Pakistani-born blogger Zack Ajmal has a fine site, filled with a combination of well-crafted posts and some exceptional photographs. I've linked some of his posts about the Deobandi sect and Maududi political movements before.
Adil's recent post about honour killings, "When Vengeance is Written in Blood," seems to have sparked some serious thought from his fellow Muslim blogger. They're serious, and honest, and well researched. Which makes them worth a read. Worth a hand, too. Bravo!
1. "Honour Killings" (incl. stats. and reports)
2. "Honour Killings: Misc. Notes" (incl. Koranic Quotes)
3. Link to Al-Muhajabah site & Islamic injunctions against this practice.
As the fundamentalists lose ground and these teachings spread, let us hope that the practices Adil describes will see dramatic correction in the coming decades.
Killing females is a way to keep the M/F ratio in proper balance. Such balance insures a certain kind of culture.
I have written about this in a different context here:
http://www.sierratimes.com/03/01/19/simon.htm - immorality
I am so happy to see conversations such as the one between Adil and Ajmal happening. You have no idea...
The fundamentalists aren't losing ground.
Eh? As Zack wrote, honour killings are a part of secualr culture, not specifically religious. The rise or fall of political Islam will not affect their prevalance.
That is simply fasle, Mr. Saeed. The Islamists demonstrably impose this "cultural" practice when they take power, and encourage it in ways both direct and indirect. To pretend otherwise is dishonest. Zack can quote the Qu'ran, but so can they... the question is, whose interpretation will prevail?
Zack was discussing the Pakhtoon areas in Pakistan. NWFP, parts of Baluchistan.
I don't think it's a matter of duelling interpretations of Islam. You don't see honour killings in Aceh (to take one example), where politial Islam has made much headway.
There are practices and issue that can be laid at the doorstep of political Islam, but honour killings really isn't one of them. It has to do with religion in Pakistan the way teetotalling has to do with religion in Waco. Related (and sometimes justified by) religion, but more founded on culture.
So I say again, combatting political Islam will do nothing to alleviate the problem of honour killings. As Zack pointed out, the main secular party in Frontier Province, the Awami National Party, has about the same view on the topic as the Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Islam. It's about the status of Women, not religion.