The Hypocrisy of Some Hijabis- Comedian Sadia Azmats

I have no issues with those who choose to dress modestly. To each his own, as they say.  And almost every religion has its conservative faction. What I do take issue with are those who use it as a political statement, those who force their women to dress conservatively, and those who might dress modestly but act in a contradictory fashion.

Take Sadia Azmats, a British Muslim stand-up comedian who wears a head covering, and then dresses like this.

The whole point of dressing "modestly in Islam, is not to call attention to oneself. Yet here Sadia is wearing skin-tight pants and red stiletto f-me shoes. Then again, she told Metro UK a few days ago:

It’s Ramadan, the month where Muslims not only fast our stomachs (during daylight hours) but when we Muslim women strive for modesty wherever it can be sought out.

The ‘modesty’ part is a bit of a problem for me. I’ve had sex during Ramadan (after Iftar, not during the fast which isn’t permitted) and it’s great.

Well it’s great all year round but there is a heightened sense of arousal given the increased awareness of primal urges through the hunger and thirst. If I had a choice, I’d give up a sandwich over semen.

But when I’m not observing fasting during the 30 days of Ramadan then society imposes upon me an almost involuntary fasting by holding me to a higher set of expectations than I do of myself.

Society expects me to be a ‘good girl’ and to lower my gaze around men. Muslim women are supposed to be bastions of culture, tradition, and responsibility, especially during Ramadan.

Muslim women like me – rounded, complicated, emotive and above all horny – aren’t even supposed to exist.

Say whaaat?  Premarital sex in Islam is haram (forbidden) and considered a sin. According to Al-Islam:

(A) Pre-Marital Sex
Pre-marital sex is absolutely forbidden in Islam, no matter whether it is with a girl-friend or a prostitute. Pre-marital sex is fornication (zina).

It also happens to be punishable according to Sharia law.

Allah says:

Do not go near adultery, surely it is an indecency, and an evil way [of fulfilling sexual urge]. (17:32)

Fornication and adultery have severely been condemned in the saying of the Prophet and the Imams. In Islam, pre-marital sex is considered an immoral act against the rights of Allah and one's own sexual organs.

Pre-marital sex is a sin punishable by the Islamic court. If an unmarried man and an unmarried woman are found guilty of fornication in an Islamic court, their punishment will be as the following:

The woman and the man who fornicate scourge each of them a hundred whips; and in the matter of God s religion, let no tenderness for them seize you if you believe in God and the Last Day; and let a party of the believers witness their punishment. (24:2)

If the unmarried man or woman commit fornication more than once, then they will be punished three times by hundred wipes, and if they are proven guilty for the fourth time, then they will be put to death.6 (As for adultery, its punishment is even more severe because married persons have no excuse, whatsoever, to commit adultery. The shari'ah says that married persons guilty of adultery should be stoned to death.)

Therefore, pre-marital sex is out of the question as a means of fulfilling the sexual urge.

So, on the one hand, Sadia is wearing a hijab to show her devotion to her Allah:

The hijab is worn by Muslim women as an act of obedience to God’s command in the Quran, where Allah (God) says:

وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ ۖ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ

“And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment….” (Quran 24:31)

And yet she's blatantly going against Islamic law by having pre-marital sex.

How's that for breathtaking hypocrisy.

I've written in the past about Muslim hijabi hypocrisy:  Bizarre hijabs worn by London women, and the Hypocrisy of Hijabi High-Fashion.  Yes, indeed, it exists.

Sadia wants to wear the hijab, I honestly don't care, but act accordingly.

Obama Likens ISIS Deeds To The Crusades At National Prayer Breakfast

Today was National Prayer Breakfast, and Barack Obama chose to speak about religious extremism. While doing so, he actually likened the horrific actions of ISIS today to the Christian crusades of centuries ago- glomming onto the typical liberal apologist argument that Christians were just as bad, back in the day, as today's Muslim extremists.

