatives received a sentence of 30 years.
So far, so tragically evocative of the numerous cases of honor killings being perpetuated around the Mediterranean region.
But wait.
This was not technically an honor killing: for while dishonor is frequently linked to religion, the Assize Court of Appeal of Brescia has ruled that the murder of Hina – though classed by her father as one of (dis)honor – was in fact motivated by a “pathological and distorted parental relationship of possession“.
Further, it emphasized that her demise was not “religiously or culturally motivated”.
While her father and two cousins were duly sentenced, the reluctance of the court to openly acknowledge the act as an honor crime is unjustly peculiar.
The killing of a young woman in the name of ‘honor’ is an honor killing; by any other categorization – including relationships of possession – it is merely dressing up a dire phenomenon in psychological analyses.
Geez, I don’t understand this. I mean, I understand why a religious group would want to distance themselves from this ugliness, but why protest the association after the murder and the sentencing? And besides, I think I could make a pretty strong argument that “a pathological and distorted parental relationship of possession” is the underlying basis of many honor killings.
Do you have any advice on how I could get an english translation of “Le Motivazioni della Sentenza” to which you linked?
The reason it’s important to distinguish between the psychological explanation and the cultural explanation is that this murder is not one that a who cultural/religious group identifies with, based on the values/beliefs of that group. To limit it to a psychological pathology would limit the power of society to properly understand and address the problem.
Such a sad story for such a beautiful and young person with her whole life ahead of her. My opinion may be tinged with ethnocentrism but I believe honor killings are a global problem and therefore must require a global solution. It is imperative that we figure out a way to end this practice (and others like it) once and for all.
Sad story–thanks for providing insight on this issue.
In a world where we see images of people being beheaded, bodies of innocent victims of natural disasters rolled up in mass graves, people dying of malaria and AIDS on a daily basis, it is these killings which really get to me. They are so pointless and the women, often girls, haven’t even had a chance to live yet.
I often wonder what it must be like to grow up with the pressure of your family dictating who you can socialise with and what type of person you are to become, and each time, I end up with a headache.
I understand your point that we should not be so quick to label these murders as “honour killings”, but surely they have some religious background, and if not, why do we only hear about such acts taking place in specific religions, and not across the board?
Pingback: FemBot
The phrase “honor killing” is an oxymoron.
There is no honor in killing innocent women who are only trying to live their lives. If the men who kill these women feel their honor is sullied because the women are able to live lives without them, then perhaps those men need to grow a pair and learn to be real men.
True. They don’t see ‘murder’ as dishonour, but working to be financially independent is a crime. I wish I could hang these people, and honour my wish.
This is so true! Call a thing what it is. If you avoid calling it an honor killing, you make it harder for us to try to get to the root of the problem and get rid of it.
~Kali
http://www.brilliantmindbrokenbody.wordpress.com
The book “Half The Sky” being featured on Oprah has brought some attention to senseless acts perpetrated against women but I don’t believe people truly understand how many men view women “really.”
scary.
http://commandmints.wordpress.com/
Thank you for sharing this difficult topic. So very hard to read about, discuss, contemplate, but so needed. Have forwarded your link to an associate living in Italy.
You seem to imply that if a killing is done in the name of the honor of a family, then it’s okay. NONESENSE! Murder is murder.
Making it religiously motivated does not make it somehow acceptable.
I don’t know what to say. I guess I’m shocked.
Wrong doing in the name of God always shocks me.
Thank you for posting this. I am very angry about these honor killings. I wish we, as a society, could of protected her.
i dont f***ing get this. killing ur own daughter? honor or dishonor u still r a monster…
This killing certainly sounds like an honor killing, and the father certainly could be motivated by pathological possessiveness. Why does it matter which, unless the sentence for two types of murder are very different? Given the right court, honor killing sounds like more of a defense than a charge. Perhaps you were writing for an audience that already understands the attitudes toward such matters in the Muslim communities in Italy. This reader is only intrigued by the question and can’t begin to answer your objection.
Yet, honor itself is a psychological process. To understand the whole idea of an ‘honor’ killing is to understand how a person can come to attach such importance to the behaviour of another. It is, indeed, a dire phenomenon. A phenomenon that begs the question, how does a particular concept of murder come to be normative in certain societies even when the prevailing religion clearly states it is an evil? Why doesn’t the dishonor of being a killer outrank the dishonor of having an unconstrained daughter? Surely all religions class killing as a personal sin. And no religion classes the immorality of another to the other members of the family. But like all twisted societies, what matters more is the opinion of the neighbour and the status among backbiting neighbours. Wow, now that sounds familiar.
