When will Muslims protest this????

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2009
When will Muslims protest this????
59
Mon, 09-14-2009 - 2:06pm

((Yemeni girl, 12, dies in painful childbirth

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.

Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.

Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are commonplace in Yemen, especially in the Red Sea Coast where tribal customs hold sway. Hodeidah is the fourth largest city in Yemen and an important port.

More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18 -- many times to older men, some with more than one wife, a study by Sanaa University found.

While it was not immediately known why Fawziya's parents married her off, the reasons vary. Sometimes, financially-strapped parents offer up their daughters for hefty dowries.

Marriage means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. And often, parents will extract a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

The issue of Yemeni child brides came to the forefront in 2008 with 10-year-old Nujood Ali.

She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age))

Muslims around the world will gather to protest a stupid Danish cartoon, but will do nothing to stop atrocities like this. Why do Muslims around the world allow these gross violations of human rights? Why does America and other civilized countries allow this to continue?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2007
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 9:10am

THANK YOU!!


I couldn't have said it any better myself. Who are any of us to judge? Working for change and acceptance is one thing, condemning an entire religion is quite another.


My aunt and my grandmother married at 16, my greatgrandmother at 13. I went to college with a number of Islamic women. Clearly, if they were in college, in the US, then their families weren't extremist.


As far as the "silly cartoon" goes - if an Islamic artist had portrayed all Christians as extreme

~Heather~

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2009
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 10:57am

((My boss is a Muslim woman from Iran. She has 4 daughters. They are happy, healthy girls being raised to be strong-minded women.))

I wonder why they chose to live in America rather than their home country of Iran. You should ask them.

((I have another Muslim co-worker from Ethiopia. She is by no means treated badly by her husband. ))

Again, you should ask them why they live in America and not in Ethiopia.

Countries that are ruled by Islamic Law are usually very troubled countries. There is little or no peace and tolerance in these countries. Most still live in the 6th century. Most don't allow women to be educated. Many still perform genital mutilation on girls, especially in Africa. Yet the educated Muslims remain silent. Many educated or well off Muslims immigrate to the west to lead a better life for their families.

Do these educated and well off Muslims not think it is important to remain in their homeland and change the barbaric and backwards ways of thinking? Why do they leave the country instead of trying to change the "culture"? When is someone, anyone, going to demand change? Nothing has changed in these cultures for centuries because nobody will do anything about it.

By making excuses and turning a blind eye stating it isn't any of our business and we should clean up our own backyard will do nothing to change this barbaric culture. Only by bringing it out in the open and discussing it will attitudes begin to change. Only when people know what truly goes on and the horrors that the women and girls in these countries must endure will people begin to be active and demand change.

There are a few brave women who are bringing these barbaric Islamic laws into light. Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote a book called "Infidel". It's an excellent read and really opens your eyes. She is now a huge target and many Islamic extremists want her dead for writing the book. She has had a few attempts on her life and has had many death threats.

The big problem is that anyone that is a Muslim that brings these things into light are usually punished in some way, either killed or their family members are killed. This has to stop.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2009
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 11:01am

<>

So what is your solution to this problem? How are you propose making it stop?




Edited 9/16/2009 11:06 am ET by nvshannon
Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 11:12am

They are physicians. They came here for training and jobs, NOT because they feared being women in their own country. In fact, as soon as the Ethiopian doctor finishes her fellowship, she is returning to her homeland to treat children with AIDS.


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Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 11:26am

Islamic EXTREMISTS. You said it yourself. EXTREMISTS. They are NOT the whole of the Islamic religion. There are extremists in every religion; people who go over the edge in their beliefs.


If there are women who understand this culture and are working to shed light on the bad parts, I think that's wonderful. I think it will

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-21-2009
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 11:37am

((We can empathize with the situation and root for changes, but it's not our right to walk in and change a society of people.))

I never said it was OUR right to walk in and change a society of people. I was asking why the Muslims in these countries don't work to change it. They do nothing. They remain silent. Why????

When someone tries to shed light on the problem, like me, I am shut down. I am told I have no right to even question the atrocities that occur and it is none of my business.

Why does nobody, and I mean nobody, want to work to change things? Obviously, nobody in those countries will do anything to help those poor women....if we don't try...do we just leave them to their fate? Do we just turn a blind eye?

Is it okay for girls in Afghanistan to have acid thrown on their faces because they dare to go to school? Is it okay for teachers to be executed because they dare to teach girls? Is it okay for women to be beaten for daring to laugh in public? Is it okay for girls genitals to be mutilated just so her society can view her as "pure"?

This is okay with you? Or do you feel it's none of your business and not up to you to do anything about?

WHEN is somebody, anybody going to do something???? We are more concerned about the dogs that Michael Vick killed than all the women and children being brutalized and killed in these countries! What's wrong with this picture?????

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2009
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 11:41am

<>

We can do something about it in our country with our laws. We can't do a darn thing about it in someone else's country.

Side note, I don't think anyone "shut you down" in this thread. I think it is safe to say that none of us like what is happening to women and children in other countries, but really, what do you want us to DO about it?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 12:17pm

***I think it is safe to say that none of us like what is happening to women and children in other countries, but really, what do you want us to DO about it?
***


I don't like a lot about what happens to women and children in OUR country. Domestic abuse, sexual slavery, child prostitution, rampant pornography.



iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2009
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 12:19pm
You make an excellent point.
Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 09-16-2009 - 12:48pm
I read something recently written by a Muslim woman who was in her early 20's who grew up in the US. I'll try to remember what it was and post it but she said she was expected to cover up when she went back to where her parents were born and people thought it was so oppressive but it was just as bad here where girls are taught to be sexy and be sexual at younger and younger ages. Is it worst to be expected to cover your head, or worst to be expected to be unhealthily skinny and bare your body? Some of these young girls at the mall scare me, as a mother.