Well, exactly, other religions have evolved past their less than stellar past. Not so Islam. 99 percent of the violence perpetrated in the name of religion these days is Islam. And besides, the Crusades began in 1095 with the aim of regaining access to Jerusalem AFTER Muslims conquered the region that happened to be Christian prior to that. Islamic conquests continued all the way up until the Ottoman Empire, which ended not so long ago- the early 1900s.

He said:

“And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ." “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

What a fool!

Joke of the day: Women's Rights In Islam Cartoon

Appropriate representation of women in Islam- a religion that has never evolved.

An Ex-Muslim's Message To Obama Regarding ISIS

In a video address to Barack Obama, Brother Rachid- a Moroccan-born former Muslim turned Christian, whose father is still an Imam- explains that ISIL aka ISIS now known as Islamic State (IS) along with al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban, al-Shabaab and all the other Muslim terrorist groups that exist throughout the world are not an aberration, but are closely following the teachings of Mohammad, from the way they dress to their penchant for beheading.

He talks about how as a young boy he was taught to hate all non-Muslims, especially the Jews and Christians.

"ISIL speaks for Islam."

He tells Obama that

"unless the Muslim world deals with Islam and separates religion from state, we will never end this cycle.  Until you deal with the root of the problem, we'll be just dealing with the symptoms. ISIL is just one symptom, if it disappears other ISILS will be born under different names."

Video here. 

He has some interesting things to say, but really no solutions. But are there any?

Mohammad Most Common Name For Males In Oslo, Norway

Apparently, the most popular name for males in Oslo, Norway is ..... Mohammad. And Jørgen Ouren of Statistics Norway is very excited about that.

And for the last four years, Mohammad surpassed Jan and Per in popularity.

As of 2013,  8.4% of the population in Oslo is Muslim, or 2.4% of the Norwegian population. There are over 150,000 Muslims now living in Norway, most of them from Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan and Somalia.

Back in 2009, Mohammad ranked tops for UK baby boys.

Source: Al Arabiya

Video- History of Islam in 15 minutes by Bill Federer

The history of Islam in 15 minutes by historian and former evangelical pastor William J Federer.

It's Good To Be Anti-Islam- Pat Condell's Latest Video

Pat Condell talks about being anti-Islam but not anti-Muslim.

"...many of the Muslims I've mean't in my life I've liked, as individuals, I just don't like anything about their religion, because there's nothing about it to like."

Video here.

For people to respect this religion, it will need to evolve. Big time.

Aussie Imam Charged With Marrying 12-Year-Old Girl To 26-Year-Old Man

26-year-old Lebanese Muslim guy moves to Australia in 2013 on a student visa, hooks up with a 12-year-old girl (also Muslim, I assume), and eventually moves to Sydney with the pre-pubescent in tow. In spite of the fact that pre-marital sex is forbidden in Islam, they apparently were doing the deed, and were eventually married by a Pakistan-born imam in early 2014. Since you have to be 18 to get married in Australia, and since Lebanese guy was having sex with a 12-year-old, they're both in a tad bit of trouble. Imam has been charged with "solemnization of a marriage by an unauthorized person." And pedophile hubby is facing "25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 14 years" and is currently sitting in jail awaiting his day in court. The imam received conditional bail and will face the music on April 2nd.

For some reason the parents of the girl have yet to be charged, although they should be.

Source: Al Arabiya

4 Iranian Christian Converts Back In Jail

Four Iranian former Muslims who converted to Christianity are back in jail.

 So much for there being no compulsion in Islam.

An Iranian high court has upheld the prison sentences of four Christians for converting to the faith from Islam.

The decision means Pastor Farhad Sabokrooh, of the Iranian Assemblies of God, his wife Shahnaz Jayzan, and church workers Naser Zaman-Dezfuli and Davoud Alijani have had to return to jail.

They were arrested in December 2011 after their church in the southern town of Ahwaz was raided by authorities during Christmas celebrations.

The four Christians were sentenced to one year in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz for "converting to Christianity and propagating against the Islamic regime through evangelism".

They were temporarily released but were summoned to court on 1 May and re-arrested, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports.

