Understand Islam, Understand Muslims

Submitted by Dave (Canada), Sep 8, 2014 at 21:22

Muslims commit over 90% of honor killings world wide. Islamic doctrine does not explicitly sanction honor killings, but Sharia makes blasphemy and apostasy capital crimes. Therefore, if a female relative is doing something that could be categorized as blasphemous, such as dating a non-Muslim or behaving too "Western", she could become vulnerable as Islam allows other Muslims to mete out punishment. Killing her rectifies the shame of her transgressions. The low status of women in Islam is also a contributing factor.

The lack of progress in the Islamic countries involves the same Sharia strictures. These tend to intimidate putative reformers and free thinkers. In addition, Islam teaches that the Koran is the literal word of Allah and is not to be modified by innovative thinking. This militantly anti-intellectual atmosphere discourages speculation and retards development.

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