Monday, March 16, 2009

An Evil Seductress - Saudi Arabia

The two countries vying for the most Weird Stuff are India and Saudi Arabia. But there is a big difference in the nature of the Weird Stuff in those two countries. India's Weird Stuff seems to be bizarrities, people saying and doing things that are just plain strange, like marrying dogs and frogs, cobras committing sati, that sort of thing.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia's Weird Stuff tends to be barbarous cruelty. A young woman gets sentenced to a long prison term and 100 lashes. Her crime? Being gang raped. It seems she wasn't supposed to be alone with these creeps who raped her, so she is culpable. I found this picture in a blogpost about this case, but I won't doubt this is the young woman in question, as women in Saudia Arabia are usually flogged in a room in the prison reserved for that purpose.




This story is along similar lines. A 75 year old seductress was met by two young men not members of her immediate family. True, one was a nephew, but that's not immediate enough, even though she breast-fed him when he was a baby. And why did she meet with them? They were bringing her bread!


Wonder what a typical Saudi flogging actually looks like? I didn't find any pictures of a woman actually being flogged, so make do with this man:





Likewise, I did not find any pictures of a woman after a flogging. The best I could do is this man, after an Iranian flogging, I think.


Note the picture. Those are outraged Saudi women. How can anyone tell?




And the Muslims wonder why nonMuslims sometimes cop an attitude about Muslims.

Read on:




03/11/2009 13:52
SAUDI ARABIA
Prison, whipping for 75-year-old widow: her nephew brought her bread
The poor woman is suspected of seducing two young men. She even risks being kicked out of the country. There are criticisms of abuse of power on the part of the religious police, who watch over the morality and behavior of citizens, gravely interfering in individuals' private lives.


Jeddah (AsiaNews/Agencies) - There is great distress in the country over the sentence against a 75-year-old widow who has been condemned to 40 lashes and 4 months in prison for being with two young men, one of whom was her nephew, who were bringing her bread at her request. The religious police (muttawa) who watch over morality and behavior have been criticized for blindly applying sharia, partly for the sake of their own power.

Kamisa Sawadi is a Syrian woman formerly married to a Saudi. Last week, she was found guilty of meeting with two young men who were not her immediate relatives. One of them, Fahd Al-Anzi, is a nephew of her deceased husband; the other is his coworker, Hadiyan bin Zein. The two men, at the old woman's request, had brought her five loaves of bread, but when they left her home they encountered the religious police, who arrested them and sentenced them as well to whipping. According to sharia, the woman is guilty. But her lawyers want to appeal above all by emphasizing that the woman breastfed the nephew when he was a baby, giving her a quasi-maternal relationship with him. In this case, the accusation should be withdrawn.

A few of the newspapers in the Middle East are criticizing the sentence and accusing the muttawa of interfering too much in people's private lives. Some of them suspect that behind the sentence is a vendetta on the part of Fahd Al-Anzi's father, the widow's brother-in-law, who notified the religious police and urged them to intervene against "the scandal," accusing the widow of "corruption."

The poor Kamisa Sawadi has been accused twice before of meeting with men, always in connection with bread deliveries. If the sentence is upheld under appeal, she could even be expelled from Saudi Arabia and be forced to return to Syria, her country of origin.

The lawyer Ibrahim Zamzami notes that a 75-year-old woman cannot be considered a "seductress," but sharia does not distinguish between old and young women.

Laila Ahmed al-Ahdab, who writes for the newspaper Al-Watan, is criticizing the muttawa because it bases all of its accusations on suspicions that are not confirmed by any evidence. She accuses the "Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" of "misusing religion to serve their own interests."

Last month, King Abdallah fired the chief of the religious police and an imam who had called for the killing of owners of television stations that broadcast immoral content. Many saw the action as an attempt by the king to weaken the police and its fundamentalist inspiration from Sunnism.











18 comments:

  1. ...don't worry about what people say, you have the most important value that is required for proper perspective.....love.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oberon Ji,

    I'm not terribly worried about what people say any more, a function of being in my mid-fifties, I think.

    As for love, let me again quote Stephen Stills from "Song For America's Children" on one of the greatest albums ever recorded, imo, Four-Way Street:

    "If we can't do it with a smile on our face, if we can't do it with love in our hearts, then children, we ain't got no right to do it at all. That just means we ain't learned nothing yet. We're supposed to be some kind of different. Dig it! Dig it!

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  3. Personally. I have no use for those who abuse women for whatever reason.

    All of you out there remember this...If some woman hadn't carried you inside her for 9 long months, you weouldn't be here.

    As for Islam: I'm a Sikh. It's against my religion to disrespect other religions. I'll keep my peace.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Anonymous ji,

    As I am a Sikh, it is really against my religion to belittle anyone else's religion. The fact remains that a large part of the really weird stuff I come across randomly - I don't go looking for it - is from Saudi Arabia.

    My main blog is The Road To Khalistan, http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/. If you would like to write a post there defending Islam, you are most welcome to. I will not edit ot censor it beyond stating that this is a guest post and the opinions expressed are yours, not mine.

    Interested?

    If so, get in touch with me and we can go from there.