Mr Alijani was transferred to Ahwaz's Karoon Prison to complete his sentence, while Pastor Sabokrooh, Shahnaz Jayzan and Mr Zaman-Dezfuli were taken to Sepidar Prison.

CSW has warned of a crackdown on Christians since last December. Two other Assemblies of God pastors, Farshid Fathi and Saeed Abedini, are being held in Evin prison along with Church of Iran member Alireza Seyyedian and another Christian, Mostafa Bordbar, who was arrested in Tehran in December.

Abedini is a US citizen.

The rest here.

What they are doing in Iran would be equivalent to jailing all those who convert to Islam from Judaism or Christianity.

The Four Stages Of Islamic Conquest- Video

The Four Stages of Islamic Conquest

Stage 1: Infiltration
Stage 2: Consolidation of Power
Stage 3: Open War with Leadership and Culture
Stage 4: Totalitarian Islamic "Theocracy"

It doesn't seem like we are that far off from the end game.

Malay Catholics Battle, Again, For Use Of "Allah" In Bible

"Allah" is the Arabic word for God. Most of us associate it with Islam, but for some very strange reason Catholics in Malaysia want to use it as well (in their bible and other publications), and  Muslims in that country are refusing to allow them to.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) claims that Muslims have an exclusive right to the word, and Christians should just stick to "Tuhan", the Malay word for God.

PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said: “There are sensitive elements such as the Declaration of Faith (Shahadah) and Allah, which must be used in the correct context, otherwise there could be unease in a multi-religious society in view of the present situation”.

Referring to the various editions of Bible, Tuan Man said that manuscripts referred to a ‘God’ or ‘Lord’. He added that the Christians in West do not refer to God as ‘Allah’ in their religious texts.

This has been an ongoing battle since 2007 when Christians were banned from using the word "Allah" in any publication.  In 2008, a Catholic news publication, the Herald, sued the government for the right to use of Allah.  In 2010, Judge Lau Bee Lan ruled in their favor stating that Allah was not exclusively for Muslim use.

 "We have been using the word for decades in our Malay-language Bibles and without problems," the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Catholic publication, tells TIME. In May 2008 the Catholics decided to take the matter to court for a judicial review — and won. "It is a landmark decision ... fair and just," says Andrew. During the intermittent trial in the closing months of 2008, lawyers for the church argued that the word Allah predated Islam and was commonly used by Copts, Jews and Christians to denote God in many parts of the world. They argued that Allah is an Arabic word for God and has been used for decades by the church in Malaysia and Indonesia. And they said that the Herald uses the word Allah for God to meet the needs of its Malay-speaking worshippers on the island of Borneo. "Some people have got the idea that we are out to convert [Muslims]. That's not true," the lawyers said on behalf of the Herald.

Government lawyers countered that Allah denotes the Muslim God, is accepted as such around the world and is exclusively for Muslims. They said that if Catholics were allowed to use Allah, Muslims would be "confused." The confusion would worsen, they said, because Christians recognize a "trinity of gods" while Islam is "totally monotheistic." They said the proper word for God in the Malay language is Tuhan, not Allah. Lau held that the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and speech, and therefore Catholics can use the word Allah to denote God. She also overturned the Home Ministry order prohibiting the Herald from using the word. "The applicants have the right to use the word Allah in the exercise of their rights to freedom of speech and expression," she said. 

However, the ban has remained intact until Lim Guan Eng of the Malaysian Multi-Racial Democratic Party resurrected the the ongoing issue during a Christmas message this year by asking, once again, for the right to use the word "Allah".

The battle, no doubt, will continue, but when I think of "Allah" I think of "Allahu Akbar", and when I think of "Allahu Akbar" I think of 9/11.

Malaysia Poised To Re-Classify Female Genital Mutilation As Medical Practice

There is debate about whether male circumcision is a necessary procedure, but most will agree that there are health benefits associated with removal of the foreskin.  On the other hand, female circumcision, or the far more appropriate term "female genital mutilation" (FGM), is nothing more than that- mutilation and torture, a surgery that can cause women terrible, lifelong physical problems. There is absolutely no medical necessity to remove the female genitalia, but the Malaysian health ministry is trying to re-classify what should be considered an abomination as a medical practice.

