“Honor” Killings and Political Correctness

by Peter Gray

In June 2009, police found the bodies of three teenage girls and a middle-aged woman in a submerged car in Ontario, Canada. The girls—Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia—were daughters of a wealthy Afghan immigrant named Mohammed Shafia; the fourth victim, Rona Mohammed, was one of Mr. Shafia’s wives from a polygamous marriage. When investigators placed Mr. Shafia under surveillance, they were shocked to discover that instead of mourning the loss of his children, he cursed them for disobeying him and called them “whores” for dressing provocatively and having boyfriends. Police eventually charged Mr. Shafia, his second wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed with four counts of first degree murder, and a jury convicted them on January 29th, 2012.



An “honor killing” is the murder of a person who “dishonors” their family by violating certain cultural norms (or getting accused of doing so). These killings are arranged by the victim’s family (or community) in order to “cleanse” the dishonor, and are often heavily premeditated. The Shafia murders attracted an enormous amount of attention because they seemed to fit this description.



Anti-Muslim commentators seized on the Shafia trial as an opportunity to bash Islam. Pamela Geller, famous for her virulent opposition to the “Ground Zero Mosque” in 2010, called the slayings “Islamic gendercide” and “religious slaughter.” Robert Spencer claimed that honor killings were justified in Islam,  and Canadian pundit Ezra Levant described honor killings as a “war on Muslim women.”



Muslims made swift efforts to distance these crimes from Islam, but some of their responses only reinforced the perception that religion was to blame for what happened. Canada’s most famous Muslim author, Irshad Manji, explained that honor killings were “not Islamic,” but then called them “a problem within Islam.” Meanwhile, Imam Syed Soharwardy issued a religious edict (or fatwa) against honor killings on behalf of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada. Soharwardy’s edict is commendable, but it could give the false impression that honor killings are a problem of scriptural interpretation (especially considering that he presented it by saying, “So if anybody is thinking that honor killing is allowed in Islam…”) There is no evidence that Mohammed Shafia believed this.



The Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), like others, has asserted that the Shafia murders were not religiously sanctioned. It stands out, however, for its criticism of the term “honor killing.” CCMW director Alia Hogben argues that the Shafia victims died “simply because they were females,” and that honor or dishonor was not a determining factor. Echoing this sentiment, anthropologist Homa Hoodfar and communications scholar Yasmin Jiwani insist that the killings are “about women and girls being killed because they are women and girls. That is the particularity of this kind of violence.” These analyses ignore the role that “honor” may play in such crimes—which seems bizarre in light of Mohammed Shafia’s rants about honor and the casual admission by Tooba Yahya’s relatives that they would put their own daughters “in a bag and eliminate them” for dishonoring the family.



Hogben rejects the term “honor killing” because, she argues, the language frames the murder of women as a cultural practice—which encourages both racism and cultural relativism. The Canadian Council of Muslim Women suggests that the term functions to “separate [people] into distinct groups based on race, culture or religion.” This mirrors the prevailing attitude toward collecting statistics on religion in France, where, according to political scientist Sepideh Farkhondeh, “the refusal to consider religion as part of the public sphere becomes equivalent to a refusal to know and understand [Muslims].” Similarly, the refusal to consider the cultural elements of honor killings is a refusal to know and understand these crimes.



It is easy to see why people are wary of the term “honor killing.” Most discussions of these crimes are painfully obtuse and abound with clichés about “ultraorthodox Islam” and the “medieval.” And even when commentators refrain from blaming religion for honor killings, they tend to speak of “culture” in ways that confirm racist stereotypes and overlook violence against women in “Western” societies.



Legal scholar Leti Volpp (2001: 1186) observes that most people “identify [violence against women] in immigrants of color and Third World communities as cultural, while failing to recognize the cultural aspects of [violence] affecting mainstream white women.” This grievance seems to be the cause for most complaints about the term “honor killing.”  According to Hoodfar and Jiwani, for example, the phrase “makes it seem as if femicide is confined to specific populations…and specific national cultures or religions.”  The Canadian Council of Muslim Women alleges that it “makes these murders exotic, foreign, and alien to Western culture as if the West is free from all forms of patriarchy” (emphasis added).



The real problem for these critics is not that cultural dimensions of violence are being recognized, but that they are recognized selectively. They are right to condemn this imbalance, but their solution—to equally ignore the cultural aspects of all violence against women—is unacceptable.



Culture can be defined as learned patterns of speech, thought, and behavior that prevail within a group and are acquired through social participation. Religion scholar Zareena Grewal (2009: 12) cautions against blaming violence on culture alone, but also argues that it is “wrong to ignore or suppress the cultural particularities that may characterize acts of violence or to talk about violence only in the abstract.” This is because, as sociologist Johan Galtung (1990: 291) explains, certain cultural norms can “make direct and structural violence look, even feel, right—or at least not wrong.”



