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• Archived Blog Post

  Date / Time: 2/18/2009 9:05 PM UTC

  Authorities in Buffalo: Maybe this beheading was an honor killing
  

  Authorities in Buffalo: Maybe this beheading was an honor killing

  
  Before he beheaded her

  No kidding, really?

  Moderate Beheading Update: Possibility of 'honor killing' mulled in Orchard Park slaying," by Fred O. Williams for the Buffalo News, February 17 (thanks to Axel):

  The gruesome death of Orchard Park resident Aasiya Zubair Hassan— who was found decapitated—and the arrest of her estranged husband are drawing widespread attention, as speculation roils about the role that the couple’s religion may have played.

  Muzzammil Hassan, 44, was arrested Thursday and charged with second- degree murder after telling police his wife was dead at the office of their television station in the Village of Orchard Park.

  While Muslim leaders have urged against applying cultural stereotypes to the crime, advocates for women linked the killing to attitudes in Muslim societies.

  “This was apparently a terroristic version of honor killing, a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men,” said Marcia Pappas, New York State president of the National Organization for Women.

  She decried the scant national media attention paid to the story, which broke the same day as the commuter plane crash that killed 50 people in Clarence.

  While domestic violence affects all cultures, Muslim women find it harder to break the silence about it because of a stigma, she said.

  “Too many Muslim men are using their religious beliefs to justify violence against women,” she said....

  Nadia Shahram, a matrimonial lawyer in Williamsville, said that some Muslim men consider divorce a dishonor on their family.

  A teacher of family law and Islam at the University at Buffalo Law School, Shahram said that “fanatical” Muslims believe “honor killing” is justified for bringing dishonor on a family.

  While it has not been determined whether Aasiya Hassan’s death had anything to do with fanatical beliefs, the community should address the attitudes that make divorce particularly difficult for many Muslim families, Shahram said.

  “I have not had one [case] where the husband wanted to settle outside of the court system,” she said.

  In some interpretations, the Quran allows husbands to punish “disobedient” women, Shahram said, adding that this is a minority view.

  This is a false statement. This is not a minority view. Qur'an 4:34 tells men to beat their disobedient wives after first warning them and then sending them to sleep in separate beds. It is worth noting how several translators render the key part of this verse, وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ, waidriboohunna.

  Pickthall: “and scourge them”
  Yusuf Ali: “(And last) beat them (lightly)”
  Al-Hilali/Khan: “(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)”
  Shakir: “and beat them”
  Sher Ali: “and chastise them”
  Khalifa: “then you may (as a last alternative) beat them”
  Arberry: “and beat them”
  Rodwell: “and scourge them”
  Sale: “and chastise them”
  Daryabadi: "and beat them"
  Asad: “then beat them”

  Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, Al-Hilali/Khan, Shakir, Sher Ali, Khalifa, Daryabadi and Asad are Muslims. Are their translations all incorrect? These are mainstream Muslim translations of the Qur'an, and we are supposed to believe that the idea that the Qur'an tells men to beat disobedient women is a "minority view"?

  This is the kind of obfuscation that will only perpetuate this abuse. It can only be ended by confronting it, and speaking honestly about its causes.

  Don't miss my friend Phyllis Chesler's illuminating elucidation of the difference between domestic violence and honor killing.

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  • TERROIRIST SHARIAH L
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