In 2009, the Fatwa Committee of Malaysia's National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs ruled that "female circumcision", as it has become known, was obligatory for Muslims but if harmful must be avoided.

Human rights activist Azrul Mohamad Khalib has written a scathing commentary calling for abolition of the practice.

He says it has no religious or medical benefits.

Problem is, it's a practice that already is firmly rooted in the society and culture in what is considered to be a moderate Muslim nation. According to a university survey, the bulk of Malay females who are Muslim have already been subjected to FGM.  In fact, 90% of the 1,000 or so women surveyed had been mutilated.

Khalib who is also involved with the International Planned Parenthood Federation found the results:

"both surprising and a little bit disappointing".

And his response to reclassifying FGM as a medical practice, which up until now has mostly been performed by private practitioners:

"One of the things I find quite alarming with regards to this development is that the Ministry of Health is actually depending on a fatwa, a religious opinion that was actually issued by the national fatwa council, in which they made it obligatory, or 'wajib', for all Muslim women to be circumcised.

"It seems that the Ministry of Health is now (instituting) that fatwa.

"So, in contrary to quite a number of best practices as well as a WHO (World Health Organisation) advisory, the Ministry of Health is taking steps now to sort of make it standardised, or medicalised, in such a way that it might be applied to all public health-care facilities."

"One of the things that those working on gender issues in Malaysia have come to realise is that a barrier when we deal with these sort of issues is the lack of awareness - the 'why' of such practices and how harmful it can be.

"Certainly when it comes to female circumcision, the position that has been taken is that if it does do no harm why not do it? Well . . . if there are no benefits to doing it, why do it?

"One of the first steps that we are trying to push out forward is that we are very much trying to spread awareness that such practices are unnecessary.

"They're not required by religion, they're not having any medical benefits whatsoever and certainly when we look at it it's strictly cultural in its entirety.

"But as you mentioned, it is going to be extremely hard if more than 90 per cent of the Malay Muslim population already practising it."

Rather than re-classifying the procedure they should do some heavy duty re-education, but that will never happen because FGM is just another means of controlling women.

CAIR Chicago Launches "My Jihad" Bus Ad Campaign

There's a new effort by U.S. Muslims to counter the anti-Jihad ad campaign sponsored by Pamela Gellar and the American Freedom Defense Initiative that had posters placed on NYC MTA subway stops, and buses and trains in several cities across the country including New York. The message on the posters was:

“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man” 

Support Israel 

Defeat Jihad

Geller created quite a stir but has hopes to continue with the campaign, next time adding other "groups" that are adversely affected by radical Islam, including Christian Copts, Hindus, Baha'is, Thailand and Nigerian Christians.

In the meantime, enter the "My Jihad" campaign. Ahmed Rehab, the founder of the "educational" campaign, also happens to be the executive director of the Chicago CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations).

Rehab says of his efforts:

“Jihad is a term that has unfortunately been widely misrepresented by the actions of Muslim extremists first and foremost, and by attempts at public indoctrination coming from Islamophobes who claim that the minority extremists are right and the majority of Muslims are wrong." “The MyJihad campaign is about reclaiming Jihad from the Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists who ironically, but not surprisingly, see eye to eye on Jihad.”

Essentially what they are trying to do is persuade us that the true meaning of jihad is personal struggle. From their website MyJihad.org:

Jihad is a central tenet of the Islamic creed which means “struggling in the way of God“. The way of God, being goodness, justice, passion, compassion, etc (not forcible conversion as wrongly claimed by some).

As Muslims, we are taught to put forth a concerted and noble effort against injustice, hate, misunderstanding, war, violence, poverty, hunger, abuse or whatever challenge big or small we face in daily life, with the purpose of getting to a better place.

While the struggle for justice may be physical (as a last resort, and even then it ought to be a just struggle that goes above and beyond observing the universal code of conduct and rules of engagement), the greatest Jihad is that of the self, a fact often ignored by, or unknown to, many. In more than one sense, Jihad is more about peace and education than anything else. The highest form of scholarly pursuit (the complex, tiring but important scholarly work of Muslims to decipher their faith and its relation to the world around them) is referred to in Islam as ijtehad which by no coincidence is derived from the same root word as Jihad (jahada meaning “to exert effort.”)

