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74 The Fraud of Islam

of the Koran, Islamic law (the Sha'ri'ia) or the treatment of women in Moslem countries. Moslems
generally avoid discussing the topic of women with "infidels" -- with good reason. In Islamic soci-
eties women are regarded and treated as beasts of burden, or merely childbearing machines, with no
rights whatsoever.

Saudi Arabia and the late unlamented Taliban's Afghanistan, both good examples for Mos-
lem regimes, forbid women to drive and restrict them to certain menial occupations. Further,
women must be veiled in public. The claim that "no Moslem girl can be forced to marry against her
will" is simply false. In patriarchal Islamic society, the father -- not the bride -- chooses the hus-
band; no one ever considers that the bride's opinion has any merit. As noted in the British documen-
tary, Death of a Princess, the Moslems have executed women who marry against the will of their
fathers.

The Moslems concede the obvious, that Islam permits men to have more than one wife.
Moslem women, however, are not permitted to have more than one husband, and any sexual devia-
tion on their part is severely punished, often by public flogging or death, in a ceremony held every
Friday in every public square.

Many Islamic countries also feature mut'a, or "the law of desire". This system of "temporary
marriage" is akin to legalized prostitution. Under this law, a Moslem man may hire a "temporary
wife" for a fixed amount of money. All the benefits in this system belong to the man, who may hire
as many temporary wives as he please. All children from a "temporary wife" belong to the man. Of
course, a Moslem woman cannot hire a temporary husband. Islamic clergy support the practice of
"temporary wives" and hail its "Koranic roots". This symbolizes the larger truth that, in Islam, the
entire system of the suppression and brutalization of women is seen as of divine origin and bearing
divine approval.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Moslems maintain that Islam "guarantees human rights." The real question is whether
Islam allows, or even recognizes the concept of any human rights whatsoever! The evidence con-
firms that Islam is decidedly hostile to the very concept of human rights. A Moslem Arab delegate
to the United Nations once asserted on record: "the concept of human rights is a degenerate Western
imperialist notion".

An Amnesty International report specifies massive and systematic violations of human
rights in virtually all-Islamic countries. They include: torture, arrest and detention without charge,
cruel and unusual punishment, amputation of body parts, capital punishment for political and reli-
gious dissent, sexual abuse and mass violence against minorities Nowhere in the Islamic world is
there freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and asso-
ciation, or even true freedom of enterprise. Without these precious freedoms, any concept of human
rights is meaningless.

The Berean Voice September-October 2002