Word came out today that Noor Almaleki died from the injuries she sustained when her father ran her down. The man was enraged that his daughter had become too "westernized." So he carried out what his kind (meaning those who think radically like him, and not everyone of his faith) call an "honor killing."
Where is the honor in destroying the life of someone you hold so dear simply because they don't think exactly like you do? Wouldn't the more honorable path be accepting our children, even if we fear the consequences of some of their choices? Sure, you must do the best you can to protect them from harm. But they are not your property. They are not you. They must live their own lives.
Noor Almaleki
Isn't it about time we stood up and strongly expressed that this is NOT acceptable? This happpens more often than we hear about in the US, and we are far behind Europe in dealing with it. What are we worried about? Appearing "culturally insensitive"? If we don't help the young women like Rifqa Bary in America, there will be more and more victims like Noor Almaleki.
A friend reassured me about Rifqa, telling me about this story by a court-appointed attorney -- a Christian who was also involved in the Terri Schindler (Schiavo) case. We all know that teenagers can be melodramatic (believe me, I know) but I just think that extreme caution should be taken in this case. I heard that it had been definitively determined that she will first go into the care of the state of Ohio. That is a good step. The lawyer's observations hold out some reassurance, but I still fear for her.
Rifqa Bary
Why is it when a girl says that her dad will kill her if he finds out she's pregnant, most places go to the ends of the earth to protect her, but a girl says the same about becoming a Christian, and we march her back into the lion's den? I think it will be interesting to see if the people who know Noor's father say that they never thought he would do something like this. I'm sure folks who know Rifqa's dad say the same...
I do think we need to protect the rights of Muslim parents. I remember clearly a story years back about a brother and sister taken away from their parents bec the father was suspected of abuse, on very flimsy evidence. The foster family ignored the children's practices of faith -- it was totally wrong.
It is unwise to jump to immediate conclusions -- keep in mind the very type of scenarios that might affect Christians in a similar way, e. g. homeschoolers. There are many stories where children are taken away for the wrong reasons, or parents rights are usurped, and the wheels of justice turn slowly.
But I still fear for young Muslim women across our nation, and across the globe. Even low estimates say that these types of killings occur at least 5000 times a year worldwide. They should not be happening at all in our own backyard, and if they do, we should not shy from bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Well...I hate to bring this up, but Islam teaches that Muslims have no moral responsibility to be honest or even truthful in their dealings with infidels. So you really shouldn't believe anything a Muslim says without independent verification.
If you speak Arabic, you'll get very different answers out of these people. You'll hear how brave and honorable it is to be willing to kill a disobedient daughter, and how foolish infidels are for not being able to read the Koran, and...well, a lot of other stuff that doesn't really bear repeating. Really, there are some languages you're better off not knowing, and Arabic is one of them.
I mean, you don't need to hear what they say in Arabic to know that they're lying in English. Just look at what they actually do. End of argument.
Of course, the same is true of Humanists and Progressives. They expressly believe that lying in pursuit of their goals is morally acceptable, so you should never take them at their word about what they're trying to do, just look at the consistent results. They kill a lot more than 5000 children a year, after all.
Posted by: ChunLing | November 04, 2009 at 08:17 AM