Dove World Outreach Center

Noor Faleh Almaleki died last week. Her father ran over her with a jeep. Noor was too American, too Western, so in defense of his honor, his family's honor, he killed her. This is an Islamic custom, condoned by their own Holy Book, by Moslem teaching, and Moslem leaders around the world. If a Moslem does not practice this himself, he will not condemn it. Women are simply not valued in Islam.

Rifqa Bary converted to Christianity and her father has threatened to kill her for this (though he denies this). She fled to Christian friends in Florida, but has now been returned to Ohio, but not to her father yet. Dramatic testimonies made public on youtube, the battle of internet and mainstream media coverage to either present the truth or twist her story in favor of her parents, and the questionable treatment of Rifqa by government agencies, raise major issues of civil rights. Are we loosing this here in the United States to Islam? If you cry, "Discrimination!" you are the ones attacked--with the same label. We understand that here. 

We also understand that Islam teaches that women are crooked and inferior.** Not all Moslems may feel this way, but it is in their teaching. Women are not viewed with the same basic human dignity as men. They are treated as a men's possessions.

The result of these views? Zainab, on the left in this picture with a friend, was killed by her family, along with two sisters, in Ontario, Canada, July 2009. The story is here.

Tulay Goren's story is told here. She was killed by her British father in 1999.

Where Islamic Law is enforced, women do not have legal equality. Their testimony is worth half that if man's. The inheritance of a daughter is half that of a son's. Men may marry very young girls, may have several wives, and temporary wives. They may divorce with just one word spoken. In May 2008, researchers estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 Muslims were living in polygamous arrangements in the United States.*  So you see that the attitude towards women that we thought was just to be seen in the Middle East and North Africa still, is following Moslems to the West. 

Mujde, seen here in a beautiful golden gown, was Killed by her husband in Germany in 2008.

And more recently in Canada, these girls, pictured with their family, were killed in 2009.

Amina and Sarah were killed by their father in 2008.

And there are many more stories of tragic honor killings in the West. But long before it comes to an honor killing, if this does happen, how do Moslem women cope, how do they feel about Mohammed's opinion that they are deficient in intellect and faith, and that wife beating has divine sanction?

We are opening here at our church a shelter for battered and abused Islamic women. Is there really a need for that? Yes. We know of many cases where women would have welcomed support and shelter because of their plight in Islam.

Because of our western laws here, abuse against Moslem women may be more hidden, but we know it exists. And their stories echo those told of these women in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. 

"In August 2009, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl had been hiding for 10 days in her aunt's house after her father married her off to a man of 80. In response to this report, a Saudi columnist contended that child bride marriages were incompatible with Islamic values and that they violated the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory." The child was returned to the 80 year old husband. 

Posted Oct 29, 2009, on an MSNBC blog: Afghan Girls Burn themselves to Escape Marriage. Be sure to watch the dramatic video there. The French nurse explains why the women do this. 

"She is here only to wash, to clean, to give baby … and nothing more. If they have no freedom, no possibility to study, to be considered like nothing, it’s very, very difficult." 

Escaping from Islam may be very difficult for you, but if you want to take this chance, we believe God will help you and you can contact us for support. 

**Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran, Chapter 9 "The Koran on Women: Crooked and inferior."

*p.170, Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran.