'Honor' Killings: A Tale of Two Cities

February 19, 2007
Assyrian International News Agency Guest Editorial

(AINA) -- Baghdad: Iraqi Soldiers raid the house of Luana, a 22 year-old Assyrian Christian, on pretense of searching for insurgents. Luana lives with her brother, her family having immigrated to Sweden. Her brother is not home at the time of the raid. The soldiers ask unusual questions, give her strange looks. Two days later one of the soldiers returns, enters her home, places his hand over her mouth and threatens to wait for her brother and kill him if she makes a sound. He drags her to the bedroom and rapes her. When finished, he instructs her not to file a police report else he will kill her brother.

When Luana's brother Khalil returns that night she tells him everything. He immediately brings her to the police station and reports the incident. The police are uncooperative; after two hours the brother and sister return home despondent, knowing the rapist will not be brought to justice. Luana says, "Khalil cried more than me because he couldn't believe that his sister had suffered such abuse while he was away and the rapist would not be charged." (read the story in her own words).

Damascus: 16 year-old Zahra, a Muslim, dies at a hospital in Damascus. Having discovered that her father was involved in an extra-marital affair, a family "friend" blackmailed Zahra into running away with him, threatening to expose her father and have him killed.She agreed to go with him. Her family pursued them, but the police found them first. They arrested the man, and he faces 15 years in jail for the kidnapping and rape of a minor. Zahra was placed in a shelter for nine months, during which her family attempted to regain custody of her three times. The shelter refused on the grounds that the family could not guarantee her safety.

The family asked a cousin to marry Zahra, to "restore her honor." The cousin agreed. When both families came to the shelter to formalize the marriage, her father signed a sworn statement guaranteeing that neither he nor anyone in the family would harm Zahra. They married and moved into an apartment. One month later Zahra's brother came to visit and on the third day, when the husband was away and as Zahra slept, he stabbed her (read the full story here).

What Civilization Do You Belong To?

I can think of no clearer example of this, the stark contrast between Christendom and Caliphate, Christianity and Islam, than the above stories. Both Assyrians, who have been Christians since 33 AD, and Arabs/Muslims, are from the Middle East, yet the diametrically opposite reactions of the brothers in these cases can only be explained by their religion.

What does the Assyrian brother do? He follows the example of his master and the teachings of his faith, he shows compassion, he loves his sister unconditionally; he loves her for who she is, as an individual. What does the Arab brother do? He follows the example of his master and the teachings of his faith, he shows no mercy, he loves her conditionally, so long as she does not bring "shame" to the family; he does not look at her as an individual, she is property of the family and can be disposed of if she becomes a liability.

The Assyrian brother takes his case to the police, trusts in the rule of the law of the State, even though it fails him. The Arab father signs an oath and breaks it, putting Islamic law and vigilante justice above the law of the land.

The basis of Western civilization is in Christianity. Jesus Christ was the first feminist. What more powerful examples can there be than that of Mary and Mary Magdalene? Jesus was the first secularist. He understood the distinction between Caeser and Heaven. Contrast that with the abject treatment of women in Islam, where a man is allowed to marry four and one half women (a black woman counts as one half), where Muhammad, at the age of 53, consummated his marriage to Aisha at age 9 (the basis of the current law in Iran that allows marrying a girl as young as 9). As for secularism, in Islam there is no such thing, the State is the religion and the religion is the State.

An Assyrian born in Baghdad will have more in common with an American, a European, an Australian, a Canadian, a New Zealander -- to wit, anyone from Christendom (the West) -- than with an Arab/Muslim, even though he comes from the same land as the Arab, because he is raised with the same Christians values that are the basis of Western civilization. We tend to take these values -- freedoms and liberties, I call them -- for granted, but we must realize that we can lose them if we allow our civilization to be overrun.

We are in a protracted struggle with Islam for our very civilization. Each one of us must ask: to what civilization do I belong? What am I willing to do to defend my way of life? Am I prepared to accept living under Sharia (Islamic law)? These are not esoteric and fanciful questions, the struggle has been hoisted upon us; the challenge has been given. Many people in the West understand what is at stake, many don't; many (particularly on the Left) are either dumb-struck, like a deer blinded by a bright light, or have a vitriolic hatred of the West and Christianity, the very civilization that gave them life and the liberty to be "above it all." To this last group I say, if you hate your civilization so much, go live in Saudi Arabia.

This is not a Republican or Democratic, Left or Right issue. If we lose our civilization, if the West falls, there will be no Republicans or Democrats, no Left or Right to speak of. This struggle transcends all ideologies within the West.

We must prevail in this struggle not only to save our way of life, but to save the Muslims from the tyranny of their religion, to bring them to a better life, to make sure that "honor" killings and all other nefarious Muslim practices (such as female genital mutilation) are never heard of again.

By Ashur Shirsha

Ashur Shirsha, an Assyrian from Iraq, is a contributing columnist to AINA. He lives in Prague.