White flowers for Aisha

April 9, 2009 — xanthippa

The story of Aisha Ibrahim Duhuhulow – the child who was stoned for the crime of being raped – has really touched me.

The young girl grew up under one application of Sharia, where ‘justice’ meant that rapists are caught and punished.  However, her local Mosque had come under ‘new management’:  the ‘elders’ (Islamic scholars) who now controlled it applied Sharia very, very differently.   Admitting to having been raped was interpreted by them as admitting to having had sexual intercourse outside of marriage, which is punishable by stoning.  And, while stoning her, the cleric, Sheik Hayakallah, continued to praise ‘sister Aisha’ for ‘wanting Sharia and its punishment to apply’!

And THIS is why Sharia – even if it were fully compatible with ‘Western’ laws and principles (which it is not) – is UNACCEPTABLE !!!

This ‘Islamic Law’ and its applications are not consistent:  the local Islamic leader has the authority to interpret it in any way he deems to be correct!  (This does not even take into consideration that there is no consensus as to what training (if any) a person requires in order to be an Imam or an ‘Islamic scholar’.  Currently, any man who considers himself to be knowledgeable of the Koran and the Sunnah can declare himself to be  an Islamic scholar and act as an Imam.)

Thus, a simple change of Imams at a Mosque could completely change the rules under which are ‘the laws’ which govern every aspect of public and private behaviour in the local community.  And, the people might remain completely unaware how the changed interpretation of Sharia will be meted out:  unaware, that is, until someone like Aisha gets stoned for having been raped!

THAT, in my never-humble-opinion, is a big problem!

As for Aisha, not only was her story criminally mis-reported (at first), she herself has remained faceless:  no amount of Googling has revealed any pictures online of the unfortunate girl.  (If you find one – please, let me know!)

Since I could not find a picture of her, I decided to paint one…  this is my impression of ‘Aisha’:

Aisha

Then, someone posted this comment about Aisha:

WHITE FLOWERS FOR AISHA
I could not sleep for days after reading about Aisha’s tragedy. I would have wanted to bring flowers to her grave, but there was no grave to be reached. I felt so powerless!
But then I got the idea that we should all try and create a wave of sweetness and kindness in the love of Aisha, all over the world. May her death not have been in vain. Let us transform it into a stimulus to spread lovingkindness.
I decided to buy a bunch of white flowers and offer one of them, together with a 5 dollar bill and a piece of candy,to every homeless person I woud find at the railway station,
mentioning Aisha’s name and sending her a blessing every time.
I also made an offer to Amnesty international to honor her name.
Let us all do something, let us create a wave of white flowers and of kind actions so as to try and counterbalance the horror of her death. And let us pray for her, telling her we all love her.
Ilaria

Yes!  WHITE FLOWERS FOR AISHA!

What a beautiful idea:  the innocent blossom, plucked before her time!

White Flowers for Aisha

White Flowers for Aisha

This is my take on ‘White Flowers for Aisha‘!  What is yours?

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Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow – only one of the many victims of Sharia

November 3, 2008 — xanthippa

It is inconcievable that a 13-year old should be publically executed.

It is unthinkable to stone a woman to death for the ‘crime’ of having been raped.

My mind is having incredible difficulty wrapping itself around the fact that both of these happened to the same person – Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow! 

What happened to this child is outrageous, and inexcusable and we must all work hard to make sure it never happens again!  And the way Aisha’s execution (can it even be called ‘execution’ when we are talking about a 13-year-old child?) is being reported – that is a crime in itself!

Just in case you are not familiar with this child’s suffering and murder, I wrote about it earlier.  She had been gang-raped, and when she sought ‘justice’ by filing a complaint with the police, she found out the hard way that her town had just come under ‘Sharia law’.  Her complaint menant that she was ‘admitting’ to have ‘engaged in extramarital sexual inercourse’, and that ‘justice’ demands that she be stoned to death…

Sharia is NOT an acceptable ‘law’ for any human being to be subjected to!  (Pay attention, all Brit readers, you have recently stripped human rights from a group of your own citizens, living in Britain – including a friend of mine – their only crime was being a Muslima!!!  Every single one of you should be ashamed of yourselves, until you get this abomination overturned!)

