bestcurrentnews 2014 Ramadan Prayer

War on Women – Educational Opportunities

2014 Ramadan Prayer Day 7The metaphor, “war on women” has become a worn out catch phrase for politicians in western nations to describe an imaginary attack on the “rights” of women. Most often it is used to try and advance a pro-abortion stance in national public policy. The implication is that pro-life, pro-Christian individuals are waging a “war” against a woman’s freedom to choose to abort their babies.

The term became popular after the 2010 U.S. Congressional elections, and can now be found in news articles from other nations. For instance, in February, headlines declared that women in Spain, France, Britain and other European nations were marching against Europe’s “War on Women” in protest of the Spanish’s government plans to ban abortion. In the past few weeks, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s attempted use of the “war on women” narrative failed to help her hold onto her position as the Labor Party leader. And the “war on women” rhetoric surrounded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week allowing Hobby Lobby the ability to deny funding abortifacient contraceptives.

This western imaginary war on women pales in comparison to the treatment of women under fundamental Islamic rule. There are countless examples of inequality and mistreatment of women within fundamental Islamic societies, which has its root in Islamic texts. The Center for the Study of Political Islam in a statistical study of the Qur’an found that 68% of the verses about women in the Qur’an are negative.

As an example, the Qur’an states, “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other…” (Qur’an 4:34). The idea that women are inferior to men is also echoed in the hadith (Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301). In this hadith, Muhammad passes by a group of women and says that the majority of dwellers in hell are women. When they ask him why he replies, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.”

Women in Muslim majority countries are rarely given the same educational or economic opportunities as their male Female Illiteracy Ratescounterparts. The ten nations with the lowest economic participation and opportunity for women are Muslim majority nations such as Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen. Globally 523 million adult women are illiterate. 98% of illiterate people are concentrated in South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States. In many Muslim nations, the majority of women are illiterate. There is an 87% female illiteracy rate in Afghanistan, 84% in Niger; 75% in Chad and Sierra Leone; 59% in Pakistan; 56% in Morocco and 53% in Yemen.

In Afghanistan, the Islamist Taliban banned female education while they were in power, but even after the Taliban was overthrown it can be dangerous for women to seek an education.

Shamsia Husseini suffered severe acid burns on her eyelids and cheeks in 2008 after she was attacked for attending school in Afghanistan. As she walked to school, a masked man who asked her if she was going to school approached her. When she said that she was, he tore off her veil and pumped acid from a spray gun onto her face. Despite the attack she and other girls that were attacked that day persuaded their parents to allow them to continue with their education. Today, nearly six years after the attack, Shamsia is a teacher at the school. She said, “I remember the attack on me and the pain. Education of girls and having female teachers is so important for the future, to show parents and everyone what we can do.”

Prayer Points:

The lack of education for the women of Islam keeps them trapped in a cycle of poverty with few opportunities. Stand with the women for breakthroughs in their lives – declaring that this cycle will be broken for women and future generations.

Without an education, people cannot understand the teachings of their religion and are not taught the truth of God’s Word. Christianity encourages everyone to “study to show ourselves approved” and God’s Word brings His light to our understanding. Islam’s teachings that women are inferior not only keep the Muslim women, but also their children, trapped into a system that they truly have not had opportunity to research for themselves.

Pray for the Muslim women during Ramadan – that they will have a great desire for “truth” and begin to seek God for it. (We know when they do He will reveal His heart of love to them.)

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Ramadan 2013 – Day 11 – Western Rape Victims – Criminals in the Middle East?

2013 Ramadan PrayerIn February of 2011 during the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, Lara Logan, an American reporter from CBS, was brutally assaulted as she was in Tahrir Square covering the protest. Although not raped, she was groped by a mob of men and all of her clothes were ripped from her body. As she lay naked, the mob took pictures with their cell phones and beat her with flagpoles and sticks. “What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence,” she said. Eventually a group of Muslim women accompanied by Egyptian soldiers rescued her from the attack.

In October of 2012 a similar attempt in Tahrir Square was caught on tape as journalist, Sonia Dridi from France 24 was attacked and groped as she was giving a live report. In video footage of her report, you can see her being pushed off the screen as the mob moves in. Her colleague, Ashraf Khalil was able to help her escape. And last month, a female Dutch journalist was attacked and gang raped by 5 men in Tahrir Square. She had to have surgery for severe injuries.

Ahmad Mahmoud Abdullah, an Egyptian Salafist (a member of a literal, strict, fundamental sect of Islam) said the women protesting in Tahrir Square were not going to protest but rather they were there because they wanted to be raped.

