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Prof. Mona Siddiqui |
Many years ago I was asked to compile an expert report in a murder case. An elderly Muslim man had killed his daughter by stabbing her almost twenty times when he found her talking to her boyfriend in her bedroom. Seeing the father’s rage the boyfriend managed to escape from a window but the girl found herself trapped at the bottom of the stairs. The defence had asked whether by invoking cultural norms of honour and the man’s Muslim background, a case of mitigating circumstances could be made. I replied no, that murder was murder and that religious or cultural references which would be seen to be explaining even justifying the father’s actions were quite simply immoral; the girl had committed no crime under any law, the father had.
Such violence in the name of family honour is still rife. According to recent figures obtained by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisations, almost three thousand cases of honour violence were reported in the UK last year. While many argue that honour based violence cuts across cultures, faith groups and nationalities, the highest numbers occur within South Asian, Middle-eastern and East European communities. Incidents where Muslim women are the victims of their Muslim fathers, brothers or cousins are tragically high.
Honour killings are not the same as domestic violence or even child abuse by parents. Honour killings are largely perpetrated by brothers against their sisters, male cousins against female cousins or fathers against their daughters. There is here a conflict of cultural moralities. Families use the word honour to mean something good has been damaged and needs restoring whereas honour can be reduced to meaning little more than preserving a woman’s chastity at any cost. A communal sense of collective rights can instil fear and demand obedience from young women; when conformity is contested violence is perpetrated.
Those Muslims who disassociate Islam from this practice, must still ask why so many Muslims abide by cultural norms which allow for this threatening even murderous behaviour. How can we talk of a God given human dignity for all and at the same time care so little for individual human life?How can we talk of a just and merciful God when our own sense of compassion is so easily sacrificed in the name of family pride?
Cultures change when mindsets change. When we live in societies where liberal freedoms are a given, we can’t use these very freedoms to further oppressive behaviour. The Qur’an says that God does not help a people unless they are willing to help themselves.
I believe this demands self reflection, the courage to speak out about right and wrong. If we ignore this issue as someone else’s problem and not my Islam, women will continue to be victims and for this we will all bear some responsibility.