So, let us hear what life under Shari REALLY is…

How could it happen that the ‘legal courts’ would think that a 13-year-old can even ‘commit adultery’?  A ‘child’ can be abused by someone, but she cannot ‘commit adultery’!  Only an adult woman can ‘commit adultery’ – and then, only if she consents to a sexual act. 

How can it be that under Sharia, a 13-year-old would be considered ‘adult woman’?  Is this just some sort of a mistake?  Or, is it that under Sharia, it is perfectly legal for 13-year-old children to be ‘wives’???  After all, some ‘western’ reports called her ‘MRS. Aisha Dhuhuluw’…

So, what exactly is this ‘baby-wife’  ‘special case’?

But, that was a Christian’s interpretation.  He could be ‘twisting’ Islam…  To be fair, we should listen to what Islamic experts on marriage have to say on this topic:

Of course, this is only happening in the ‘far away’ countries ‘nobody cares about’!!!!  Right???  Oh, yes – and Britain – because Britain has instituted Sharia ‘law’ for British Muslims as the legal code for such things as ‘family law’ – which includes ‘marriages’. 

Here is what ‘marriage’ under ‘Sharia’ is like, from the child-wife’s point of view:

IF you are one of those sick enlightened people who think it’s OK for women in ‘far away’ places to suffer – and, please, do NOT count me among these people – then think again:

Far from being slowly but surely eradicated – these ‘Sharia attitudes’ are NOT the norm in fewer and fewer places…. To the contrary!  They are spreading, as Islamists (NOT respectable Muslims, but Islamists) spread their hateful and opressive ways throughout the world.

It is up to us, the adults, to protect our children.  All our children.  It is too late for Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow – but it is not too late to save others from Aisha’s fate!  If Sharia ‘law’ permits THIS to happen to children, then it is up to every single one of us to oppose this abomination perversely called Sharia ‘Law’!

Update:  The people who committed this crime against Aisha may have largely been funded by Brits!

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Posted in freedoms, opression, politics, religion, society. Tags: , , , , , , . 14 Comments »

How a 13-year-old rape victim’s execution is being reported

November 1, 2008 — xanthippa

All right, we’ve all heard the gripes about how ‘things’ are distorted and what ‘gets reported’ is not always a factual, unbiased account of the events.  But this, this has got to be some of the most bizzare collection of distortions I have seen so far.

Or, at least, that I am aware that I have seen…

As far as I can piece this together (and I am NOT certain of the complete facts), it would appear that 13-year-old girl-child, Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, was gang-raped.  She went to register the crime with the courts, presumably expecting the police to find and arrest her rapists.

However, last August, Aisha’s home town of Kismayo – a port in Southern Somalia – had been taken over by Islamist forces and Sharia law had been imposed.  When the child came to file her complaint with the police, she was asked ‘if she is sure this is what really happened’.  Aisha confirmed that she had, in fact, been gang-raped and asked for justice. 

This last bit came back to haunt her, her family, and anyone with a conscience!  At this ‘admission of engaging in extramarital sexual intercourse’ and ‘demands to be punished’, the police officials had ‘no choice’ but to arrest her.  The ‘Sharia Court’ (if you can call it a court) had heard the case and had ‘no choice’ but to sentence her to death by stoning.  After all, she herself ‘freely admitted her guilt’ and ‘demanded justice to be done’!!!

Dressed in black, with a green veil (green – the colour of Islam and peace), she was brought into a large stadium filled with about 1000 people.  Reporters, based on her ‘appearance’, guessed her age to be about 23 yearsof age, were forbidden to use their cameras, but radio broadcasts were permitted. 

Here, the child was bound hand and foot and – while screaming and pleading for her life – Aisha was buried up to her neck in a hole in the ground.

