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By Nonie Darwish

Recently I spoke at Wellesley College

and a large number of female

members of the Muslim Student

Association attended. As I described the

plight of seven Iranian women awaiting

death by stoning for sexual violations, I

saw no compassion towards their sisters

in Islam. I saw only rigid faces and

hardened, unsympathetic hearts. Some

even made faces at me as I spoke. These

young educated Muslim women live in

America under the protection of the U.S.Constitution, far removed from the harsh

realities of Sharia law I experienced.

I lived in the Middle East under Family

Sharia for 30 years and witnessed its cruel

and inhumane treatment of women. When

I was a teenager, our maid (who was my

age) was pregnant as a result of forced

rapes by her boss at the home where she

previously worked. My mother, who did

not want to send her back to her family

because of the possibility she would bekilled, sent her to a government facility. A

year later, we learned the young maid was

killed by her father and brother to protect

the family honor.

I witnessed female genital mutilation,

a common practice that my mother and

almost all her generation were forced

to endure. I also witnessed polygamy

and its devastating effect on family

dynamics, husband-wife relationships,

women-to-women relationships, and

upbringing of children.

Sharia Islamic Law

Sharia Islamic law is an elabo

legal system created to guarantee the

no defection from the Berlin Wall o

Muslim State. It subscribes to punishm

such as stoning, ogging, and amputa

of limbscruel and unusual by

human standards. Apostasy, which

leaving Islam or converting to ano

religion, is punishable by death. Sh

was created 100 years after Mohamme

enforce total control over women and

many nations converted by the swor

codied into permanent law a 7th Cen

Arabian Peninsula tribal Bedouin cu

for every Muslim nation to enforce o

citizens, even in the 21st Century.

In the Islamic State, the woma

most oppressed. Her testimony in cou

weighed to equal half that of a mans

she is entitled to only half the inherit

of a man. A Muslim woman earns reswhen she shields her body, face, and

her identity.

Sharia law allows polygamy and

beating, and only men can acquire an

divorce. Although many Muslim

have only one wife, the damage to

husband-wife relationship begins in

Muslim marriage contract. The marr

contract has three spaces to be lled i

the groom with the names and addre

Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute112 Elden Street, Suite PHerndon, Virginia 20170

P (888) 891-4288 F (703) 318-8867www.cblpi.org

policyexpressNo. 8-1 2

Nonie Darwish, the daughtero a high-ranking Egyptian army

ofcer, was raised in Cairoand Gaza. She is ounder o

ArabsorIsrael.com and author oNow They Call Me Infdel: WhyI Renounced Jihad or America,Israel, and the War on Terror.

About the Author

Most Americans think of Islam as just a religion. Islam is much moit is a one-party state with a very elaborate legal system, caSharia law, that can put you to death if you leave it. The livewomen living under Sharia law and those living under democrlaw are a worldand centuriesapart.

Women: A World Apart


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Women: A World Apart

of additional wives should he have any.

A Muslim man in the wedding ceremony

does not pledge loyalty to his wife, and the

wife cannot expect it. A mans loyalty to

his wife is optional, and a Muslim woman

who has it must thank her lucky stars.In contrast, the penalty for a womans

extramarital sexual indiscretion is death

by stoning or beheading. And rape is a

crime under Sharia law, but the criminal

and guilty party is always the female,

regardless of age and circumstances.

Gender Apartheid

The suffering of Muslim women is not

just from the harsh punishments but also

from less noticeable abuses. I remember

that in Egypt, which is much moremoderate than Saudi Arabia, interaction

between the sexes was very limited. No

dating was allowed, and men and women

had very little communication with

each other. In Muslim society, a woman

interacts almost exclusively with other

women and, in most cases, with females

within her own family. Gender apartheid

is the norm but it ranges in severity from

one country to another.

Early Womens Movement in EgyptThere was a feminist movement in

Egypt in the 1920s led by the famous

Hoda Shaarawi. She stood in the Cairo

railroad station and took off her Islamic

head cover, or Burka, and started a

feminist movement in Egypt that liberated

my grandmother, my mother and me.

Between the 1920s and 1970s, Egyptian

women never wore the Burka.

But that movement ended in the late

70s with the rise of radical Islam. Themajority of Egyptian women went back

to the veil by choice as a symbol of their

acceptance of Sharia as the supreme law.

Once again Muslim women regressed

to the 7th Century law because they

were told this is Allahs law. Islamic

garments and Burkasaccommodations

to Bedouin desert life that existed prior

to Islamhave become a symbol of

accepting oppression to glorify Allah.

