There is a deeply disturbing trial unfolding in Germany involving another “honor killing.” Asadullah Khan, 51, strangled his 19-year-old daughter to death for bringing dishonor on his Muslim family after she stopped wearing the Islamic head scarf and continued to see her boyfriend and was then caught shoplifting condoms. The father and mother, Sharzia, 41, then dressed the dead body of Lareeb, put the corpse into a wheelchair to bring it to a car, then drove from Darmstadt to a remote forest where they rolled her down an embankment (she was found the next day). Both are charged and the key witness against them is their daughter Nida. The parents are from Pakistan and Khan speaks little German.
Khan admits strangling Lareeb with his bare hands and Shazia admits that they were angry with her after she stayed away from home for several nights and stopping wearing the headscarf. Shazia showed Khan a letter from the police that she was arrested for shoplifting that in her words “At this point it became clear that there was sexual contact. When I showed the letter to my husband he snapped.” Shazia however testified under oath that she did everything that she could to stop the murder but was not strong enough.
However, Shazia has faced damaging testimony from Lareeb’s 14-year-old sister Nida who said that her parents sent her to stay with a relative that night. That morning around 2am Khan went into Shazia’s bedroom and strangled her to death. Nida said that her mother would take part in physically abusing her sister and agreeing to marry her off in an arranged married in Pakistan: “My mama was not suppressed, she could do what she wanted. She used to hit me with a stick. We were never allowed to talk about her [Lareeb’s] boyfriend. My father used to say my sister should be forcibly married in Pakistan,” she told the court.
Lareeb’s boyfriend Raheel, 25, a student and taxi driver, also testified that the couple would beat Lareeb (who he planned to marry). He said that Shazia would beat her with a stick and once pressed her hand against a hot stove. He also said that Khan previously tried to strangle her.
Asadullah insisted on the stand that “I love my wife and my daughters.”
The account is another chilling insight into the plight of women and girls in some conservative Islamic families. While honor killings remain common in some Islamic nations like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and others, it also occurs in the West. Given the freedoms afforded women in the West, this clash of cultures is more intense and more dangerous for these girls. Shazia is the tragic face of that clash of cultures — a girl who found freedoms denied to her in Pakistan only to have her life taken to preserve her father’s twisted sense of “honor.”
Source: IB Times
Lisa N: Thank you for the kind words but I must demur; I am not the smartest person on earth. I hope you won’t be disappointed when I say that but I don’t want to mislead you. It seems like you’re easily misled.
All of those “quotes” are entirely stripped out of context, so it’s difficult to make a fair, objective, and intelligent evaluation of Obama’s views based on them. It’s kinda like you found the Planned Parenthood fetus’-for-sale version of Obama quotes.
Even when you consider them on their face, they still don’t support your argument. For instance, consider #4: …civilization’s debt to Islam. You like math? Thank a Muslim.
OK, so maybe you’re not fan of algebra. Number 5 is absolutely true, Islam does have a proud tradition of tolerance no matter what a bunch of crazies have done under it’s banner. Do you want to be judged by the actions of hate groups like the KKK? Let me rephrase that…I don’t want to be judged by the actions of groups like the KKK.
How about #6? Islam has always been a part of America. Have you ever heard of Thomas Jefferson? He was one of the foremost admirers of Islam in all of history. Take a moment to Google this up. We’ll be here.
And as for America not being at war with Islam? News flash: we’re not. We’re at war with terrorism. We combat hate groups like the KKK with law enforcement agencies like the FBI, we fight ISIL and Al Queada with the US military. Not even your resident kook, DavidM, will tell you that Islam is the enemy. Christianity shares common roots with Islam as an Abrahamic religion. Want another moment to Google?
I could pick them all apart, point by point, but what’s the point. You’re so addled with hatred and prejudice that there’s no getting through to you. You are clearly frightened, of what I do not know, but it is borne of some deep insecurity.