Jihad is a personal commitment to service, patience, determination, and taking the higher road, as such, it tasks us with confronting our own weaknesses, vices, and shortcomings; it is about taking personal responsibility.

All very admirable, if there weren't so many who do see jihad as Holy War. There are enough Muslims out there who believe jihad is more than personal struggle- including the Palestinians. And had they left out the whole 'blame the Islamophobes too' for messing with their 'jihad'  the idea might not have been so offensive. Don't blame us non-Muslims for associating jihad with terrorism, the radicals have done a pretty good job of doing that themselves.

The posters that are now on Chicago city buses include:

“MyJihad is to build friendships across the aisle,” says one ad showing an African American man leaning on the shoulder of a Jewish friend.

"MyJihad is to march on despite losing my son," says another ad, featuring a portrait of a mother with her three remaining children.

“MyJihad is to not judge people by their cover,” says a third, framed by two women in headscarves.

They're hoping to raise enough money to get those ads on trains and buses in Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, Oklahoma City, San Francisco and Seattle, some of the same cities that Geller's anti-Jihad ads were running. Their ultimate goal is to expand globally to buses in London, Melbourne, Sydney and Toronto.

They've also created a FaceBook page and have asked Muslims to tweet about their jihad using the hash tag #MyJihad.

It's going to take a lot more than a few posters on buses to persuade those of us who have a problem with a faith that seems hellbent on staying firmly rooted in the 7th century that the religion is not a threat to our Western way of life. I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly nice people who you probably wouldn't even know were Muslim, those I have no problem with. It's the ones who want Shariah law, who want us to change our laws, our rules and regulations to conform to their religious standards, those I have a problem with.

Egyptian Child Preacher Curses Bush and Obama.

Here's an annoying little Egyptian child preacher, Ibrahim Adham, praying for the destruction of  Israel, and cursing both Bush and Obama.  The kid needs a big smack on his behind, as does the smiling, doting, bearded one.

And this was on Egyptian TV!

It Is Not Racist To Criticize Islam

I love this: the many faces of Islam. Blacks, Whites, Asians and a slew of other ethnicities.

There are those who love to label 'criticism of Islam' as racist, but bottom line, since a religion is not a race or ethnicity it's ludicrous to call it that.  Claiming someone sucks because of the color of their skin is definitely racist, claiming their religion sucks is not.

Equally asinine is calling people Islamophobic. We do not have a phobia or fear of Islam, per se, although we might fear the extremist adherents of that religion whose favorite pastime is to maim and kill fellow human beings. But no, looking at a Quran or even at a niqab-clad woman does not send me into irrational and excessive fear of said object. It does not cause me anxiety and stress. It does not make me fear for my life, though I might wonder what that niqab woman is hiding under her robes. I might find some of the teachings and the clothing some women are either forced or choose to wear distasteful, but no fear.

So come up with something better, please.

Iranian Woman Beats Up Cleric Who Told Her To Cover Up

Never underestimate a pissed off woman, especially living under an oppressive regime and one who must deal with religious chauvinists on a daily basis.

Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Ali Beheshti claims he was beaten up by a woman after he told her to cover up. Twice. After the first warning she responded, "you, cover your eyes." When he insisted, along with a few choice words she pushed him.

“I fell on my back on the floor,” Beheshti said in the report. “I don’t know what happened after that, all I could feel was the kicks of this woman who was insulting me and attacking me.”

Who knows what she was wearing to warrant the warning, perhaps her scarf was showing too much hair, or her coat was too tight or colorful or too short, but she decked him so hard he says he wound up in the hospital for three days. Ha. Serves him right.

The Iranian cleric said it was his religious duty to apply the principle of “commanding right and forbidding wrong,” and that he would continue to do so even after living through what he called “the worst day of my life.”

