There were several programs on TV recently on different channels about the roles of women in Islam. (And that caused me to watch too much TV, BTW.) One (BBC) concerned women and children and the regeneration of the Taliban in Afghanistan (and N Pakistan). Another (DIS) concerned women and Sharia Law in Saudi Arabia and then there were two more (one called "Last days in Iran" or paraphrased). It was about Zara Maleki, a photo journalist born in Iran but living in Canada, who was arrested and killed by torture by the Iranians while she was there to visit her family. I hope you get to see them. I wish they did not instill a feeling of dread in me. But after viewing them and sorting thru the implications (which was not the editorial purpose of these very PC programs), I am even more convinced that the struggles with Islam will be long and hard. If people worldwide do not awaken and realize how evil the fundamentalists in this religion are then much of the world will succumb to them and all their repressions. I wonder how a religion that some practitioners genuinely and candidly believe is 'peaceful' and worthwhile has been hijacked so completely by an evil faction? And why do they not comprehend this at some visceral level and react to correct and expel the errant teachings of some? The problem seems to me to be that the truly moderate practitioners of 'secular' Islam ( for instance, an Iranian woman who follows Islamic teachings and loves the Quran but does not want nor does she wear a burkha, nor is she repressed by Sharia Law) do not recognize the danger to their lifestyle that is a part of Islamic fundamentalism. And not only will they not recognize and demand that fundamentalists cease and desist their unlawful practices, but they will indirectly support them with contributions and rhetorical support and even ally with radicals against people who do point out, condemn or even criticize the fundamentalists' factions, much less fight them openly. A big problem is that fundamentalists are more successful in converting large numbers to Islam and forcing larger numbers of people who are secular to become fundamentalists than the secular people are in moderating the extremists. The simple fact is that even basic Islam has a male oriented, repressive system of conduct and morals as a large part of its belief system. Then, if you get serious about being a 'true' Moslem, one must get even more extreme, even medieval in conduct and repression (particularly of women). An 11 year old Afghani refugee in Pakistan who works as a rug weaver and has completed his Midrasa training, when taken on a holiday to a water park, where he saw almost fully dressed (by western standards) men and women (mostly boys and girls) just swimming together and pronounced that all of them would 'go to hell', and that by just being there he had likely condemned himself to that fate also. The reporter, a moderate Moslem Pakistani woman, who had taken him there as a reward did not even try to dispute his viewpoint. What is the message this gives that future Jihadist(self described future)?
2007-01-11
01:52:53
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5 answers
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asked by
Nightstalker1967
4
in
Other - Cultures & Groups