Honour killing : the curse of culture

National geographic's documentary on the Pakistan's honour killings was very graphic, and interesting. Women are killed because of the simplest misunderstanding and mistake. This happens only in the rural area of Pakistan, as the journalist found out that the rich and urban population of Pakistan does not do that.

The bad thing is, these people back their actions with the Quranul Karim. They claim all the killing they do is justified by the commandments in the Quran. To my relief, at least the journalist was being fair by mentioning the very people who claims this does not even understand the messages in the Quran as they are illiterate, just like the majority of the people there in the rural area. And they wore a form of serban, with a face full of thick scraggly mustache and beard, and most evidently, yellow rusty teeth. Judging from their appearance, these are truly mukallids, those who follows blindly. They take what their fathers has taught them as Islam laws and practices, without question. Sounds familiar?

Back in the city, a young rich man is marrying his lady, and a party was about to start. The journalist mentioned that these people holds the same faith as the rural people who practices the honour killings, that is Islam. Just when the wedding was about to start, he was shown smoking and drinking beer and even pronouncing it, claiming it makes him calm.

What a sad, misinterpreted portrayal of Islam.

How far off can we deviate from the way of the true religion, when we leave it to culture to dictate the deeds we do and the thoughts we bear, all in the name of Islam. Evidently, the sky is the limit.

Both sides of Pakistan as portrayed in the documentary bears a lot of distortion in the true form of Islam. The cruelty to women is not at all in the teachings of Islam. As a matter of fact, you have to PROTECT your women! PROTECT my fellow muslims, PROTECT! We can have a lenghty discussion on what does the term holds in the application to the modern and ancient environment, but ofr sure, it has nothing to do with killing and maiming your women!


The urban groom was no different. Consuming alcohol is clearly one of the biggest sins in Islam. And yet he was gulping happily to 'make himself calm'. You don't proclaim yourself as a Muslim when you do the thing that Islam highly forbids.

Here's the idea : when you claim to be a Muslim, what ever you do will be regarded as a presentation of your claim. People around the world, for whatever reasons pride themselves as Muslims, and still do things clearly or subtly against it. Truly, this is misleading. By this, the unlearned will see Islam just as 'another religion' and not see the purity, the truth and how Islam truly clicks life in place when practiced thoroughly!

Having said all that, I have to add that even in Malaysia, some of the practices of the muslims are giving out a wrong indication of the true face of Islam. Pick a regular Muslim, and see his habits, his speeches, his acts and his character, and there you have a layman's portrayal of Islam. It's prety inevitable though, in this stereotypical society we live in. Truly, Muslims has to start at the very basic, the very beginning, the very introduction of Islam. How Rasulullah S.A.W portrays it. How he says it in a few words, and how he himself made it clear the beauty and the truth of Islam without saying a word. Islam is a lot more than marrying 4 wives. A lot more than 'moving along with modernity and economics', more than Ignoring Islam as a whole, and practicing what we perceive as Islamic traditionally will not convey the correct message outwards, and verily, marring the quality of Muslim as indicated in the Quran and Sunnah.

Allah knows best.