There is hardly a Muslim fem

movement to speak of today, and

few outspoken feminists remainin

the Muslim world suffer consider

persecution. Egyptian feminist Nawa

Saadawi ed Egypt after a Muslim raddemanded her hand and leg be amput

Bahraini feminist Ghada Jamshie

forbidden from writing and speakin

public and has also received death thr

These women have little support f

other Muslim women, who remain s

for fear of being labeled an apostat

their faith and a shame to their cultur

Keepers of Their Own Jail

There is a misconception in the W

that Muslim women are being forcesubmit and cant wait to defeat Sh

law. Unfortunately, that is not true

the committed Muslim woman tra

from birth in Arab culture and Sharia

Sharia is Allahs law. Standing up ag

Sharia is equal to standing up aga

Allah himself.

It is not surprising, then, that a maj

of Muslim women end up defending

very laws that keep them in bondage

a Muslim woman to be left alone oget ahead, she must become as rad

if not more radical, as a man. Thus

see women telling the media how p

they are of the sons who died as mar

and you see the mother of three sui

bombers in Ghaza given a position in

Hamas government. Arab culture is on

pride and shame, and Muslim women

taught to be proud of their religion an

accommodate and accept Sharia. Rad

Islam has done a brilliant job in ma

the prisoners keepers of their own jai

Muslim Women in the U.S.

It is surprising, however, to see

young Muslim girls here in America

choose to wear the Islamic head cove

for the rst time in their lives. Some

tell me that the ethnic look is a sourc

of power in the West, while others sa

it is a political statement or that this i

their jihad. When I ask them about

polygamy, the stoning of their Islami

A Muslim man in the wedding ceremonydoes not pledge loyalty to his wife,

and his wife cannot expect it.

Muslim womens interaction is almostexclusively with other women.


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Policy Express No

isters in Iran, or the predicament of

Muslim women in the Middle East, they

are not interested. What they care about

most is defending Islam and presenting

a good image of Islam and its culture.

I saw much the same reaction fromhe Muslim students at Wellesley College.

After describing several cases across the

Middle East of people arrested, jailed,

and sentenced to death for apostasy, I

asked if any of them were doing anything

o oppose such harsh treatment. Not one

of the students in the Student Muslim

Association was doing anything on behalf

of those subjected to such inhumane and

arbaric punishments.

Yet these same Muslim groups areery actively telling America that Islam

s a religion of peace. They are also very

ocal in trying to silence the few Muslim

women, like myself, who are speaking

against Sharia laws oppression.

Such groups call those who criticize

adical Islam islamophobes. They

argue that oppression of women and

honor killing have nothing to do with

slam, terrorism has nothing to do with

slam, hate speech has nothing to do

with Islam, and 9/11, London, Madrid

and Paris have nothing to do with Islam.

They insist the West doesnt understand

slam and needs to be educated about the

eligion of peace.

These young American Muslim

women also say they are most respected

by Islam. Yet they enjoy many rights and

privileges under the U.S. Constitution

hat Sharia law forbids them: the right

o vote; to drive a car; to be outside the

home without a male relative escort; toappear in public with their faces, arms,

and legs exposed.

The Threat to Western Nations

America is facing a great danger

rom Sharia advocates who are trying to

onvince America that Sharia Islamic

aw is a religious right compatible

with democracy.

But consider Canadas experience.

n 1991 Ontario began allowing Catholic

and Jewish faith-based tribunals to

resolve family disputesfrom property

and inheritance, to marriage, divorce, and

child custodyas a voluntary alternative

to over-burdened Canadian courts.

In 2004 Muslims demanded tribunalsof their own based on Sharia law. Ontario

government ofcials were poised to allow

them until organized protests erupted in major

Canadian cities, Paris, London, and Vienna.

Supporters argued it was the only

way Muslims could live out their faith.

Opponents insisted the principles of

multiculturalism were being exploited

to enforce oppression. They argued that

Sharias practices undermined Canadas

Charter of Rights and Freedom since itinherently discriminated against women.

Its shocking to see the seeds of an

Islamic republic being sown here in

Canada, said one woman quoted by The

Christian Science Monitor.

But radical seeds exist. On

November 6, 2007 Canadian resident

Muhammad Parvez murdered his

16-year-old daughter, Aqsa Parvez, in

what was widely believed to be a family

honor killing. Aqsas school friends toldmedia that she had been at odds with her

family for some time over wearing the

habib and other religious clothing.

Sixteen-year-old girls worry about

makeup and boys, not about surviving,

one classmate told The Globe and Mail.

Its not right. Shes only 16.

American women can do nothing to

help Aqsa Parvez now, and they may not

be able to do very much to relieve the

oppression of women in the Middle Eastthat change must come from within.

Yet American women can stand

together against the spread of radical

Islam and its discrimination against

women in the Western world. America

must protect its freedom and culture, which

will erode if we continue to put political

correctness above the values that made this

country great.

Radical Islam has done a brilliajob in making the prisoners

keepers of their own jail.

Educated young Muslim girls i

democratized nations sometimes chto wear the Islamic head cover a

political statement or as their jiha

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