It would appear that the crowd – or at least some of the people within the crowd – tried to intervene and save the unfortunate child.  The ‘guards’ opened fire on the crowd, shooting a child dead.

50 men then started to throw stones at Aisha’s head (the only part of her above ground).  When they thought she was dead, they dug her up – but a check showed she was still alive, so they burried her again and continued to throw stones at her.  They had dug Aisha up 3 times to check if she is dead yet….and then burried her again to stone her some more…

Her family is distrought and angry.  Her father confirmed her age to be 13 years.

This, in itself, is a horrible story.  It is a nightmare!

I truly don’t know if there are words strong enough to express my anger and outrage!

But, it would appear, my reaction is not all that usual.  At least, if one were to go by what is being said in the many ‘official’ reports of Aisha’s suffering and murder lawbreaking and execution.

Please, consider the following:

AFP (Agence France Presse), the oldest news agency in the world, carries this report:

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Thousands of people gathered Monday to witness 50 Somali men stone a woman to death after an Islamic court in the southern port of Kismayo found her guilty of adultery, witnesses said.

Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, who had been found guilty of extra-marital intercourse was buried in the ground up to her neck while the men pelted her head with rocks.

“Our sister Aisha asked the Islamic Sharia court in Kismayo to be charged and punished for the crime she committed,” local Islamist leader Sheikh Hayakallah told the crowd.

“She admitted in front of the court to engaging in adulterous sexual intercourse,” he added.

“She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply.”

The execution was carried in one of the city’s main squares.

…

Did you notice the mention of the fact she was a rape victim?  No, because this was not mentioned.  But you might have noticed how her ‘demand for justice’ was explained by the local Islamist leader Sheikh Hayakallah!!! 

Good reporting, AFP, making sure we hear the ‘proper’ side of the story!  Good reporting, AFP, for ‘digging for the details of what really happened there’!  Bang-up job, you are doning!  Truly!

But they are not the only ones reporting on this murder of Aisha along these lines…

Surely, that ‘most extreme-right-wing-media outlet’, Fox News, will have done a bit of digging around to find out what was happening, right?  If so, it was not mentioned in their article, ‘Somali woman stoned to death for adultery’!

No verification with her family, or Amnesty International, which also seems to have had no trouble learning Aisha’s true age – 13, not the 23 admittedly arrived at by a reporter’s ‘guess’….

No explanation that the ‘adultery’ in question consisted of being gang-raped….

WHAT THE F$*&Q^#$*&!!!!!!

How about other sources?

The ‘neutral’ and award winning Sky News reported:  ‘Cheating’ woman stoned to death.  I suppose the ‘Cheating’ – being in quotation marks – constitutes ‘neutrality’ (also in quotation marks).  And, they do report that while the officials explained she demanded this punishment herself (!), they do quote witnesses that heard her scream and saw her struggle….and they hint that only the guns of the guards – who killed a child in the process – kept the crowd from freeing poor Aisha.  But, not the correct age, not a peep about the fact that she had been the victim of rape….except those quotation marks around ‘cheating’, that is…

Why is it that one has to go to blogs (A New Dark Age Is Dawning)  and non-mainstream media like ‘Islam:  the religion of peace’ to find out information, and only then can kernels of it be seen in the ‘respectable news-outlets’ reports?

It was not until today, 5-or-so days after her murder execution, that there is even a peep about the true story…. CNN carried the little mention.

What are we doing?  Are we ‘normalizing’ Islamist violence against women?  Are we all headed for the burka?

Nike (among others!!!) is already working to normalize such attitudes!

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Posted in freedoms, opression, perceptions, politics, religion, society. Tags: , , , , , , . 18 Comments »

Cultural Tolerance – Part 1: Setting the stage

February 14, 2008 — xanthippa

This is a bit off topic for me – I never planned to write about this.  But, with all the broo-ha-ha stirred up when the Archbishop of Cantebury, Dr. Williams, called for establishing a parallel legal system in Britain, based on Sharia law, my blood started to boil.  I am an immigrant, having come to North America from a non-democratic, non-English speaking country, I have integrated quite successfully.  I volunteer teaching English as a second language.  In the past, I have created ‘stay-at-home’ jobs for immigrant women from more oppressive backgrounds, empowering them and helping them connect with their new society. 