Honour killings?
Where is a person’s honour when they have broken the law and received punishment? There is no honour for those who commit heinous crimes in the name of religion. To take anyone’s life is to put yourself on the same level as GOD. Is that not worse than committing a murder?
I draw the line between religion and fanaticism.
well i’m not of the opinion
such devastating way of humiliating ladies
drastic action should be taking
It’s really sad that things like these are still happening in the world.
When will we learn?
Pretending honor killings have nothing to do with religion, Islam in particular, won’t help. It is happening in America too – Dallas, Phoenix, Georgia, Buffalo, Ohio, Kansas City, etc. All Muslim women killed by Muslim men – fathers or husbands who are defended by their sons who threaten to kill anyone who speaks out against the accused.
Excellent post and thoughts.
May Hina Saleem rest in peace – It is time we spread education, and punishment (to create change, not for the sake of punishment).
Keep it up!
Selman
This is SO sad!!!
We have the same problem in the US. No one wants to admit that this is a problem of Islamic nature. The men who do these things honor the teaching of their religion. I have read these teachings. They “have” to do these things if they are true followers of Muhammad.
I know of women who are imprisoned or killed for the “crime” of defending themselves against a would-be killer. Women who are killed because they have “dishonored” their family by being raped–often by a male relative or relatives. And if they fight back against the rapist, they are killed for attempting to defend themselves. There is no honor here. There is only a complete disregard for the lives and value of women.
Please post the teachings you have read which state that a man who kills a rape victim is honoring Islam.
Gen.9:25-27 And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Canaan was believed to have settled in Africa, where the dark skin of the people was used by hijackers of the Bible to claim that not only were they all descendants of HamThe dark skin of Africans became associated with this “curse of Ham.” Thus, slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable.
“This reading of the Book of Genesis merged easily into a medieval iconographic tradition in which devils were always depicted as black. Later pseudo-scientific theories would be built around African skull shapes, dental structure, and body postures, in an attempt to find an unassailable argument–rooted in whatever the most persuasive contemporary idiom happened to be: law, theology, genealogy, or natural science — why one part of the human race should live in perpetual indebtedness to another.” The American slave owner felt that he was carrying out God’s plan by buying and using slaves.
Please post the teachings you have read which state that a man who kills a rape victim is honoring Islam.
“Genesis 9:25-27 And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”
Canaan was believed to have settled in Africa, where the dark skin of the people was used by hijackers of the Bible to claim that these descendants of Ham, or automatic slaves, were also tied to the devil, who was depicted in black paintings when painted. Americans who bought these slaves who were sometimes kidnapped and sometimes sold to be taken to a place no one on the continent had seen before, were led to believe they were doing God’s work by enslaving Africans. Once the hijackers had a chance to study them, they spun half-truths about their physical makeup which they used to re-enforce the idea that any African one could get his hands on was his slave.
Enough Christians in that time did not want to think for themselves, and so people who wanted to turn a buck and twist God’s word perpetrated crimes on people who didn’t stand a chance, American and European.
I have typed the passage from Genesis which was twisted to enslave hundreds of thousands of people who were minding their own business. What I’d like to know is, do you feel as Christians that you have to explain yourselves, your religion and your ancestors to me, an adult of another faith who has seen the ugly things some of your people have done to the Bible, and then to others? Do you have to sit me down like a four-year-old and tell me that there are individual jerks in every society, and the people who re-invented the Bible for their own gain were the exception rather than the rule?
Think things through! If you have doubts about Islam, respectfully approach a Muslim and ak your questions. But it’s cowardly and harmful to sit back with like-minded people and incite one another against a religion you clearly have only seen a fraction of in practice.
The problem relates to the culture of the persons involved and values they believe in including the family’s place and reputation within the culture, not the broader society in which they happen to live. It is indeed a very sad indictment of humankind that we resort to acts like these in order to protect supposed ‘higher’ interests. It’s not a religious thing either, as all religions value the sanctity of life. Such killings send out a message (and fear) but often cause more hardship for all concerned. One can only imagine a world where people have a common and shared set of values, despite other differences.
