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The 16-year-old Muslim girl Michael wrote about earlier has died as a result of injuries her father inflicted on her because she would no longer wear a hijab as he demanded.
This heinous act can only be described as the most despicable betrayal possible – the deliberate murder of a beautiful child at the hands of her own parent.
What is the purpose behind such a crime? The hope of pleasing Allah? If so, something is seriously wrong with either the Islamic religion or the interpretation of same.
Aqsa Parvez, a student at Applewood Heights Secondary School, had been on life support in hospital since yesterday morning.
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Muhammad Parvez, 57, has been remanded in custody and was to make his first court appearance today in a Brampton court.
The victim’s brother, 26-year-old Waqas Parvez, was also arrested on a charge of obstructing police.
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The teen was known to her classmates and Facebook friends as Axa. She posted several pictures of herself on the website in colourful clothes and accessories.
At Aqsa’s high school, friends gathered in groups yesterday, struggling to come to grips with what happened and lamenting how she had quarrelled with her father to the point that she recently moved out to live with a friend.
“She said she was always scared of her dad, she was always scared of her brother … and she’s not scared of nobody,” said classmate Ashley Garbutt, 16.
The fact that Aqsa’s brother was charged with obstructing justice is interesting as well.
In many honor killings it is the girl’s family who are the murderers. And often it is an older brother whose hatred runs the deepest, as in the case of Hatin Sürücü, a Turkish woman killed by her brothers because she refused to live as they saw fit.
In the gruesome rape and murder of Banaz Mahmod it was her father and uncle who orchestrated her torture and strangulation, a brutal, utterly remorseless act that took 2.5 hours to carry out.
Where is the honor in these men’s souls?
That’s rhetorical – they have none.
4 words. “Throw away the key.”
It is disgusting to read or to hear of such cases occurring in some minority muslim circles. Such incidences or so called honour killings is a deeply cultural practise that predates Islam. It is a violation of human rights and has absolutely NO place in ISLAM the religion.
Unfortunately, still these events occur in muslim countries and sometimes non-Muslim countries, as was the case above. The men behind these events are ignorant chauvinists who have been influenced deeply by their culture. They have nothing better to do than to lord around authority over their women.
The problem here is not Islam, but rather lack of education about Islam and women’s rights, poverty, deeply rooted cultural practises and the lack of women’s rights being actively implemented in some Muslim countries. For example, in Islam, the act of calling a women ‘unchaste’ without producing 4 witnesses to prove this, earns the man 80 lashes (the one who made the false claim) and his evidence is rejected from there onwards in the court of law for as long as he lives. Unfortunately, this in such Honour killing cases, this is not implemented. But rather, it is the woman’s family, namely her male relatives who go out of their way to ‘cleanse’ the family name and honour by eliminating the victim! This is ridiculous, and unjust to anyone who has any brains, but this happens because of a very strong cultural mentality and belief that a woman upholds the honour of the house. To add to this, when males are convicted of unseemly behaviour before marriage, their actions are completely overlooked. Even though in Islam, the punishment for a proven fornicator is the same for the male and the female! The sad part is this sort of thinking gets transferred from generation to generation, to the point where even the women accept this mentality! No one bothers to consult Islam about it, no, culture to these men is taken as first priority. Oh, but when it comes to upholding men’s rights, say for e.g. their rights in marriage, oh no, goodness me, there is no breaking that. The woman must grant his rights. They must be implemented.
I am a muslim woman, and a practising one too (I am not a feminist) and when I hear of these events, it makes my blood boil. The key to women’s liberation in muslim countries is not fleeing Islam, but rather women need to learn their God given rights, granted to them over 1400 years ago and demand these rights. We need to educate ourselves about Islam and our rights. We need sisters to stand up and say “NO” to these sorts of events. Unfortunately, in theory it sounds easier than in practise.
My knowledge is limited and I don’t claim to be a scholar of Islam. So, if I have said anything wrong above, may God forgive me.