It isn’t the first time that clerics in Iran have been beaten up after delivering warnings, Mehr said.

And who can forget this priceless video of a woman fighting back a 'black ninja".

Source: Bloomberg

Gay, Black Ex-Muslim New Yorker To Become Rabbi

This has to be one of the most interesting yet bizarre religious conversion stories I have ever come across.

New Yorker Dario Hunter, an openly gay lawyer who also happens to be half black (his mum) and half Iranian Muslim (his dad) is graduating as a rabbi on August 25.

Apparently, Hunter gave up everything- including his career in New York city- to move to Israel to study to be a rabbi. Granted, it was through a progressive online study program, the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI), which is run by Rabbi Steven Blane. Graduating with Hunter are a Catholic-born Brazilian and a British songwriter. In fact, half of his class are converts. Blane himself has an interesting story. Since so many Jews are either "unaffiliated or in interfaith marriages", Blane believes there's a need for Rabbis to minister to this segment of the Jewish diaspora.

Blane was a traditional rabbi until he resigned after being "threatened with expulsion for officiating at interfaith weddings."

Along with his online rabbinical training programme, he also runs Sim Shalom, a global online synagogue.

Blane has a unique perspective on Judaism:

Blane knows that a former Muslim becoming a rabbi will be uncomfortable for some, but the plurality of backgrounds of his graduating class fits perfectly with his belief in Jewish Universalism.

"I don't believe that Jewish people were uniquely chosen for a relationship with God – God doesn't choose a favorite child," Blane said.

"Nearly 50% of the Jewish population finds deep significance in observing Holiday and life-cycle rituals, but doesn't feel like any traditional denomination reflects their views. There's a huge need for rabbis who can provide spiritual leadership that serves this large and important group."

I'm not sure what Hunter's father might think of his apostate son, but if he is indeed gay, he certainly has a better chance of surviving in the Jewish religion than he would as a Muslim. Let's hope he can hang on to his head.

Shalom, Rabbi Hunter, you've embraced a far more tolerant religion.

Muslim Cleric Threatens To Kill Daughter Over Arranged Marriage

Muslim cleric Abid Hussain is on trial (along with two of his sons Nawab and Bahaud Uddin) for threatening to kill Rabiyah Abid, the 16-year-old daughter/sister after she refused to marry her first cousin. You might think this happened in Pakistan but, though Pakistanis, they all happen to live in Manchester, England.

Promised to his sister's son at the age of 15 (something common in those parts) Abid also allegedly physically attacked her for her disobedience, and for getting involved with a young student she met on Facebook. cxv

Mr Hussain, a dad-of-five, is alleged to have grabbed her by the throat and said, ‘follow my rules or I’ll kill you’, before hitting her on the head at the family home above the mosque he runs at Northmoor Road, Longsight, Manchester.

Mr Hussain, who denies assault, is on trial alongside two of his sons, Nawab Uddin, 23, and Bahaud Uddin, 21.

The two young men are alleged to have robbed their sister of the mobile phone she used to contact the boyfriend they disapproved of and to have beaten her until she was dizzy. They deny assault and robbery.

Opening the case, Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting, told the jury that the girl lived in a ‘very male dominated, patriarchal household’ where she was ‘exhausted’ by cooking and cleaning.

She had been ‘betrothed’ by her father to his sister’s son in Pakistan at just 15 years old, but ended up falling for a student she had met online months later.

In November last year, while her father was celebrating Eid in Pakistan, the student travelled from London to Oldham to stay with a pal and the girl left her home to stay with him.

This prompted her brother, Nawab, to report her missing. When police traced her, she told them of her fears that she would be forced to marry when she had finished her GCSEs.

When her father returned from Pakistan, he learned that she had stayed with her secret boyfriend, and to add ‘insult to injury’, was served with Forced Marriage Prevention Order that officers had helped her obtain.

Mr Blackshaw said Mr Hussain saw the order, which led to the girl’s passport being taken by the authorities, was a ‘combination of her and the UK judicial system depriving him of his right to choose her husband within his own family’. Weeks later, on December 26, he is alleged to have attacked her. In the aftermath of the incident, she sent a message to her boyfriend saying ‘I thought I was going to die last night’.