Thank you for posting on such an important topic.
I think it is important to point out that these so called “honor killings” are not associated with Christianity.
The proliferation of suicide bombers are not associated with Christianity.
If Islam is the true religion why are these horrific practices all too closely associated with Islam?
The burden of proof is on the Muslim to demonstrate their religion’s innocence in these areas.
Is it the burden of Christians to denounce the use of predator drones in Afghanistan? What about the 500 lb. bombs used in cities in that part of the world? What do you think kills more women, American bombs or Muslim men? Are you, as Christians, denouncing a war which was called a crusade?
Yes we are. This war was called a ‘crusade’ by George W Bush, who has the mindset of a Hitler or Stalin or Moussolini, and by common consent one of the most odious politicians of recent times. As a Quaker I deplore the use of force by one human group (or individual) on another, to pursue their own ends – Muslim men on women, or Muslim suicide bombers on innocent victims, Israelis on Palestinians, Christians on Afghans, etc etc. But the individual destruction of women by members of their own family seems so contrary to any rule of civilized behaviour, which the survival of the species requires, that it is so horrifying because so counter-intuitive. It is also so personal because so individual, and something we can relate to so much more easily than wars or natural disasters.
Good point. Some of us are denouncing it, and calling it by its real name: imperialism.
I lived in Jordan and Syria at the start of this century and had the unfortunate opportunity to live in neighbourhoods where “honour” killings took place.
There is nothing honourable about it. In both cases, a male relative of the women had forced himself on his female cousin – basically raped – and then in BOTH cases they were the ones who killed the women to protect the families’ honour.
The sad thing is that everybody, I truly mean everybody, in those neighbourhoods knew of the rapes, they knew the poor girls didn’t stand a chance, and yet, they needed to be punished by death… How asinine is that???
I’m not an optimist by nature, but from what I’ve seen as far as their way of life goes (at least in Syria and Jordan), I truly do not believe that honour killings will end any time soon.
I don’t understand… where is the Honour in Murder!!! What a sad world we live in!!
It’s tragic what happened to that young lady, and all the millions of women that continue to suffer in the hands of men on a daily basis. I have to point out here that the Qur’an refutes and condemns random killings. So there is nothing remotely ‘Islamic’ about honour killings!
If you did your research properly you will have discoverd that in Nigeria where almost 50% of the population are Muslims there is no such thing as honour killings. Same goes for Malaysia, Indonesia and basically most non-Arab/non- South Asian Muslim communities all over the world.
Clearly the issue has NOTHING to do with religion and ALL to do with culture.
I think that these people first don’t respect their women at all. ‘Honor’ in any sense you put it, is nonparallel to life. Secondly, stern possessiveness of their daughters is too mind disturbing causing them to live a life of misery and sometimes despair coz they can’t make any decisions on their own.
One advice for the ladies on this regard; Always Follow your heart but please do it with caution.
Best advice for women whose “menfolk” are of this ilk is to move away as quickly as they can.
This is an age old problem: right and wrong. If you are living in another country, or one that is take over by a group with a new ideology, you either hide your own ideology or you change. The old biological concept of Move, Adapt or Die.
The Nazi’s believed, for one, the only pure race was one that had blue eyes and blonde hair. That is not why they killed everyone else, but to keep it simple, for this discussion, let’s just say that anyone else is not allowed. They are basically wrong.
Nazi’s had way more than just looks to show what is right and wrong. If you did not follow the rules of the Nazi way, to the letter, it was considered non-fascist, and gave Nazi’s a right to kill. The entire non-fascist world and the Nazi world had divided ideologies and eventually cam to a war.
If time were spent between showing the driving force of right and wrong in both the Jewish-Christian world and compared against the fanatic Islamic world, there are just too many differences.
In the long run, both will have to come to blows in order to resolve these differences. At the end of this war, it will either be common for women to get killed to save face of the entire family, or these will no longer happen.
There is no peaceful solution, unfortunately. These killings even happen in certain African countries / tribes where older men marry young teenage girls, and when these girls get into their 20′s, their husbands get jealous and kill these women. Again, this is not common, but it happens.
Very sad indeed, It’s very interesting and again sad to see how other people/Culture handles things. Even if they think what there doing is right.
M.
