Muslims have an obsession with honour killings - Allah Hu Akbar!

Do you know that honour killings are mostly committed in Muslim regions?

• http://www.photius.com/countries/saudi_arabia/national_security/saudi_arabia_national_security_crime_and_punishment.html 
  

  Well to me it wasn’t a surprise because we are always hearing or seeing certain Muslims blowing themselves up and taking other innocent people with them. In addition, we also hear how some Muslim regions like Saudi Arabia are known as a strict country which emphasizes legal punishments such as death for committing crimes such as adultery, murder, drug smuggling and also one can be executed under certain conditions of raping and committing armed robber
• So you can’t blame the Muslim regions for having a high number of honour killings because their laws are strict and anything seen as immoral would be quickly taken into account. The fact that there legal punishments are so strict and severe shows that people justify honour killings in Muslim regions because they regard the actions or behaviour of the girl or guy as immoral which for them death can easily be justified.
• I believe these people who kill innocent lives have no respect for other people’s life so for them killing a woman or a man because of dishonour doesn’t make a difference.
• Viewing a couple of websites i have come to the conclusion that  most honour killings are carried out in Muslim regions. "Thousands of such killings have occurred in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Palestinian territories, according to the World Health Organization." http://www.truthandgrace.com/muslimhonorkilling.htm
• The websites which indicate that honour killings are popular in the Muslim world are: http://www.islamawareness.net/HonourKilling/honour_killings.pdf
• http://www.mwlusa.org/topics/violence&harrassment/hk.html
• http://www.ccgm.org.au/articles/Articles/ARTICLE-0109.htm

Not all Muslim countries practice this dreadful activity.

• Another useful website which I came across mentioned that “Honour killings happen only to some designated Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, the Gaza strip and the West Bank (Palestine), Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Somalia, Turkey, Iran and some other south and central Asian countries”http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/SKM50702.htm

Looking at this picture doesn’t it make you cringe? Don`t you feel sorry for the woman because I certainly do. Is this Islamic?

Looking through these websites and reading the materials which are provided by the authors the questions which concern me are: 

 Are honour killings just a problem which is faced only by Muslims?

 Or is it a problem which is faced by many, irrespective of being a Muslim.

My reputation is all i have, its time to kill you oh woman !!!

This is my first blog on honour killings in the name of religion. So we all have heard many stories regarding honour and women being brutally killed because they have dishonoured the family. You must be thinking what does she mean by dishonouring the family. Well from this site I realised that “female dishonour is lost through any act which is considered dishonouring in her society there is no way it can be regained. Male and family honour is restored through violence, coercion and killing.” http://www.stophonourkillings.com/node/3773  

After reading this you must be thinking this is ridiculous how can honour be restored through violence. Well I feel the same way but unfortunately this barbaric act happens in our society particularly in Asian societies where religion is seen as a factor contributing to this horrific mass murder of women across the world. “An honour killing is done when some member of the family feels or suspects one of their members is breaking the rules of religion...” http://searchwarp.com/swa679487-Honour-Killings-Certainly-Religion-Seems-To-Have-Misled-The-Religious.htm

While researching this subject online I often found that fathers or families often killed women and justified it on religious grounds. This kind of disturbed me into thinking how can someone’s life be so worthless, isn’t there a place for forgiveness. One of the fathers who killed his daughter said: “Death was the least she deserved...I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers like me and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/11/iraq.humanrights

There are many articles which I found that made me realise that within the Muslim world honour killings were or are committed because of religion. “He was not happy with her lifestyle and wanted her to live within the Muslim religion...” These are the websites or links which i found:

•  http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=21025
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3149030.stm
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/04/girl-buried-alive-turkey

After researching and reading some disturbing and sad stories I was beginning to ask myself is killing someone justified on the basis of keeping a families honour and reputation. Is religion to blame for this? Why doesnt one have the freedom to live their life they want? Does religion encourage this sort of behaviour?