A vigilante group tracking the incidents in Egypt recorded 46 cases of sexual assault and harassment against women in one night, and the UN Entity for Gender Equality reported that 99.3% of Egyptian women that they interviewed had been victims of some form of sexual violence. In Egypt and other nations operating under Islamic sharia law, rape victims do not go to the hospital or the police. The police treat the female victims of rape as criminals, because under sharia law in order to prove rape the rapist must confess or four adult Muslim men must witness the crime and testify that the sex was not consensual.

Two young western women learned this difficult lesson after being raped in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While on a business trip to Dubai a 25-year-old Norwegian woman was raped.  She reported the rape to the police, but the Dubai authorities confiscated her passport and charged her.  Yesterday, she was sentenced to serve 16 months for illicit sex outside of marriage.

In a similar case, Australian Alicia Gali was hired as the spa and beauty salon manager at a beach resort in the UAE. One evening her room began to flood from the bathroom drain. Maintenance came and fixed it, but it began to flood again. She left her room and was using her laptop in the hotel’s staff bar where her drink was spiked. She woke up the next afternoon in her room to discover three men had raped her. She was in pain with multiple bruises and broken ribs so she went to the hospital. Later it was discovered her drain had been intentionally blocked with a man’s shirt and a plastic bag. After going to the hospital she reported the rape to the police. She gave her statement and then after signing a document written in Arabic that she thought was her statement, she was taken to an Islamic court. In actuality she signed a confession. She was sentenced to 11 months in prison for sex outside of marriage and one month for drinking alcohol. The three rapists received similar sentences.

Prayer Points:

It is vital we educate our children and grandchildren, especially those who may travel to an Islamic nation. Pray that western youth will be open to hear the truth about Islamic sharia law. Pray that they will understand that uncovering the teachings of Islam is wisdom and is not a condemnation on any of the Muslim people.

Pray that leaders in western nations will realize that Islamic sharia law is in total opposition to freedom and democracy and take their stand against the advancement of this type of law that it is being promoted in our democracies.

Pray for protection for women in nations such as Egypt and the UAE – Muslim and non-Muslim. Thank God for people like the Muslim women and members of the Egyptian military who helped to rescue western women from attacks.

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Ramadan Day 22 – Family: “Saudi Arabia and the Olympics”

News outlets around the world reported today about Saudi Arabian runner Sarah Attar at the Olympics.  Sarah, with dual U.S. and Saudi Arabian citizenship, competed in the women’s 800-meter race for Saudi Arabia. She received a standing ovation as she crossed the finish line, finishing more than a half-minute slower than her nearest competitor.

Sarah has reportedly has spent little time in Saudi Arabia. She was born and raised in California, graduated from an American high school and attends Pepperdine University where she is a member of their track team. She and another young woman named Wojdan Shaherkani were the first women to ever represent Saudi Arabia in the Olympics.

After several months of pressure by the International Olympic Committee including the threat of banning Saudi Arabia from the games if they did not allow women participants, the Saudi Olympic Committee overturned a ban on women athletes. They demanded however that all female competitors be dressed “to preserve their dignity” which meant both competitors wore long-sleeved garments and a hijab to cover their hair. The rules regarding headscarves had to be revised to allow Shaherkani to participate because they had been previously banned in judo. Prior to Attar’s Olympic debut, Pepperdine University received a request to remove photos of Attar from an online biography because they showed her in shorts, a tank top and without the Saudi required hijab.

Some reported the presence of the women athletes as a win in the “war for women in their home country,” but others do not believe the presence of the two women will change anything in the strict shariah adherent nation.

The presence of the women at the games brought condemnation from Saudi religious scholars and others. The state owned press barely mentioned their participation, and the Twitter conversations about them has been quite hostile referring to them as “prostitutes.”

Sarah Attar is fortunate in that she will return to the United States, but Wojdan Shaherkani returns to a nation that according to a Human Rights Watch report has one of the worst records regarding women’s rights in the world.

She returns to a nation where women are not allowed to play in official sports clubs or even go to a stadium and watch matches. Only private schools are allowed to provide physical education for women.

Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, typically her father or husband who makes decisions on her behalf. This places women in a permanent state of being treated like a legal minor who is entitled to little authority over her own life. Women must have her guardian’s permission to leave her home, seek medical care and even make decisions regarding her own children.  As adults,  women are not allowed to drive a car and have been arrested and jailed for defying a ban on driving.

At a time when politicians and lobbying groups are debating the prohibition of foreign laws in American courts, the lives of these two women clearly show why it is necessary for the protection of future generations of women to preserve the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.