Although the perpetrators of some honour crimes do cme from Muslim families or societies,iot has been my observation that the majority of these people are not observant Muslims. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) teaches us that to kill one person unjustly (and these honour killings obviously fall into that category) is like killing the whole of humanity.
All religion is nothing more than a creation of mankind as there have been people on this earth long before that worthless term “religion” was invented.
There are numerous terms in society that attempt to define murder etc and have evolved in an attempt to justify the taking of human life.
Nobody has the right to take a life.
Zohra, here are some dictums of the Quran and Hadiths which may dictate/incite honor killing:
Quran- 4:15 “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witness from amongst you against them; if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them. Or God ordain for them some (other) way.”
Quran-24:2 “The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication—flog each of them with hundred stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the last day.”
Quran-17:32 “ Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).
Quran-33:33 “stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display.”
Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 63, Number 196:
Narrated Abu Huraira: A man from Bani Aslam came to Allah’s Apostle while he was in the mosque and called (the Prophet ) saying, “O Allah’s Apostle! I have committed illegal sexual intercourse.” On that the Prophet turned his face from him to the other side, whereupon the man moved to the side towards which the Prophet had turned his face, and said, “O Allah’s Apostle! I have committed illegal sexual intercourse.” The Prophet turned his face (from him) to the other side whereupon the man moved to the side towards which the Prophet had turned his face, and repeated his statement. The Prophet turned his face (from him) to the other side again. The man moved again (and repeated his statement) for the fourth time. So when the man had given witness four times against himself, the Prophet called him and said, “Are you insane?” He replied, “No.” The Prophet then said (to his companions), “Go and stone him to death.” The man was a married one. Jabir bin ‘Abdullah Al-Ansari said: I was one of those who stoned him. We stoned him at the Musalla (‘Id praying place) in Medina. When the stones hit him with their sharp edges, he fled, but we caught him at Al-Harra and stoned him till he died.
(See also Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 63, Number 195.)
Sahi Bukhari: 8:6814:
Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari: “A man from the tribe of Bani Aslam came to Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad] and informed him that he had committed illegal sexual intercourse; and he bore witness four times against himself. Allah’s Messenger ordered him to be stoned to death as he was a married person.”
Sahi Muslim No. 4206:
“A woman came to the prophet and asked for purification by seeking punishment. He told her to go away and seek God’s forgiveness. She persisted four times and admitted she was pregnant. He told her to wait until she had given birth. Then he said that the Muslim community should wait until she had weaned her child. When the day arrived for the child to take solid food, Muhammad handed the child over to the community. And when he had given command over her and she was put in a hole up to her breast, he ordered the people to stone her. Khalid b. al-Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on her face he cursed her.”
Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 2. pg 1009; and Sahih Muslim Vol 2. pg 65:
Hadhrat Abdullah ibne Abbaas (Radiallahu Anhu) narrates the lecture that Hadhrat Umar (Radiallaahu Anhu) delivered whilst sitting on the pulpit of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Hadhrat Umar (Radiallahu Anhu) said, “Verily, Allah sent Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) with the truth, and revealed the Quran upon him. The verse regarding the stoning of the adulterer/ess was from amongst the verse revealed (in the Quraan). We read it, secured it and understood it. Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) stoned and we stoned after him. I fear that with the passage of time a person might say, ‘We do not find mention of stoning in the Book of Allah and thereby go astray by leaving out an obligation revealed by Allah. Verily, the stoning of a adulterer/ress is found in the Quraan and is the truth, if the witnesses are met or there is a pregnancy or confession.”
Al-Bukhari:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever guarantees me that he will guard his chastity, I will guarantee him Paradise”.
Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, An-Nisa’i and others:
Abu Hurayrah reports that the Messenger of Allah said, “No one commits adultery while still remaining a believer, for faith is more precious unto Allah than such an evil act!” In another version, it is stated, “When a person commits adultery he casts away from his neck the bond that ties him to Islam; if, however, he repents, Allah will accept his repentance”.
Al-Bayhaqi:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O mankind! Beware of fornication/adultery for it entails six dire consequences: three of them relating to this world and three to the next world. As for the three that are related to this world, they are the following: it removes the glow of one’s face, brings poverty, and reduces the life-span. As for its dire consequences in the next world they are: it brings down the wrath of Allah upon the person, subjects him to terrible reckoning, and finally casts him in hell-fire.”