Psychologist Joseph Vandello has repeatedly demonstrated how culture influences perceptions of violence against women. One study (Vandello and Cohen, 2003) compared responses from Brazilian and American college students to two fictional scenarios involving a married couple. In one scenario, the wife is either a) faithful or b) having an affair that the neighbors know about. In the second scenario, the wife is unfaithful, and the husband either a) yells at her; b) yells at her, hits her across the face, and shakes her; c) does nothing; or d) demands a divorce. The researchers found that Brazilian students were more likely to look down on the husband because of his wife’s infidelity. They also found that while Americans rated the violent husband as less manly than the one who only yelled, Brazilians rated the violent husband as slightly more manly. These attitudes may help explain why, until 1991, Brazil allowed men to legally murder their wives in “legitimate defense of honor.”



Men are not the only ones who kill for honor. Pakistan’s most infamous honor murder involved a mother who hired a gunman to kill her daughter for leaving an abusive marriage. More recently, two Indian women strangled their daughters for marrying men of a different religion. “We killed them because they brought shame to our community,” one explained. These cases—along with the fact that men are also the victims of honor killings—challenge the assumption that women are victimized on the basis of gender alone.



There is a reason why North American feminists have worked so tirelessly to popularize the concept of “rape culture”: they understand that preventing violence against women depends on recognizing its cultural patterns (and yes—violence against women in the United States can be very cultural). Following this same principle, Ontario’s Punjabi Community Health Services offers family mediation services for conflicts driven by “dishonor.” Elsewhere in Canada, Dr. Mohammed Baobid is developing “culturally competent integration strategies” to help men coming from conflict zones curb domestic violence. Imagine if the Shafia sisters had access to resources like these. How could that possibly have been a bad thing?

Peter Gray recently finished his BA in Asian Studies at Clark University with a special focus on Indonesia. A Muslim convert, he writes about Islam, “Islamophobia” and interfaith dialogue at muslimerican.wordpress.com.  This article was originally published on AltMuslimah

SEE ALSO:

A distressing statement from NOW-NY, Hussein Rashid http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/gva/2983/
A Family Affair: Afshan Azad’s Assault http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2010/07/a-family-affair-afshan-azads-assault/
A Family in Severe Psycho-Spiritual Crisis- Guilty Verdict in Shafia Murders, Waleed Ahmed http://muslimmatters.org/2012/01/30/a-family-in-severe-psycho-spiritual-crisis-guilty-verdict-in-shafia-murders/
A Perspective on Domestic Violence in the Muslim Community, Salma Elkadi Abugideiri http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/downloads/article_from_salma__final_with_copyright_notice_for_web.pdf
A test of faith, Fatima Cash http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/39879/135/ 
Abuse, asylum and America: violence against women, Rafia Zakaria http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/spa/3216/
ALLAH Does Not Allow Domestic Violence, Imam Abdullah El Amin http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=1728
American Muslim Women’s Organizations as Innovators in Domestic Violence Policy http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/3/8/3/6/p238368_index.html
American Muslims Call For Swift Action Against Domestic Violence, Dr. Hesham Hassaballa http://www.godfaithpen.com/2009/02/american-muslims-call-for-swift-action.html
An Imam says Islam, family violence don’t mix; goes on hunger strike
An Imam’s Guide to deal with domestic violence, Abdul Malik Mujahid http://www.soundvision.com/Info/socialservice/violenceimamwest.asp
An Imam’s Guide for dealing with abusive men, Uzma Mazhar http://www.crescentlife.com/psychissues/imam_dealing_with_abusive_men.htm
Baitul Salaam Shelter Network http://baitulsalaam.net/linkshelters/
Book:  Honour Killing: Stories of Men Who Killed by Ayse Onal, Asma T. Uddin http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/reva/3147/
Honor Killing:  Deaths Should Be an Interfaith Call to Action, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_death_of_aqsa_parvez_should_be_an_interfaith_call_to_action
“Honor Killings”: What Do We Do Now?, Abrar Qadir http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/gva/4585/
Honor killings and Islam, is there a link?, Omer Subhani http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/B/GVA/3240/
Community Pressure as a Deterrent to Injustice, Uzma Mazhar   http://www.crescentlife.com/articles/islamic%20psych/community_pressure_deterrent_injustice.htm
Constructing the Notion of Male Superiority over Women in Islam, Dahlia Eissa http://www.wluml.org/english/pubs/pdf/occpaper/OCP-11.pdf 
The Death of Aqsa Parvez Should Be an Interfaith Call to Action, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_death_of_aqsa_parvez_should_be_an_interfaith_call_to_action/
Death By Culture?:  How Not to Talk about Islam and Domestic Violence, Zareena Grewal http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/death_by_culture_how_not_to_talk_about_islam_and_domestic_violence/ 
Does the Qur’an tolerate domestic abuse: interview with Laleh Bakhtiar on Qur’an 4:34   http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2007/07/Does-The-Quran-Tolerate-Domestic-Abuse.aspx
Domestic Abuse by Muslim Men?  Is the 18% Statistic Too Low?, , by Dr. Robert Dickson Crane
Does a bullet kill less than a blade?, M. Junaid Levesque-Alam http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/gva/2950/
Domestic violence within the Muslim American community, Karamah
Domestic Violence: The Numbers, Mother Jones. 
Domestic Violence and abuse in the Muslim community - Resource collection http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/violence_and_abuse_in_the_family/ 
Domestic violence, an Islamic perspective http://www.themodernreligion.com/women/w_dv.htm 
Domestic Violence Prevention & Education in Faith-Based Communities - a resource collection http://new.vawnet.org/category/Main_Doc.php?docid=837
Domestic Violence and Women of Color http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/index.php?p=Domestic_Violence_%26_Women_of_Color&s=369
Domestic violence hurts Muslims too: Stop the hurt now,  Aneesah Nadir, MSW, CISW http://www.soundvision.com/Info/socialservice/stopdomesticviolence.asp
Domestic Violence in the Muslim Community, New Star Family Center http://login.npwebsiteservices.com/starfamilycenterorg/DomesticViolence.asp
Domestic Violence in Muslim Families, Dr. Jeremiah McAuliffe http://www.crescentlife.com/psychissues/domestic_violence_in_muslim_families.htm
Domestic Violence within the Muslim American Community, KARAMAH http://www.karamah.org/domestic_violence.htm
Don’t Hold All Muslims Responsible for Men Who Misuse Quran, Beat Women, Summer Hathout http://www.mwlusa.org/topics/violence&harrassment/domesticviolence.htm
Ending Domestic Violence in Muslim Families, Sharifa Alkhateeb
Imam Mohammed Fadel on honor killings
Family tragedy no time for cultural warfare, Haroon Siddiqui
“God, religion, and family violence”
interfaith resource guide on “Family violence and religion”
FATWAS - Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah issues fatwa condemning honor killings and calling them “repulsive acts” - 40 scholars in Pakistan issue fatwa against honor killings http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1168265536796&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
Honor killing, a crime against Islam http://www.islamawareness.net/HonourKilling/honour_killings.pdf
Honor killing and Islam, Kamran Pasha http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kamran-pasha/honor-killing-and-islam_b_168401.html
Honor killing: condemnations are not enough, Shahed Amanullah http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2086
Honor killing from an Islamic perspective http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543392
Honor killings among Hindus in India http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Honour-killings-and-dowries-continue-to-claim-victims-in-India-18793.html
Honor Killing: Is Violence Against Women a Universal Problem, Not an Islamic issue?, John Esposito http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-l-esposito/violence-against-women-a_b_705797.html
Honor killings and Islam, is there a link?, Omer Subhani http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/a/3240/
Honor killings: always wrong and never Islamic, Rosemary Pennington http://muslimvoices.org/honor-killings/
Honor Killings (and Their Fallout) Come To Britain, Zahed Amanullah http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/b/1830/
Honoring Aasiya, Muna Ali http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/gva/2988/ 
Honoring women, Ameena Jandali http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?Honoring-Women-13224
Islam and Honor Killings. By Imam Zaid Shakir