    Mai Harinder Kaur
    simayanan@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hate freakin asses who believe they know the entire muslim religion, and base their knowledge of the peaceful muslims on terrorists such as these. Pompous pig-sacs who make such rulings over innocents should not be given the honor of being named muslims, because, even though I'm not anybody to judge another, it is not right for a supposed "muslim" to be acting like this. Unfortunaetly, it is only the radicals who seem to be drawing attention to Islam (in the negative views, of course)...Has anyone ever heard something good concerning an arab or muslim on CNN/Larry King Live/ or even somewhere pathetic like Fox? I DIDN'T THINK SO!! The other 3 billion or so muslims who advocate morals are completely ignored by the media, and anyone else who has eyes...if anyone cares to see what is truly happening in the news today, check out AL-jazeera news, and even though it is in arabic, you will understand just from seeing the pictures and the deaths and the wars overseas that are completely hidden behind biased media that claim who had sex with who in th VMA's or whatever...CNN looks completely RIDICULOUS compared to foriegn news. CNN heros of the year Vs. videos of people being bombed/losing family on a daily basis. Your pick.

    ReplyDelete
  6. By the way, this probably was not mentioned in CNN or Larry King Live, but today the most revered Mosque, the Musjid Al AQSA was attacked with the praying muslims from inside being trapped with outside forces attacking with guns. The trapped muslims did not have machine guns, nor machetes, or any nuclear explosives, but rocks. Yup, rocks against machine guns. Guess who decided to play nicely?

    ReplyDelete
  7. hey mai, thanks.
    I just get so frustrated that muslims all over the world are being sterotyped like this on a daily basis. I also do not like to diserspect any religions, as I actually try to be a true muslim.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Anonymous ji,

    My religion is also often under attack by those who do not care to understand, partly because we are mistaken for Muslims because of our turbans and beards. (Of course, since I am a woman, I don't have much of a beard!)

    And partly because a large group of us want our homeland, as promised by Gandhi (yup! the "mahatma" himself!) and Nehru before independence. After independence, we were told "the situation has changed" and we've been screwed by India ever since. In the Khaliblog, I write at length about the murder of my family in 1984.

    It is painful for something so dear and treasured to be attacked by fools, isn't it?

    Was it the friggin' Israelis attacked that mosque? I believe it is in Jerusalem and, no, I haven't heard it in the news. Have you checked out some of my posts about the Siege of Gaza?

    My offer stands.

    Mai

    ReplyDelete
  9. what can I say it is Saudi the most backward country in the world.yes ultimately Islam is a peaceful Faith as that is what Islam means PEACE.

    its just a shame that a country such as Saudi Arabia lets the faith down with its fundamentalist views and making its rules up as they go along. you cant tell me that anyone of these Islamic police have never sinned them selves. when they have looked lustfully at a female on TV or in the street or talked about someone behind their back or disrespected their mother or father or even been dishonest. lets remember that there is no small or big sin all sins are the Same in front of God

    I mean maybe they should take some of the examples of Jesus where he mentioned that anyone who has never sinned may throw the first stone at the sinner.

    I believe that no human has the right to punish another human being like this especially when there is no hard evidence.

    Anyway there is no human punishment that is more painful than the Judgement of God.

    God bless you all

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous ji,

    I have no way of knowing if you're the samw Anonymous ji as before, but whether you are or not, my offer for a post - unedited by me - defending Islam in the Road To Khalistan (http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/) stands. I keep making this offer and stilll no one has responded.

    Last week some Muslims were upset by my post comparing the Taliban to the Sikhs. I made this offer to them. No response.

    Ohm, well, I keep trying.

    Mai

    simayanan@ gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes some Part of india have it.but not fully in India,But whole Saudi Arabia have it...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Saudia Arabia is one of the cleanest countries. Inside of their homes they are able to be free if that is your problem. I think you got aplenty of "evil" things happening in your own country, correct that and yclean our own house before telling Muslim lands what to do.

    Shari'ah should be explained clearly and not mixed with how people use it. It is a law that is just a little different than yours. Learn to accept things you were not raised with.

    As for women, they are creatures in need of everyhting as everyone else. As long as they are given that, or their needs are met, I do not know what you people have to say against.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Most recent anonymous ji,

    (Note to self: figure out why so many comments are anonymous.)

    This blog is where I post things that seem to weirdly beg for attention. I am an opinionated So-and-so, unabashedly so. The posts posted here are totally of my choice and choosing.

    I am not an anthropologist. I do not practice cultural relativity here. I am not politically correct. I am a woman of nearly 60 years. I need no one to meet my needs. I do that myself, thank you very much.

    Although I am now based in the Great Satan, USA, I am a Canadian and that is my own country. When I find sufficiently weird stuff about Canada, I post it without hesitation.

    I find much of the news in the USA more sad, disgusting, horrifying, tragic than weird. Trillions wasted invading other countries, destroying their infrastructure, mutating their babies with depleted uranium (and worse), while at home, massive unemployment, racial and religious terrorism against various minorities political gridlock that threatens to bring down the country and possibly the economy of the whole world with it.

    Canada is comparatively clean, but just not very weird.

    I am myself a bit odd, I'm told. This is OK with me. I will continue to add whatever attracts my attention that I feel like adding.

    You are welcome to your opinion. You are even welcome to write a whole post here, if you choose. As long as it isn't obscene or illegal in my jurisdiction, I will post it unedited, with only a disclaimer that this is your opinion and I might not agree with it.

    I believe in free expression. I follow the thought of Voltaire: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

    That is my offer. Are you up to it? Or do you just like to complain? Leave a message here and I'll be in contact.

    ReplyDelete
  14. how could you do this to someone else

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous ji,

    I ask myself the same thing, but I am old enough that I have seen human on human cruelty in many forms. It never ceases to appall me, which is one of the reasons for this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just learned the man in the picture was a Norwegian citizen caught with 2 beers. http://irandemocratic.org/images/IranCrackdownonWomenandYouth.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm impressed, I must say. Very rarely do I come across a blog thats both informative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you ve hit the nail on the head. Your blog is important.. دعوى مطالبة مالية

    ReplyDelete

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