PRAYER FOR FAMILY:

  • Pray for Sarah Attar and Wojdan Shaherkani. There have been comments made on social media disassociating Wojdan from being Muslim. Pray that there is no backlash against either woman after the Olympics.
  • Pray for those in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic nations who have spoken out in support of these young women and for reforms in nations such as Saudi Arabia.
  • Pray that men and women around the world will see the stark contrast between the lives of these two young women – one born in a nation of western culture and laws and another born in bondage to shariah law.
  • Pray that Muslim women around the world suffering under the oppressive system of shariah laws will be set free physically, mentally and spiritually.
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Ramadan Prayer Day 10 – Family: “Shariah and FGM”

In 1776 the United States colonies declared their independence from Britain with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In part the Declaration reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This document is one of the foundations of our nation. Our adversaries also frequently twist it in their attempts to destroy, not enhance, the crucial underpinnings of our democracy as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  Take the following example where Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) attempts to wrap the subjugating, medieval shariah law with the liberating political writings embodied in our founding documents.

In May, after signing legislation barring the use of foreign laws in court decisions, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback met with harsh criticism from Muslim groups.  Nedhira Al-Khalili, the CAIR legal council said, “This clearly unconstitutional legislation, like all the others targeting Muslims’ religious rights nationwide, invites a legal challenge. The unmistakable and un-American bigotry espoused by the sponsors of these bills should be repudiated by Americans of all faiths.”  Naeem Baig, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) VP of Public Affairs said, “This goes against the noble principles of freedom of religion in America. Most people don’t realize that outlawing the use of Shariah would be akin to outlawing the Ten Commandments, Talmudic law, or the Gospels of Jesus. American Muslims observing Shariah are being discriminated against.”

As you can see Muslim groups use the idea of religious discrimination (though Islam is certainly among the most discriminatory of the world’s faiths) as a basis to counter this type of legislation. However, we must question what happens when Islamic religious practices take away Americans’ right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in direct opposition to both the meaning and purpose of our founding documents.

An example of a portion of shariah law that is in direct conflict with U.S. Federal law is female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM refers to the practice of partially or totally removing the external female genitalia, frequently without anesthesia. In yet another example of politically correct terminology and multiculturalism, the procedure is also referred in a U.S. government flyer as female circumcision and female genital cutting (FGC). The flyer explains, “Some people fear that parents may resent the implication that they are ’mutilating’ their daughters by participating in this largely cultural event and so reject the term FGM in favor of FGC. Some people point out that the word ‘cutting’ is less judgmental and relates better to terms used in many local languages.”

Regardless, the practice often causes serious physical and psychological effects. The World Health Organization says the practice has no health benefits and can cause a range of health problems including “severe bleeding and problem urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth.” Federal law in the United States prohibited FGM in 1996, but the Center for Disease Control or CDC estimated in 2010 between 150,000 to 200,000 girls in the U.S. are in danger of being taken overseas to undergo the procedure.

The flyer produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services further says, “Although many people believe that FGC is associated with Islam, it is not. FGC is not supported by any religion and is condemned by many religious leaders.”

Although it is certainly true FGM predates Islam and is still practiced by people from different religious backgrounds, there are Islamic shariah scholars who support and encourage FGM. The “Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law” specifically addresses female circumcision. The International Institute of Islamic Thought, the Fiqh Council of North America and the prestigious Islamic Al Azhar University have endorsed this manual.

This shariah law text states, “Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women. For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. Bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert). (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna [meaning, the normal custom, or a practice decided by Mohammad], while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.) 

Dr. Hatem al-Haj, PhD, MD, senior committee member of the Association of Muslims Jurists of America (AMJA) said in his paper entitled, “Circumcision of Girls: Jurisprudence and Medicine,” female genital mutilation is “at the very least it can be said that for women it is an honor.” After his paper, written in Arabic, was translated in April of 2012 and posted in part by Jihad Watch, Dr. al-Haj was fired by the Mayo Clinic for his position. He has since stated he only supported a “ritual nick” which is still prohibited by federal law.

Even more revealing, especially with U.S. support of the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt is the legal ruling by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who said, “The [Islamic] hadith indicates that circumcision is better for a woman’s health and it enhances her conjugal relation with her husband.”