Interfaith Group Takes New Approach to Domestic Abuse, Rebecca Rosen Lum http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/interfaith_group_takes_new_approach_to_domestic_abuse/
ISCC affiliated Imams Issue Important Fatwa on Honor Killings Misogyny and Domestic Violence http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/fatwa
Islam and Honor Killings, Imam Zaid Shakir http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islam_and_honor_killings/ 
Islamic Perspective on “Honor Killings” and domestic violence, MWL http://www.mwlusa.org/topics/violence&harrassment/hk.html
Fatwa against domestic abuse by Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah http://arabist.net/hatshepsut/?s=domestic+violence
Aasiya Zubair Hassan, Domestic Violence and Islam, Pamela K. Taylor http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/pamela_k_taylor/2009/02/aasiya_hassan_domestic_violenc.html
Honor Killings, Mohammed Fadel PhD, JD http://www.islamawareness.net/HonourKilling/honor1.html
Just Another Honor Killing in the News, Nancy Shehata http://www.patheos.com/blogs/muslimahinprogress/2012/01/just-another-honor-killing-in-the-news.html
The Killing of Aasiya Hassan:  An Open Letter to the Leaders of American Muslim Communities, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_killing_of_aasiya_hassan_an_open_letter_to_the_leaders_of_american_musl/0017187
Khutbah by Sh. Hamza Yusuf http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2009/02/khutba-on-domestic-violence-by.html 
Moving beyond the slogans, Asma Uddin http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2934/
In the name of honor, Zeenat Umar http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?In-The-Name-of-Honor-12780
Murder of Aasiya Hassan: - American Muslims Call For Swift Action Against Domestic Violence, Dr. Hesham Hassaballa http://www.godfaithpen.com/2009/02/american-muslims-call-for-swift-action.html  -  PFP Condemns Beheading of Aasiya Hassan, Wife of Bridges TV Founder http://www.peacefulfamilies.org/pressrelease090214.html
Muslim Women, Domestic Violence and the Role of Education and Awareness Programs, Altaf Husain, MSW, LSW http://www.crescentlife.com/articles/islamic%20psych/muslim_women,_domestic_violence_and_education.htm
Muslims Working Against Domestic Violence, Imam Johari Abdul Malik http://imamjohari.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/muslims-working-against-domestic-violence/
Muslim Council of Britain statement against honor killings
Muslim Women’s League Position Paper on “Honor Killings”
National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence Against Women   http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/petition/petition.php 
Pakistan The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2009, Zubeida Mustafa http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/04-Protecting-women-qs-10
Peaceful Families Project PFP Condemns Beheading of Aasiya Hassan, Wife of Bridges TV Founder http://www.peacefulfamilies.org/pressrelease090214.html 
Qur’an and Hadith on Right to Fight Against Abuse and Violence http://www.crescentlife.com/islamic%20rights/fighting_abuse.htm 
Reflections on Aasiya Hassan’s Murder and Domestic Violence, M. Junaid Levesque-Alam http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/reflections_on_aasiya_hassans_murder_and_domestic_violence/ 
Religiosity Common Among Mothers Who Kill Children
Religion and family violence research team
Religion and Domestic Violence
Religion and Domestic Violence Statistics
Religious extremism article collection
Reflections on Aasiya Hassan’s Murder and Domestic Violence, M. Junaid Levesque-Alam http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/reflections_on_aasiya_hassans_murder_and_domestic_violence 
Rifqa, the Reverend and apostasy, Salam al Marayati http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/3263/
The shame of honor killings in the Muslim world, Hesham Hassaballa http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2309/
Slowly, Muslims Wake Up To The Reality Of Domestic Violence, Shahed Amanullah http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/b/1662/
Robert Spencer & Pamela Geller Turn Another Tragedy Into an anti-Muslim Hate Fest, Sheila Musaji http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/spencer-geller
Strong in Faith and Numbers, Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition Plans Capitol Hill Briefing http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/strong_in_faith_and_numbers_interfaith_domestic_violence_coalition_plans_ca/ 
Teen’s death prompts imam to go on hunger strike
There is no honor in domestic violence, Sikander Ziad Hashmi http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1123878—there-is-no-honour-in-domestic-violence
This cruel sickness, Saraji Umm Zaid http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2745/
What does Islam say about domestic violence? http://www.themodernreligion.com/women/w_abuse1.htm#say
Who’s Afraid of Shariah?, Sumbul Ali Karamali http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?Who-s-Afraid-of-Shariah-13288
Why Muslim Families Should Be Free of Domestic Violence (brochure) http://www.utoledo.edu/centers/eberly/docs/Islam%2520brochure.pdf
Wife Abuse in the Muslim Community, Kamran Memon http://islam.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=islam&cdn=religion&tm=87&gps=148_11_979_638&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.zawaj.com/articles/abuse_memon.html 
Women in chains, Irfan Yusuf http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2274/

list of fatwas against extremism

SOME RESOURCES:

Muslim Women’s Resource Center
Apna Ghar a domestic violence shelter
An Imam’s Guide to dealing with domestic violence
Stand! Against Domestic Violence
Shalom Bayit: Bay Area Jewish Women Working to End Domestic Violence
Faith Trust Institute
Peace and Safety in the Christian Home
Muslim Womens League
Peaceful Families Project. 
Violence is not our culture demands an end to violence against women justified in the name of ‘culture’, ‘religion’ or ‘tradition’.
White Ribbon Campaign
Project Sakinah: Stop Family Violence Now

There are a number of organizations working to stop this epidemic, and there is a list of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and other resources available on the Religion Newswriters site.

QUR’ANIC VERSES

And no soul, as bearer of burden, bears (and is made to bear) the burden of another; and if one weighed down by his burden calls to (another for help to) carry it, nothing of it will be carried by that other, even if he be his near of kin. Qur’an 35:18 This verse makes it clear that no one is responsible for the actions of another.

For that reason, we ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul for other than murder or spreading corruption in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of humanity… Qur’an 5:35