I found them in this article:“Honor Killing” is Absolutely Islamic! by Syed Kamran Mirza (http://www.islam-watch.org/SyedKamranMirza/honor_killing.htm) This article was written by a former Muslim who left Islam upon realizing it was not a religion.
And have you read the Christian Bible’s Old Testament? Truth is, the “People of the Book” (Jewish, Christian, & Muslim) have in common a terribly intolerant view of sexual misconduct, particularly in women. Outside these religions, cultures are more tolerant. And of course the secular cultures tend to be the most tolerant. The Middle East has spawned a rigid and bellicose worldview, hasn’t it?
They came to him seeking purification for their sin, because they knew that we are going back to our Maker. They didn’t wantt to face the angel of death with that sin in their book of misdeeds. “These barbaric killings occur only to save the honor of the family, and not for any animosity or for wealth or gold. In 100% of cases—the killers have no animosity, rather they love the girl as their own daughter or sister, but they kill the girl anyway upon their ethical compulsion to save their family honor, or to erase family stigmas.” Abortion, anyone?
There wasn’t a single hadith in your quotes which involved family members taking the law into their own hands, and punishing a crime which requires two people. Islam is not a religion? I wish you’d told me that before I soent my check on scarves last week, because you have no idea how much that changes my life. I bet you don’t even have a dog in the fight. I bet you were raised in a Christian home and now you’re too Zen to go to church. Fix your people, then criticize Muslims.
What a disgrace!
This sort of behaviour is unacceptable. It shits me that people, including the Judiciary, would support this sort of action in any way what-so-ever.
Murder, it is and murder will it remain. It is an irony that we are still baffled by the question of its being an ‘honour’ killing or otherwise.The fact remains that such killings amount to murder and should not go unpunished.
This is living evidence of muslims who cannot drop their 7th centuary menatlity and get adopted to the free world!!! Why cannot a muslim lady live with a non-muslim if that is her consent????
Blaze, there are a few things you should notice about the portions you have quoted from Qur’an and ahadith: 1. Those punishments were duly distributed to men and women, while honor killings are exclusively against women. 2. They were all under the order of the Prophet, and only when those people confessed and insisted on it. The part that you did not quote is that the man who came to the Prophet and confessed was turned away. The man kept coming back to the Prophet insisting that he be punished because he felt so guilty about it. The Prophet, in other words, was willing to look the other way.
The only true way someone could be convicted of fornication or adultery in Islam is if it is done in public because it takes four witnesses (i.e. pornography or something of the sort). What people do in private cannot be held as evidence in a real Islamic court.
What these people do is completely outside of Islam and outside of any established (or even unestablished) legal system. During the time of the Prophet, such men would be guilty of murder.
Furthermore, if this were truly an “Islamic” act, why are indigenous Muslims in America, for example, not killing their women. I have witness plenty of Muslim girls here who have babies out of wedlock and even write books about it after the fact.
Not only is this a cultural phenomenon, it is even specific to certain tribes within certain cultures and not the larger arab or indo-pakistani cultures themselves. And even then, the killing itself is not the cultural norm, rather the perceived “dishonor” that a woman can bring the family is. These sick people think that killing is the way to remedy that, but in reality they only bring dishonor on themselves.
I don’t think so. “Honor killing” gives the practice a cultural identity, and makes it easier for us to say “them, not us.” But in fact, this kind of thing happens in all cultures. What about the Austrian father who kept his daughter in a basement prison for 20 years? Was that a Christian “honor imprisonment”?
Here’s the question in any one of these cases: to what extent is this about culture, and to what extent is it about the person? It’s not so simple as either-or.
Nearly all of our cultures and religions have underlying beliefs about women that make it possible for some people to rationalize abhorrent behavior. It doesn’t mean that the culture is the underlying cause.
I believe that the court was right in recognizing and naming the sense of entitlement — parental ownership — that is at the heart of these people’s actions. By taking away the cultural excuse, maybe we can address the problem more effectively. 30 years is a good start.
I agree with you! although theres then the debate, is the name of sentance courts give criminals supposed to represent their motive or their cause? I suppose the reason her father was ANGRY was because of an issue of cultural and religious dishonour – but the reason he felt he had the right to KILL her was because of his belife that he possesed her.
either way, the story is SO sad.