Replies

And how exactly does murdering 3 little girls uphold 'honor'?

Islam and honor are both mutually exclusive.

"And how exactly does murdering 3 little girls uphold 'honor'?
Islam and honor are both mutually exclusive."

As someone who grew up in India I can explain this. In the ME, family honor is paramount and is essential to maaintain group think. Individual thought and going against the mainstream is strongly discouraged. If a girl is even found with a guy out in public before marriage, the whole family is black listed and is an outcast life becomes hell for them. The man of the house is then obligated to eliminate the source of the dishonor which is girls. It is insane and abhorrent from our point if view but in their world view it is the right thing to do. Meanwhile these same men can have multiple wives and mistresses (temporary wives) and that is permissible in Islam. It is the most horrendous religion for women and they have no rights at all.

This is just my take on it: Men in this sick culture don't have to behave in any civilized fashion, their "honor" is their women, so if they need to cleanse their honor all they have to do is say any failing they have is the fault of a woman in the family. Then they kill the woman to reclaim their honor. Handy, huh?

You have to understand that Muslims hold honor foremost in all things. In the Islamic marriage ceremony, the mates declare that they are of the same blood and the same heart. In her act of adultery, this man's daughter betrayed her blood, and therefore his as well.

So-called "honor killings" are widely misunderstood. The proper way to have handled this would have been for the adulteress to approach one of her siblings and ask him or her to perform the Mauk-to 'Vor, a ritualized and consentual execution with a special knife called a ma'veq for the purpose of restoring ones lost honor and ensuring his or her entrance to Sto-vo-kor, the Muslim warrior afterlife. It is not considered appropriate to take the life of a family member forcefully over a matter of the victim's personal honor, however badly it reflects upon the family. Taking ones own life is also strictly forbidden; although there are many forms of ritualized "suicide" in Islamic culture, they all - like the Mauk-to 'Vor, or the Hegh'bat in which a Muslim who can no longer fight due to injury decides to end his life - involve a family member or close friend wielding the weapon.

The cuckolded spouse would have been well within his rights to divorce the woman. Under Islamic law, this can be accomplished merely by striking her, uttering the phrase "N'Gos tlhogh cha!", and spitting on her. Although he could challenge her to ritual combat, it is more likely he would challenge the woman's lover. The father, however, faced with a dishonored and unrepentant daughter, could only legitimately take action in formal accusation before the council of his House. In challenging the accusation, she would select a cha'Dich to defend her before the Council. Because the right of a Muslim House to perform executions is archaic and rarely invoked, if she lost the challenge, she would most likely be discommended rather than executed - the members of her House would quite literally turn their backs on her, and she would become a non-entity.

As for the other daughters, what he did is not even remotely backed up by Islamic tradition. Clearly he was afraid they would commit the same sin as their eldest sister when they got older, but his murder of his own progeny is a much worse dishonor upon himself and his House than the act of adultery. This is why this has caused such a shock, and why the case was brought before the Muslim High Council. If discommended by the High Council his very House will fall, as if it had never existed, being such a minor one. Either way, it is likely he will be executed if his challenge fails. Because his victims were family members, the usual rule of his dishonor passing down to his direct decendents several generations likely would not apply, if he had any surviving children.

I hope this answered your question and increased your understanding of Islamic ways.