You Don't Say: NYS Beheadings May Have Been Honor Killing

Chalk one up to the blatantly obvious. There's nothing honorable about honor killings, and yet they continue all over the world on a regular basis. They are far more uncommon in the United States, but from time to time such criminal acts do make headlines.

In this case, it's a particularly brutal honor killing where the man beheaded his wife.

The gruesome death of Orchard Park resident Aasiya Zubair Hassan — who was found decapitated — and the arrest of her estranged husband are drawing widespread attention, as speculation roils about the role that the couple’s religion may have played.

Muzzammil Hassan, 44, was arrested Thursday and charged with second- degree murder after telling police his wife was dead at the office of their television station in the Village of Orchard Park.

While Muslim leaders have urged against applying cultural stereotypes to the crime, advocates for women linked the killing to attitudes in Muslim societies.

“This was apparently a terroristic version of honor killing, a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men,” said Marcia Pappas, New York State president of the National Organization for Women.

She decried the scant national media attention paid to the story, which broke the same day as the commuter plane crash that killed 50 people in Clarence.

While domestic violence affects all cultures, Muslim women find it harder to break the silence about it because of a stigma, she said.

“Too many Muslim men are using their religious beliefs to justify violence against women,” she said.

Women are treated little better than chattel under Islamic law, and misogyny is part and parcel of Sharia. Offenses that could trigger honor killing include appearing in the presence of other unrelated men or behaving in a way that Islamists deem inappropriate.

In this case, Aasiya Zubair Hassan may have been brutally murdered because she was seeking a divorce from her abusive husband, Muzzammil. There had been numerous reports of domestic violence, so it is also possible that she was murdered simply because she disobeyed her husband.

What makes this all the more egregious is that Muzzammil Hassan is the founder of Bridges TV, a Muslim agitprop broadcast network funded by the Saudis to spread the message about Islam. I guess Muzzammil knew what to do about his wife since Sharia allows husbands to beat their wives for being disobedient.

It is also good to see that the National Organization of Women and other womens rights groups are finally starting to speak out against the honor killings and violence against women in the Muslim community. Faster please.

The story is also starting to generate international press and more media coverage as details of the brutal murder come to light.

Women on Women reports the details, but seems to get the concept of honor killings and who is actually shamed wrong.

Indeed it’s not, but often times these beheadings and other such crimes are often also ironically referred to as "honor killings" when linked to the Muslim culture. The irony? They bring dishonor upon the perpetrators, their families, their communities and their religion.

The perpetrators, families and their communities do not feel any dishonor from murdering those who have violated the Islamic laws - disobeying the husband being a prime example. They believe they have done nothing wrong. It is wishful thinking and projection to write that they are somehow dishonored.

If honor killings truly brought dishonor to those who committed the acts, the families involved, and the greater community, you would see more outreach and outspoken opposition to the practice, but for much of the world, this is a way of life that is not going to change because it comes from the Koran itself and if it is written in the Koran, any attempts to alter the definitions or meanings can lead to being threatened with apostasy (itself punishable by death).

UPDATE:
AP reports that Muzzammil Hassan was a gentle sort of guy and dismisses the idea of this being an honor killing because it is uncommon in the US. Sadly, the AP doesn't quite follow the growing trend of honor killings in the US and that the victims aren't always wives, but the daughters and girlfriends - but the brutal deaths are no less horrific. Charles at LGF highlights a very damning portrait of honor killings, the motivations, and the rising numbers in the West and how Islam plays a strong role in a report by Phyllis Chesler.