Part I
Thank Allah for Little Girls
by Jonathan Tuttle
"The average woman is born into near slavery, leads a life of drudgery, and dies invariably in oblivion. This grim condition is the stark reality of half our population simply because they happen to be female." —Findings of a 1985 Pakistani governmental commission investigating the status of women in that country
It is disturbing that many Catholics have adopted a philosophical preference for Islam over Judaism. Furthermore, in some instances, some prominent Catholics have even made the unfortunate suggestion that there is much commonality between the true Faith and the religion of Islam.
I have to believe that in doing so, they have little or no idea what Islam preaches or how its followers manifest their faith in the real world. It's time for an expose of what the Koran and Islamic Law actually teach, and how that teaching is applied by its proponents.
It is not enough to simply say that life for Moslem girls is harsh and leave it at that. Catholics must come to some understanding of what life is really like for young girls in Islamic countries, so no reputable Catholic may ever again make the absurd claim of commonality between the Mohammedan religion and the one, true Catholic Faith.
Forced Mutilation
One grisly practice that is common in most Moslem countries is female circumcision, or, as the Western medical authorities have more aptly named the practice, female genital mutilation (FGM). Without going into graphic detail, this process involves the removal of female genitalia.
According to the World Health Organization, "female genital mutilation is normally performed by traditional practitioners with crude instruments, such as knives, razors, blades and broken glass, usually without anaesthetics." 1 This report finds that, though some girls are mutilated at birth, "most girls are mutilated between the ages of 4 and 12." 2
Not only is this practice completely medically unnecessary, barbaric, and unethical, it carries significant health risks. The WHO report continues:
The practice of FGM often leads to complications. Short term complications include severe pain, shock, hemorrhage, urine retention, ulceration of the genital region and injury to adjacent tissue. Hemorrhage and infection can cause death. Long-term complications include cysts and abscesses, keloid scar formation, damage to the urethra resulting in urinary incontinence, dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse), sexual dysfunction, urinary tract infection, infertility and childbirth complications. 3
Why do Moslems promote a practice which is clearly so damaging? It is seen as a way of controlling sexual appetites. Since a girl who has undergone mutilation experiences no pleasure in the marital act, she has no reason to seek it; therefore, her virginity is preserved until her wedding night. In other words, Moslem men are willing to risk the lives of young girls for no other reason than to ensure the status of their young brides.
It is estimated that between 100 and 150 million women have undergone this dreadful practice, almost entirely within Moslem countries.
Western Moslems and Moslem sympathizers are quick to point out that female circumcision is not required by the Koran. That is true. However, it has long been maintained by many Islamic scholars that Mohammed himself did recommend the practice. Further, the Reliance of the Traveler, a classic manual of Islamic sacred law, states that circumcision is "obligatory for both men and women."
While the practice might ritualistically survive among tribes of other faiths, it thrives in Islamic countries. Many Islamic clerics view it as essential for women, and they tirelessly promote the procedure.
When Egyptian health authorities attempted to ban female circumcision in 1995, they met major opposition from Islamic clerics. Inter Press Service reported that Egyptian Sheikh Yussuf el-Badry, in an attempt to establish Islamic Sharia law, sued the health agency for ordering the ban. Eventually, Egyptian authorities overturned the ban and legalized the practice. El Badry saw this as a major victory for Islam.
Most Moslem women understand the danger of the practice, and it is routinely performed against their wills. Many of these women have attempted to escape before they were mutilated. The best known example of this is the case of Fauziya Kassindja, a Moslem girl from West Africa, who immigrated to the United States.4 Due to her tribulations, the United States government now grants political asylum to those women who are fleeing Islamic authorities in order to avoid mandatory mutilation.
Sentenced to Hell
Another item which makes Islam reprehensible is the protection of men who forcibly violate women. Under Islamic Law, a man cannot be convicted on a charge of rape unless it happens in the presence of four male witnesses who are willing to testify against him. In the course of my research, I have not been able to discover a single instance in which four men testified against one of their own. A Moslem man can freely rape women without worry of conviction, and this happens constantly in Islamic countries. To make matters worse, if a Moslem woman charges a man with rape and she is unable to find four male witnesses to testify against him, she is then charged with fornication. In countries under Islamic law, the punishment for fornication is death.
Further, this situation of a woman facing a fornication charge for a rape committed against her is hardly rare. As a matter of fact, it has been estimated that a whopping 75% of women in Pakistani prisons are there on trumped-up fornication charges5 —and many of them are under ten years old! Simultaneously, the real criminals, the rapists, walk free.
The term "living hell" is often overused. Yet, without an appeal to this cliche, it is difficult to summarize the predicament of young girls in Islamic countries. Had Hobbes' been referring to their lives, he would have been considered prescient with his quip that life is brutish and short. It is impossible to read about these young girls and not be moved by pity.
In many Islamic countries, other than the alleged crime of fornication, the most common crimes are insignificant or nonexistent violations of the Koran, and many of these crimes are punishable by death. A significant percentage of crimes in Islamic countries are capital crimes. Decapitation is common.
Young girls who are sentenced to death in Islamic countries present a problem for Islamic authorities. Islamic clerics and rulers, unsatisfied with a mere penalty of death for the accused, wish to ensure that these women will suffer eternity in hell as well. However, quite a number of the accused girls are virgins, and Islam teaches that virgins go to Paradise upon their deaths. As a solution this problem, in order to ensure the damnation of the accused, Islamic authorities will often order the prison guards to systematically rape female prisoners before they are killed. According to Amnesty International, this practice is widespread in Islamic countries. There is no way of knowing the exact number of such cases, but suffice it to say that under the Khomeini Revolution in Iran, twenty thousand girls and women were executed in the first three years of the Ayatollah's rule.6 And Khomeini was a strict follower of the Koran.
During Khomeini's rule, the minimum age for the death penalty for girls was nine years old, and all these girls were systematically raped before they were executed.
All this to ensure damnation. All under the sanction of law. All because of the teachings of the Koran.
What this all adds up to is a very unpleasant picture. Those girls who are in prison on fornication charges are actually victims of rape. The remaining female prisoners are raped to ensure damnation. It is no exaggeration to say that Islamic countries are nations of rape victims.

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