Describing the alleged attack to police, she said: “He used his right hand to grab my neck. It was quite painful. He said ‘If you don’t follow my rules I will kill you.’ He was quite angry, really angry.”

Two days later her brothers, Nawab and Bahaud, allegedly took her phone from her and struck her about the face and head, leading her to wear a veil to hide her injuries. The next day she reported them to police.

Mr Blackshaw said of Abid Hussain: “He is plainly a devout man retaining traditional values regarding family matters, which is the reason for what we say was the offending in this case, because his daughter was not going along with his wishes in following that cultural duty.”

This is the problem when people fail to assimilate- they hold on to traditional values that have no place in their new homeland. Arranged marriages are not a cultural norm or duty in the West, and certainly not marriage to one's first cousin.

I'm glad England is buckling down, and that the girl had to courage to contact the police.

Pregnant Wife Dies After Husband Beats Her For Not Voting For Egypt's Mursi

Because Muslim men are allowed to beat their wives.
No wonder he wanted Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi.

Why are Arab men so angry?!  I think they should all be forced to take some anger managment classes.

Al Arabiya

An Egyptian plumber in Alexandria beat his pregnant wife to death upon learning that she had not voted for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi, reported the Egyptian daily al-Wafd on Sunday.

According to police reports, the initial argument between the couple who was not named escalated into violence, despite her pleas. Battered and bruised, she was reported to have died at the hospital from injuries sustained.

Domestic fights have dominated Egyptian news headlines when the bid fell on the two most feared and most controversial candidates, Mursi and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Voters, along with Egyptian media personalities, heatedly defended their chosen candidates and eagerly await the result which will be announced Sunday.

Iranian Man In Sweden Charged With Cutting Off And Eating Wife's Lip

I was reading an article on Jezebel about a 52-year-old 'Swedish' professor who sliced off his wife's lower lip with a scalpel and then feasted on it after she asked him for a divorce. He even waited until she was asleep to savage her.  And though there was no mention of nationality, I immediately wondered if there might be some 'honor' revenge action going on here. The Jezebel article linked to a local online Swedish news source that also did not bother to mention names or nationality,  just more details including the fact that, according to the prosecutor Jakob Holmberg, the man who was a researcher at Karolinska Institute also slashed his wife's arms and:

"He did it so that she would never be able to kiss again and said 'I'll get four years, but you're getting a life sentence'."

Now that definitely sounds like an honor attack, but it wasn't until I started reading the comments that a picture started to emerge, and along with references to the researcher being Iranian my suspicions were confirmed. So I googled and lo and behold, it turns out said 'Swedish' researcher is an Iranian man who believed his young trophy wife was having an affair so he felt obliged to save his honor by injuring her for life.

"It was honour related. He doesn't seem to regret a thing. He believes she insulted him,” a source with information about the matter told the paper.

The assault was so brutal that the prosecutor tried to have him charged for an attempted murder. The court, however, sought to reduce the charge to aggravated assault.

Ingela Hessius Ekman, who is representing the victim, claimed that her client might have suffered irreparable damage.

“She has very serious injuries, doctors cannot yet determine whether she can be healed or not,” she told Aftonbladet.

“She's in a lot of pain,” Ekman said.

Ekman informed that the trial is due to commence at the beginning of July.

The man, who is from Iran, was doing post-Doctoral research at the Karolinska institute in 2010.

Though he is now employed with a university in Tehran, he still lived partly in Stockholm, where he collaborated with his old research group at the university, and used its email services and library through a ‘declaration of association.’

“It is, of course, a very tragic story,” said Bengt Norrving, the institute's director.

“But since the researcher in question is not an employee of Karolinska Institutet we are unable to consider legal action,” he added.

Four to ten years for a man who cannibalized his wife's lip? For real? This man should be locked up in a mental institute for the rest of his life. But it's interesting to note that the Swedish "The Local" didn't have the balls to mention it was an Iranian man or that it was an honor attack, and Jezebel didn't bother to research it further.