{"id":239,"date":"2008-06-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.wordpress.com\/2008\/06\/18\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/"},"modified":"2012-01-21T14:28:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T18:28:08","slug":"sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/","title":{"rendered":"sexuality and women’s honor: there isn’t a link"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This was written by Faith and originally published at <\/span>Muslimnista<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The NY Times <\/em>published an article today titled \u201cIn Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity\u201d<\/a>. The article discusses how some Muslim women are surgically reconstructing their hymens before marriage to give the illusion that they\u2019re virgins. The reason why their virginity is connected to their honor has nothing to do with Islam, however, but rather with culture (even in various Muslim cultures, the degree to which this is the case varies among different classes, political affliations, etc.). Also, Muslims are not the only people to connect sexuality to honor or to do this procedure (anyone heard of born-again virgins doing the same thing?). That is why the title of the article is so misleading. Of course, the Qur\u2019an commands chastity from women, but what is often missing from these conversations is that the Qur\u2019an also commands chastity from men. This is an incredibly important point that the Times<\/span> never asserts. I think this shows that chastity from the Qur\u2019anic POV is not<\/em> connected to honor and control of women\u2019s sexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n

An even more important point is that the Qur\u2019an unequivocaly speaks out against connecting women\u2019s honor with their sexuality<\/a>. As was previously discussed on the blog, the Qur\u2019an makes it difficult, if not impossible, to even prosecute for zina<\/span> since most people do not have intercourse in front of four witnesses. In addition, the Qur\u2019an also forbids speculating on a woman\u2019s sexuality. So you can\u2019t even start spreading rumors about it. Thus, a woman\u2019s virginity should be a non-issue for Muslims, just as a man\u2019s virginity is never an issue. Which is why it is so disturbing that these women have to prove to their spouses and their families that they are still virgins.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

One Muslim born in Macedonia said she opted for the operation to avoid being punished by her father after an eight-year relationship with her boyfriend.
\n\u201cI was afraid that my father would take me to a doctor and see whether I was still a virgin,\u201d said the woman, 32, who owns a small business and lives on her own in Frankfurt. \u201cHe told me, \u2018I will forgive everything but not if you have thrown dirt on my honor.\u2019 I wasn\u2019t afraid he would kill me, but I was sure he would have beaten me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her father doesn\u2019t even have the right to do this. Unfortunately, Muslim clerics and leaders haven\u2019t done much to inform Muslims of this. This was seen in the last quote of the article about the French Muslim couple who had their marriage annulled because the wife was not a virgin:<\/span><\/p>\n

The lives of the French couple whose marriage was annulled are on hold. The Justice Ministry has sought an appeal, arguing that the decision has \u201cprovoked a heated social debate\u201d that \u201ctouched all citizens of our country and especially women.\u201d At the Islamic Center of Roubaix, the Lille suburb where the wedding took place, there is sympathy for the woman. \u201cThe man is the biggest of all the donkeys,\u201d said Abdelkibir Errami, the center\u2019s vice president. \u201cEven if the woman was no longer a virgin, he had no right to expose her honor<\/em>. This is not what Islam teaches. It teaches forgiveness.\u201d (emphasis mine)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The vice president got it right but got it wrong at the same time. Yeah, her husband shouldn\u2019t have put her on blast, but her honor isn\u2019t connected to her virginity or lack thereof, nor is it the husband\u2019s place to forgive her. We need more scholars and more Muslim leaders to emphasize this point! One, a woman\u2019s sexuality is no one\u2019s business! Two, it has no bearing on her honor or her worthiness as a spouse or a person. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, it was disappointing that the Times<\/em> did not delve into the theological issues surrounding this issue. Frankly, they had an obligation to, since they linked Islam to this issue in the article. The paper, especially with its prestige, had the obligation to consult Muslim scholars, especially jurists, on this issue\u2013yet they took the easy road and just connected Islam to women\u2019s sexuality simply because the women in the article are Muslim. There was no examination of culture in this practice. Islam is just assumed to be the<\/em> variable causing this practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article also exoticizes Muslim women once more by constantly comparing their \u201cliberation\u201d in Western circle vs. their \u201csexual repression\u201d in Muslim circles. As mentioned earlier, this phenomena isn\u2019t limited to Muslim women<\/a> nor is it limited to women from non- Western backgrounds<\/a>. Women in all<\/em> patriarchal societies have to deal with their sexuality being linked to their honor. It\u2019s a horrible double standard and one that the Qur\u2019an certainly does not support.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled \u201cIn Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity\u201d. The article discusses how some Muslim women are surgically reconstructing their hymens before marriage to give the illusion that they\u2019re virgins. The reason why their virginity is connected to their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nsexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled "In Europe, Debate Over Islam and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"sexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled "In Europe, Debate Over Islam and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah Media Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-18T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-01-21T18:28:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/\",\"name\":\"sexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-18T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-21T18:28:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled \\\"In Europe, Debate Over Islam and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"sexuality and women’s honor: there isn’t a link\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah Media Watch\",\"description\":\"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"sexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link","description":"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled \"In Europe, Debate Over Islam and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"sexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link","og_description":"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled \"In Europe, Debate Over Islam and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/","og_site_name":"Muslimah Media Watch","article_published_time":"2008-06-18T07:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-01-21T18:28:08+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/","name":"sexuality and women's honor: there isn't a link","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-06-18T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-21T18:28:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"This was written by Faith and originally published at Muslimnista. The NY Times published an article today titled \"In Europe, Debate Over Islam and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/06\/sexuality-and-womens-honor-there-isnt-a-link\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"sexuality and women’s honor: there isn’t a link"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/","name":"Muslimah Media Watch","description":"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}