PRAYER FOR THE FAMILY:

  • Pray that all Americans regardless of cultural or religious background will continue to possess and cherish the unalienable rights our forefathers considered self-evident – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  • Pray that Islamist advocacy groups will not be able to twist American freedoms to push a system that is the opposite of the founding documents of our nation.
  • Pray that Americans will demand that our government refuse to bow to multicultural and politically correct influences.
  • Pray for young women in our nation and around the world that may become victims of FGM.
bestcurrentnews Ramadan Prayer

Ramadan Prayer Day 4 – Family: The Real War on Women

Earlier this year, media networks began to report about “the war on women” as part of their coverage of the presidential primaries. Some described the war in economic terms as they reported on equal pay legislation. Others tend to have a definition of the war on women like the ACLU’s who defined the “War on Women” as the “legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation.” The ACLU’s examples of these attacks on women include waiting periods before abortion and ending Planned Parenthood funding.

The real war on women in the U.S. however is being waged by Shariah proponent groups who are attempting to hide behind the concept of the freedom of religion guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. One such group known as the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) has launched a $3 million campaign to “help the public understand Shariah and counter the rise of Islamophobia in America.”

On the ICNA website Naeem Baig, Executive Director of the ICNA Council for Social Justice states, “[Because of the freedoms granted under the First Amendment] Jewish family law is acceptable in civil courts today…Muslims are as American as any other faith group, and are deserving of these rights as well.”

Shariah law however differs greatly from Judeo-Christian law. Under shariah law women are considered inferior to men. The Qur’an says, “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other…”(Q 4:34) Inheritance laws within Islam further reflect this attitude with a woman inheriting half of what a man inherits (Q 4:11). Her testimony in a court of law is also only worth half of the testimony of a man’s (Q 2:282). Under shariah a husband is allowed to beat (Q4:34) and rape (Q2:223) his wife.

Arguments are made that these types of laws would not apply to women living in the United States, however a report issued by the Center for Security Policy examined 50 Appellate Court decisions from 23 states where shariah law had been considered in the case. Out of these 50 cases, the majority affected women and children with shariah being considered in marriage law and child custody cases. You may download a copy of the comprehensive report here.

Although often blamed on cultural traditions rather than shariah law by Islamic apologists, women around the world and in recent years in the United States have been the victims of forced marriages, honor killings and female genital mutilation. The Tahirih Justice Center conducted a survey on forced marriage in immigrant communities in 2011. Based upon the survey, there were as many as 3,000 cases of forced marriage in the past two years in the U.S. although the survey did not reveal how many of the marriages were Islamic.

A study of worldwide trends in honor killings revealed 91% of honor killings in North America were due to unacceptable “westernization”. Examples in our nation include Noor Almaleki. An article in Marie Clare describes the vision Noor had for herself, “Having lived in the U.S. for 16 years, she held dreams of becoming a teacher, or marrying a man she loved, and most importantly of making her own choices.” Her Iraqi father felt his daughter was dishonoring his family by desiring to choose her own mate and dress in a western fashion. So in October of 2009 as Noor and a friend walked across a parking lot her father driving close to 30 miles an hour hit Noor and her friend. The impact knocked Noor onto a median so her father swerved his SUV onto the median and ran over his daughter fracturing her face and spine. He was eventually apprehended in England. From jail her father defended himself, “I’m not a criminal. I didn’t kill someone randomly…For an Iraqi, honor is the most valuable thing.”

Eighteen year old Amina Said and her seventeen year old sister, Sarah were shot in 2008 by their father also for being typical teenage girls. Amina and Sarah had a cell phones and dated American boys. Their father, an Egyptian Muslim wanted his daughters to be Muslims and to marry husbands that he would choose. He had threatened the girls and finally on New Years Day of 2008, he shot them. A 911 call by Sarah as she was dying identified her father as her killer. Yaser Abdel Said is still at large. Even if the girls’ father is apprehended under shariah law a Muslim father is not subject to retaliation for killing his own children according to The Reliance of the Traveller, a manual of Islamic Sacred Law (approved by al-Azhar University and the International Institute of Islamic Thought).

Although our series deals with Islam in the United States, a quick look at the rights of women in any Muslim majority country clearly shows how shariah laws subjugate women discriminating against them through laws that give men control in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. For more information and personal stories of women affected in our nation by shariah law, visit End the Shariah War on Women.

PRAYER FOR THE FAMILY:

  • Pray for the truth about shariah to be revealed in all aspects of our society.
  • Pray that news outlets and law enforcement agencies will report truthfully when crimes against women are the result of religious law and not bow to political correctness.
  • Pray that state legislatures across the nation will begin to understand shariah law is being used in our nation and to pass legislation to stop any foreign laws from being considered in American Courts.
  • Pray for Muslim women and children in our nation who are most often the victims of the implementation of shariah law.