many women embrace Islam by choice and conviction.

Many women accept Catholicism by choice and conviction. Doesn’t make it any less misogynistic.

@Farhat
Good point. I think some Western progressives may be more comfortable recognizing the sexism in the different branches of Christianity because they know it from personal experience, either from being raised within the religion, or from the larger Christian-influenced society.

This isn’t to say that anyone has the moral authority to “fix” a Muslim society from the outside in. But what we do have is the moral responsibility to stand in solidarity with people like Leila Hussein – who died a hero’s death, as far as I’m concerned.

Hear, hear!

That said, I do not believe that those who shy away from a wholesale condemnation of the big three major religions (Islam in this case) are apologists.

Many women accept Catholicism by choice and conviction. Doesn’t make it any less misogynistic.

Who is “they”? Muslims? Christians blow up abortion clinics and kill doctors. Jews have assassinated people. But we recognize that the people who do those things are extremists, and not representative of the entire group. Why are we holding all Muslims accountable for the actions of a few?

I agree especially since the United States way of doing so as it calls it has included blowing people’s homes and invading and occupying their countries. Liberating women by killing them or starving them and their children through embargos.

I don’t think Islam is the problem anymore than any other religion, it’s how it’s used by some of its practioners. After all, many women embrace Islam by choice and conviction. Is this then a problem?

As for Syed? Go and f-ck yourself, darling. Long and hard.

If this guy is saying he murdered his daughter because she was unIslamic, then perhaps we should take him at his word.

I am not going to take some idiot at his word, and I don’t recommend that you do this either. It’s like telling Zawahiri – “oh, the correct version of your religion is actually a death-cult that aims to bring destruction to the entire Middle East, erase all human rights, and turn millions of people into slaves? Right-o! Thanks for setting me straight, friend!”

The people who stand to lose the most here are Muslims. Extremists might make a big show of going after “the infidel” and calling all non-Muslim women “ho’s,” but it’s the Muslims that will bear the brunt of their violence and stupidity.

They will police the sister for smiling in public, the brother for listening to a pop record. They are the ones telling grandmothers that they are spreading sin if they get up and go to work, instead of staying at home, behind a stone wall. They are the ones who think it’s God’s will that women develop osteoporosis for hardly ever leaving the house, not getting enough vitamin D, and hey, getting depressed enough to kill themselves because they have no lives and cannot exist unless such an existence is done vicariously, through the lives of their male relatives.

So when we say, “oh it’s just their funny little religion, too bad, too sad,” we are betraying them.

This isn’t to say that anyone has the moral authority to “fix” a Muslim society from the outside in. But what we do have is the moral responsibility to stand in solidarity with people like Leila Hussein – who died a hero’s death, as far as I’m concerned.

I only wish the comments could have been made under different circumstances.