As such, I have had the opportunity to observe this ‘cultural tolerance’ from both sides – as the immigrant and as a member of the cultural mainstream.  And I am absolutely amazed at how basic concepts can become so muddled…to the detriment of both sides. Please, indulge me in this rant on WHAT we should – and perhaps more importantly, what we should NOT – tolerate with respect to immigrants coming to a society from a foreign culture.  This is for the benefit of us, immigrants, as well as us, the host society (I have made the integration successfully, and so feel part of both groups…). 

First and foremost, immigrants come to a new country in order to improve their life and to provide a better future for their children.  Perhaps this is not a universal statement, but I am willing to bet that it comes pretty close.  So, right off the bat, there is something ‘good’ about the new society that we have come to seek. 

When immigrants first arrive, things can be overwhelming:  new language, new surroundings, unknown expectations…because even if you read a lot about your new land, (I memorized the 84 page brochure I got at the Canadian embassy during my interview), things are never quite the same as in the ads.  Some are better, some are worse, some are just different. 

And even for a person who did try to learn English before, being immersed in the language for the first few weeks created incredible fatigue and triggered a unique type of headaches.  I was surprised at how my jaw, cheeks and tongue hurt after hours of flexing my speech muscles into positions they were not used to. 

In situations like this, in the first few weeks, it is very helpful if other immigrants, who had arrived years or decades earlier, from the same culture, speaking the same mother tongue, can help one orient themselves.  It is a relief to ‘tune out’ English for half-an-hour and chat with someone without fishing for every phrase, worrying if a mispronounced word would give offense.  (I’m not joking:  I know a guy who just about got beaten up because when his neighbour invited him for dinner, he tried to compliment his wife on the desert….and mispronounced the word ‘cake’.  Until I explained, he had no idea that cake is not pronounced ‘cock’.) 

It is understandable that the immigrants should form loose communities, offering each other support.  It is also very much appreciated when people in the host community show a great deal of leeway to newly arrived immigrants who are trying to learn the language and culture both.   

The key here is:  ‘newly arrived’ and ‘trying to learn’. 

The problem arises when government agencies, seeing the help new immigrants receive from their fellow ex-patriots, think that they are somehow making things easier on the newcomers if they contract these immigrant communities to help the newcomers settle in.  This gives the immigrant association incredible control over the newly arrived people:  and what’s worse, now money is involved. The money attracts precisely the wrong kind of person:  busybodies who did not integrate into the new society well enough to have a busy career, and controlling the newcomers’ integration gives them the status they could never earn on their own merits.  If you don’t see this for the recipe for disaster that it is, I’m not sure what I could write to make it clear. 

These people boost their self by controlling as much as possible in the lives of newcomers.  And since these do not know any better (after all, the government entrusted this person with their care, so even if they did, it would not help them much), they accept the control – and the often distorted picture of the host culture painted to them so the busybody could retain control.  This officially sanctioned isolation leads to nothing less than ghettoization and actually prevents successful integration of newcomers into society. 

To a smaller degree, this can occur in all places, even without government financing it.  Seeking support at the beginning can trap newcomers in a cycle of obligations that are hard to escape, while preventing them from forming ties outside the immigrant community. I have seen it, felt its pull, and struggled against it.  Till today, I have friends among immigrants from my ethnic background, there is nothing wrong in that.  But I am careful to balance my friends and acquaintances among many backgrounds, keeping myself firmly within mainstream culture.  And while I do volunteer to help newcomers learn English, I never reveal my first language and usually request that they not tell me theirs, either. 

After all, we have left our past behind….   

Coming next: 

Part 2 – WHAT we should and should not tolerate                       

Part 3 – HOW we should and should not tolerate

Posted in about, freedoms, human nature, immigrants, politics, society. Tags: , , , , , , . 4 Comments »
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