Relax and take a deep breath. Trust me, there’s nothing under your bed except dust
Considering the nature of his culture, he may really believe what he did is an act of love. Germany is a massive entitlement state, so there’s no reason why he should have expected to get caught.
DavidM: You pointed out the obvious, alright, and it has nothing to do with this girl, her tragic murder, or the short-comings of Islam.
You have much in common with this poor girls parents and I am grateful that I do not know you personally. If I had a neighbor like you, I would avoid them like the plague.
Davidm
“Also, you talk like there is something wrong with that culture where parents choose the spouse for their children. That seems kind of closed minded on your part. Cultures are different and we should try to understand them.”
I do understand these cultures. I understand that they create an enormous amount of misery and are backward. I understand that those that don’t believe in their doctrines are often times slaughtered. I understand that the desire of a girl to choose her own husband is perhaps life’s greatest expression of love and freedom. I understand that one can understand a culture and despise it as a result. You might chat with the parents regarding all that they wish for their daughter and how this may even seem exotic to you with some redeeming aspects, when in actual fact it is nothing more than parents denying their children the experience of the creation of their own life.
This obtuse behavior started to go out of fashion about seven hundred years ago in the Christian world. It is an interesting point that Islam is seven hundred years behind the times. If understanding that our society is hundreds of years more advanced, more humane, and more free is ‘closed minded’ then I am happily closed minded. Better to be closed minded than entertaining the idea that it is somehow to the girl’s advantage to have her life designed by parents, parents that would kill her if she developed any ideas of her own. Shame on you. This Kim Davis belongs in one of these cultures. There she could exercise her right to control others.
“Also, you talk like there is something wrong with that culture where parents choose the spouse for their children.”
Understanding the culture and being able to clearly see that some of the aspects of that culture are destructive are two different things. David do you plan on picking your children’s spouses when the time comes? Just curious.
calypso, A bit of history. The “hate America” ilk used to run this place. At least now they are a marginalized minority.
Steg
1, September 30, 2015 at 10:42 am
Awful story. I can’t help but think that with the information presented here, that it was the shoplifting charge of condoms which broke the camel’s back. That’s like, 20 bucks, tops? Mohammed Effin’ Christ, just buy it! Your boyfriend had a job anyway, why couldn’t he do it? Why couldn’t he give you 20 bucks? He was planning to marry you!!
I hope Nida is safe somewhere and remains so.
All good points to which I would add:
(1) Why the F did police send a letter that included the condom detail? Was that necessary?
(2) The girl had a job also, as a dental hygienist, she didn’t need his money. She probably just didn’t want the clerk to see her buy them. Online ordering!
Annie
1, September 30, 2015 at 9:23 am
Also, fundamentalist religious belief is at the root of much strife throughout the world, it’s time that moderate people everywhere recognize the cancer that this extremist ideology is to society at large.
It seems like just last week when Annie was arguing groups shouldn’t be judged by their most extreme members. But for some reason when the subject turns to religion not only is the group responsible but other groups she hates are also responsible.
Oh that was just last week.
These words of Obama’s read like a map to Islam!
T. Hall – Okay know it all and smartest person on earth.
Obama’s quotes on Islam v his quotes on Christians. Tell me again how smart you have to be, to know that Obama isn’t a Muslim. How about we use his own words. . . .
1. “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”
2. “The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer”
3. “We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country.”
4. “As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.”
5. “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.”
6. “Islam has always been part of America”
7. “we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities”
8. “These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.”
9. “America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”
10. “I made it clear that America is not – and will never be – at war with Islam.”
11. “Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.”
12. “So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed”
13. “In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.”
14. “Throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.”
15. “Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality”
16. “The Holy Koran tells us, ‘O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.’”
17. “I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month.”
18. “We’ve seen those results in generations of Muslim immigrants – farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads and build our cities, the Muslim innovators who helped build some of our highest skyscrapers and who helped unlock the secrets of our universe.”
19. “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”
20. “I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story.”
Now, let’s compare those quotes to what Obama has said about Christianity:
1. “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation”
2. “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.”
3. “Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?”
