Kenneth Lasson
Jewish Times, March 27, 2009
When the decapitated body of Aasiya Zubair Hassan was found early last month in Orchard Park, N.Y., there was widespread speculation that the gruesome death was an “honor killing” based on Islamic religious or cultural beliefs. The dead woman had recently filed for divorce from her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, whom police promptly arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
It is, of course, ironic that the defendant had founded a Muslim-American television station to help fight Muslim stereotypes and noteworthy that the Muslim community strongly protested suggestions that the murder was either motivated or condoned by Islamic tradition.
But there is good reason to believe so.
At least three similar murders have occurred in the United States over the past year and thousands have been reported worldwide.
As unfathomable as it is to Western minds, “honor killing” occurs frequently. Though largely a vestige of traditional patriarchy and not explicitly approved by Islamic law (Sharia), it remains part of the fundamentalist culture. In that world, a man’s honor consists of two primary components: his reputation, as determined by his own actions in the community, and the chastity or virtue of the female members of his family.
When the latter is threatened because of the perceived sexual misconduct of a female member of the family, many believe the family’s honor can be regained only by doing away with the person at fault. The decision to kill is often sanctioned by a group of family elders. The deed is usually performed by a relative — a husband, brother, uncle, father or son of the woman who allegedly sullied the family’s honor....
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