Month: May 2017

Sharia Law has been in the news for years. It’s been a hot topic in politics. An excuse to go to war. An excuse to ban refugees. Sharia Law has become a catch all to what is wrong with those who worship differently than us.

There has been a whole movement from the alt-right media proclaiming that a vote for Obama or a vote for Hilary is a vote for Sharia Law and that women won’t be safe. That women will lose their God given rights if those “evil Muslims” come to this country. They will be raping women in the streets and murdering anyone who opposes them.

I mean the horror! Could you imagine being a woman in this country and not feeling comfortable walking down a dark street at night by yourself… or even with a couple of girlfriends? Could you imagine if, God forbid, you were raped and no one believed you because why would a woman be dressing like that or talking to a man alone? Could you imagine being told not to talk because as a woman you should be seen and not heard? Could you imagine not being able to get certain jobs or if you did being told that you should make less money because your job should be to care for your husband and have babies? It’s unimaginable!

As a society we are great at pointing out other’s flaws without actually looking in the mirror. Perhaps we’ve all watched too many Superman movies and believe that our glass houses are actually made out of Kryptonian crystals and that we are Godlike in them.

Here is a list of Sharia Laws about women.

According to Sharia law:
• A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman is punishable by death.
• A man can marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she is 9 years old.
• Girls’ clitoris should be cut (Muhammad’s words, Book 41, Kitab Al-Adab, Hadith 5251).
• A woman can have 1 husband, who can have up to 4 wives; Muhammad can have more.
• A man can beat his wife for insubordination (see Religion of Peace).
• A man can unilaterally divorce his wife; a woman needs her husband’s consent to divorce.
• A divorced wife loses custody of all children over 6 years of age or when they exceed it.
• Testimonies of four male witnesses are required to prove rape against a woman.
• A woman who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s).
• A woman’s testimony in court, allowed in property cases, carries ½ the weight of a man’s.
• A female heir inherits half of what a male heir inherits (see Errors in Quran).
• A woman cannot drive a car, as it leads to fitnah (upheaval).
• A woman cannot speak alone to a man who is not her husband or relative.

Now I’m not going to lie, some of these are horrendous! But this book was written thousands of years ago. Just like the Bible. It was only a couple hundred years ago that girls as young as 12 or 13 were getting married. Shakespeare’s Juliet was about that age. Women were considered property. They first belonged to their fathers then their husbands. They received no inheritance. They could not own land. In this country they haven’t even been able to vote for 100 years yet.

Christianity has a Mormon sect in which men can take more than one bride, and we
watch them on TV. College guys are getting off… no pun intended… for raping women because “a 20 minute mistake shouldn’t ruin his life.”

There was a hash tag recently #thingsonlychristianwomenhear and most of it was to be expected. Women are here to serve their man. Gee, you’re smart for a women. Up to and including a Pastor asking a husband if he can give the man’s wife a hug. Even our Vice President won’t share a meal with a woman unless his wife is present. The same media that perpetuates how disturbing Sharia Law is the same media that say things like, “Shut up and no your place.” to female co-workers.

Now I’m not saying that we should ignore people who commit crimes by our legal definitions. Beating their wives, having sex with 9 year olds. Clearly those things are wrong and quite frankly disgusting. But just because a book says these things to be true, doesn’t mean ALL Muslims practice them. Just like not ALL Christian men don’t believe:

1. A wife is a man’s property: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17
2. Daughters can be bought and sold: If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. Exodus 21:7
3. A raped daughter can be sold to her rapist: ²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. Deuteronomy 22:28-29
4. Collecting wives and sex slaves is a sign of status: He [Solomon] had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 1 Kings 11:3
5. Used brides deserve death: If, however the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. Deuteronomy 22:20-21.
6. Women, but only virgins, are to be taken as spoils of war: Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, ¹⁸ but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. Numbers 31:17-18
7. Menstruating women are spiritually unclean: ¹⁹ “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. ²⁰ “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²² Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, . . . ³⁰ The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge. ³¹ “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,^[a] which is among them.’” Leviticus 15: 19-31
8. A woman is twice as unclean after giving birth to girl as to a boy: A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. ‘ 3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. 4 Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. 5 If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding. 6 ” ‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. Leviticus 12: 1-8
9. A woman’s promise is binding only if her father or husband agrees: 2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. 3 “When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her. . . . . A woman’s vow is meaningless unless approved by her husband or father. But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. Numbers 30:1-16
10. Women should be seen not heard: Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 1 Corinthians 14:34
11. Wives should submit to their husband’s instructions and desires: Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Colossians 3:18
12. In case you missed that submission thing . . . :  Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:22-24.
13. More submission – and childbearing as a form of atonement: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. ¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. ¹⁵ But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. 1 Timothy 2: 11-15
14. Women were created for men: For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. ⁷ A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. ⁸ For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; ⁹ neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 1 Corinthians 11:2-10
15. Sleeping with women is dirty: No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first-fruits to God and the Lamb. Revelation 14:3-4

If we are going to hold all people responsible for all of what their religion says, then let’s start locking up Christian men as well. Or we could understand that people are individuals. As society we have grown since these books were written, and as people we have a mind to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. Personally I see a lot of wrong in our own society we don’t need to go looking for the Devil in others.