4. “Even those who claim the Bible’s inerrant make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages – the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ’s divinity – are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life.”
5. “The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics.”
6. From Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope: “I am not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union that confers equivalent rights on such basic matters as hospital visitation or health insurance coverage simply because the people they love are of the same sex—nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount.”
7. Obama’s response when asked what his definition of sin is: “Being out of alignment with my values.”
8. “If all it took was someone proclaiming I believe Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins, and that was all there was to it, people wouldn’t have to keep coming to church, would they.”
9. “This is something that I’m sure I’d have serious debates with my fellow Christians about. I think that the difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they’re going to hell.”
10. “I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.”
11. “I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.”
12. “I’ve said this before, and I know this raises questions in the minds of some evangelicals. I do not believe that my mother, who never formally embraced Christianity as far as I know … I do not believe she went to hell.”
13. “Those opposed to abortion cannot simply invoke God’s will–they have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths.”
14. On his support for civil unions for gay couples: “If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount.”
15. “You got into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
16. “In our household, the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology”
17. “On Easter or Christmas Day, my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.”
18. “We have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, and their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own”
19. “All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra— (applause) — as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. (Applause.)”
20. “I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”
I don’t think that Obama is a closet Muslim, although he could be. He simply espouses theological universal-ism, or the idea that all religions have truth in them and somehow all end up in the same place when it comes to eternity.
The problem is that truth, by its very nature, is exclusive. All religions make exclusive claims, that’s not something that’s unique to Christianity. As Tim Keller put it, “All claims are exclusive. The Gospel is an exclusive truth but it’s the most inclusive exclusive truth in the world.”
Obama’s idea of pluralism is an interesting one. He praises Islam for being so “tolerant” and criticizes Christianity for not being accommodating enough to Muslims. He also says that we must not “slander the prophet of Islam.” Yet there is no mention of violent, oppressive shariah law, nor is there any mention of the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Muslims. (crickets. . . crickets)
Obama lauds Islam’s great history yet goes after conservative Christians who want to practice their faith in the public square. Whether it’s Hobby Lobby or Catholic organizations and charities being discriminated against by Obamacare, Obama has shown little tolerance for those groups when it comes to their free exercise of religion or even freedom of speech. This isn’t true pluralism, it’s pluralism on his terms, and it’s disgusting and hypocritical.
DavidM
Once, on a previous post, you exclaimed that you were not religious. Yet here you invoke religious extremes in determining that the girl was disobeying her parents and that that may have given some weight to what the parents did. This is as far from objectivity as one can get. Your attempted end run around objectivity and human rights fell flat. The girl was ostracized by her parents because she was growing up in a free society and not some medieval society where the future, including husbands, is decided by the parents. Read the article.
You obviously like to argue, as do I. Sometimes one can have a valid difference of opinions but in this case you were playing the devil’s advocate. It is as if you were on a debate team and you were given the position of the parents to argue, tough one, hopeless one, inhuman one. These animals killed their child because she wanted to have safe sex. They got nothing. You got nothing. There is nothing here worth preserving. This is what we have been evolving out of, the muck.
issacbasonkavich wrote: “Once, on a previous post, you exclaimed that you were not religious. Yet here you invoke religious extremes in determining that the girl was disobeying her parents and that that may have given some weight to what the parents did.”
I think I have spoken very clearly in the past that I am a theist. More than that, while being educated formally as a man of science, I also have studied theology and classical languages. When I say I am not religious, it means that I am not a member of a religious institution. There is no creed and no social pressure for me to think a certain way. Nevertheless, I hold the Jewish faith in very high esteem and accept their perspective that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God. Therefore, I quoted it as a source of authority. The many religious sects of Christianity and Islam also hold the Ten Commandments in high regard this way, so I do not think I favor any particular religious establishment by speaking this way. I think even most atheists might agree that children honoring their parents is a virtuous thing. Therefore, even if I were a Congressman establishing law, I would not be in violation of the First Amendment by making such an argument because it favors no particular establishment of religion.
issacbasonkavich wrote: “This is as far from objectivity as one can get.”
