Ignorance: the root of today's "Honor"

Do women have honor? If so, how would you define it? Is it in any way associated with a man's behavior, choices, or relations? Do women OWN their own honor rather than owe it to a man?

Men, on the other side, are overburdened, by choice or not, with the multiple concepts, words, and meanings of their honor. العرض [al ‘erdh], الرحم [ar rahem], and المحارم [al maharem] or its Western variation as Harem, are all equivalent to Honor, which is in Arabic [Asharaf] الشرف. All of which are contingent, in one way or another, on, at least one, woman’s behavior, choices, and sometimes mere existence.

How this came to be, when, and why, is beyond me. One thing I know for sure is that ignorance is at the root of this (mis)understanding and its consequences, which have turned a beautiful thing, “honor,” into a troubling phenomenon in some Arab and Muslim communities.

Way too many women’s lives have been cut short, in some places under the clear label of “honor” and in many others under other labels, as “accidents,” or even silently. The crimes and punishments that go unreported are many times more than those we hear about.

In Jordan, many people, including judges and lawyers, put more value on the “honor” part and less value on the “crime” part of the issue. How is this not blaming the victim and idolizing the criminal? It is unfortunate that when the subject of women in Jordan comes up anywhere, the first thing to pop up is “Honor” crimes. Jordan is not the only country where this happens, or even the country where this phenomenon is worst. Jordan’s black record in this area is actually the result of good advocacy on the part of Rana Husseini and women’s rights activists and organizations.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just pointed out that Jordan needs to put this issue back on its reform agenda, probably at the top. In their September 10 letter to Minister of Justice Ayman Awdeh, HRW says:

The establishment of a special tribunal on "honor" killings signals the government's awareness that it must do more to tackle these severe and discriminatory crimes against women. However, in Human Rights Watch's experience, only a sustained and comprehensive effort-not a special tribunal-can lead to the goal of integrating sensitivity about violence against women into the mainstream justice system. Such an effort should start with the legal reforms in the penal code, but also include adequate judicial training.

The issue, however, is too deep-set to solve through legal reform alone. In his analysis of the status of what he calls “Pride crimes” in Jordan, Naseer Alomari wrote in the Jordan Times: “the legal system cannot right the perceived wrong.” He adds:

Honour killings pose a political and social dilemma for Jordan. Politically, no government would push for tougher punishments for honour killing without sounding like advocating immorality. Socially, the path to stopping honour killing is blocked by the insurmountable hurdle of wrong values and beliefs about sexuality, women’s freedom of choice and fundamentalist religious beliefs.

Politically, fear of being perceived as advocating immorality sounds similar to the Republicans’ obsession with the “Abstinence only” program. You can see how this program embodies American double standards and cognitive dissonance when you watch any of the American mainstream TV programs.

Socially, the gender double standard regarding women’s sexuality is a worldwide issue to varying degrees, so it is not specific to Jordan. What is specific to Jordan and other Arab and Muslim countries (and pushes my buttons) is the false understanding of the religion and the misuse of religious texts to cover up for inherently misogynist, patriarchal, and archaic beliefs.

I assure you that if you read and search throughout the Qur’an for one verse that can be in any way understood to justify such antiquated beliefs, you won’t find any. I would put money on it that none of the “honor” killers have read the Qur’an. I do not claim to be a scholar or a qualified interpreter of the Qur’an, but what I find when I read it includes the following:

4:15 وَاللاَّتِي يَأْتِينَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مِن نِّسَآئِكُمْ فَاسْتَشْهِدُواْ عَلَيْهِنَّ أَرْبَعةً مِّنكُمْ فَإِن شَهِدُواْ فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ فِي الْبُيُوتِ حَتَّىَ يَتَوَفَّاهُنَّ الْمَوْتُ أَوْ يَجْعَلَ اللّهُ لَهُنَّ سَبِيلاً

4:15 (Y. Ali) If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way.*

4:93وَمَن يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَآؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا

4:93 (Y. Ali) If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him.*


And in a Hadith, Prophet Mohammad says:

"أتاني جبريل، فقال: يا محمد عش ما شئت فإنك ميت، وأحبب من شئت، فإنك مفارقه، واعمل ما شئت فإنك مجزي به، واعلم أن شرف المؤمن قيامه بالليل، وعزه استغناؤه عن الناس." وفي قول آخر: "شرف المؤمن صلاته بالليل وعزه استغناءه عما في أيدي الناس."

“Angel Gabriel came to me and said: O Muhammad live all you want for you will die one day; love whoever you want, you will leave it; do what you want, you will be judged for it; and know that the honor of a believer is in nightly worship, and a believer's pride is in being independent of people.” In another narration:“the believer's honor is in nightly prayer and his dignity is letting go of what's in the hands of the people.”


Do you still not know how to define “honor” after all?


* Verse search and translation through IslamiCity.com.

Picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamed/ / CC BY 2.0