Well, maybe not all atheists think honoring parents is a virtuous thing. 🙂
issacbasonkavich wrote: “The girl was ostracized by her parents because she was growing up in a free society and not some medieval society where the future, including husbands, is decided by the parents.”
So the parents ostracized her because they came from a society where they had a duty to choose their daughter’s husband? How do you know the daughter did not ostracize the parents? Why did the parents have to find out about her sexual activity from a police report? Why did they have to find out she was a thief that way? It does not sound like she was ostracized by the parents, but the other way around. Also, you talk like there is something wrong with that culture where parents choose the spouse for their children. That seems kind of closed minded on your part. Cultures are different and we should try to understand them.
DavidM: By saying that she should have listened to her parents, you are essentially saying that she got what she deserved. You better hope there is no god.
Lisa N: President Obama is not a Muslim, despite whatever has been fueling your prejudiced views. One need be a liberal to know that, merely educated.
More Muslims have been killed by American forces during his presidency than under Cheney/Bush, just as more Mexicans have been deported by the Obama administration than any other
T.Hall wrote: “By saying that she should have listened to her parents, you are essentially saying that she got what she deserved.”
Not true. There are value statements that apply to the parents as well, but they are so obvious that I thought I would point out the not so obvious.
T. Hall – . . . and I bet you wouldn’t say that if we elected a pro-Christian president. You would be going nuts about the separation of church and state. Hypocrisy abound! I don’t want a Muslim for president, look what the current one is doing to our country. Putin is whipping his butt in strength and military prowess.
“Lisa N: Your comment is exceptionally disappointing. It is provincial. It expresses fear, anger, and is hateful. And that’s looking at it in the best light. It is unAmerican, period.”
I really could care less what you think. I refuse to let a nutty liberal use shame for a kumbaya mentality. Look where that has gotten us!!!
“But Watch Out! Before you know it there will be a Canadian invasion. While saying they only want to ‘share’ their tar sands and employ 2,000,000,000 Americans, they really are after our healthcare.”
Mike,
If Scott Walker had his way, we’d be building that wall on the Canadian border.
And now the “we hate America” chorus strikes up. Which has what to do, exactly with a Pakistani killing his daughter in Germany? Perhaps one-note pianos simply know no other tune.
davidm
“No, my purpose is to infuse objectivity where bias and prejudice abounds. ”
= = =
You sure your purpose isn’t in inject bias and prejudice where objectivity abounds?
Upthread someone said:
“Immigration to any country should be CONTROLLED immigration in order to prevent the character of the existing country to not be swamped in a short period of time, to allow the immigrants to be able to assimilate and to not have the existing citizens to be overwhelmed.”
Damn right! My great-great-grandfather warned us about all the Irish arriving with their tales of ‘woe’ complaining about a few rotten potatoes. Bloody well ruined Boston.
And don’t get me started on the Italians and all their stinky foods and big families and loud fights!
And the Jews! Well, we did show a little bit of brains and pretty well kept them out when they were trying to flee a little trouble in Europe in ’39.
But the Chinese and Japanese really took over the west coast. The old ‘give an inch and they take a mile’. We kindly let them in to build the railroads and then they think they can bring their wives and build families. Damn. West coast farming has never been the same since the Japanese went and ruined it with their ideas about irrigation and other crazy stuff.
Thank gawd I don’t need to warn you about the latest dangers – Mexican rapists with cantaloupe calves, Muslim terrorists; all of them bringing Ebola.
But Watch Out! Before you know it there will be a Canadian invasion. While saying they only want to ‘share’ their tar sands and employ 2,000,000,000 Americans, they really are after our healthcare.
Just one bloody, ruinous invasion after another.
(music- )
We dont want no tent heads runnin round here.
We dont want no tent heads runnin round here.
I dont care what your momma cry
I dont know what folks has died.
We dont want no tent heads runnin round here.
(I heard this song in Texas)