16, May 2006 Honor women
The central theme of Ayaan Hirsi All's
recently published book, "The Caged Virgin,
offers compelling food for thought, namely its 'IT'S NOT TOLERANT
TO TOLERATE intolerance'. This is a valuable lesson that we, as
Indo-Americans, would be wise to follow. Ali, a young member of the Dutch
parliament excoriates her adopted country for responding to radicalized
hostility to women with passivity and indifference. Ali, a victim of
intolerance, escaped from her native Somalia and a planned marriage to a distant cousin, in 1992. Since
arriving in Holland, Ali has demonstrated
enormous courage in voicing her fierce opposition to Islamic customs which dishonors and relegates women
to mere chattels and playthings of their men folk. Ali make a strong
appeal to the Dutch and western world to
intercede on behalf of her Islamic sisters to free them from the bonds of
slavery and persecution. It is encouraging that Holland and other
western nations are taking heed of Ali's message and are perhaps willing to make policy changes to adopt a less tolerant
attitude to religious fundamentalism. Ali articulates a
persuasive message - abandon strict interpretations of the Koran and glorify
God through right thinking and noble actions.
Attempts to silence those who take a
contrary view and oppose a literal interpretation of the Koran is to
enhance negative stereotypical attitudes. Islam is certainly not alone in
subjugating women and proselytizing their faith
at the barrel of a gun. History is replete with appalling acts of violence
committed to force feed Christianity to non-believers. Tens of thousands of
non-Christians perished during the Christian Crusades in a grotesque spectacle
of promoting Christ's universal message of love and tolerance. Christian
missionaries and religious marketing gurus have also been adept at promoting 'one stop' drive through spiritual fast food outlets where the non-believer or sinner is
offered salvation by uttering 'lord
pul chuk maf (forgive me)' and accepting Christ as the gatekeeper to heaven
and - lo and behold - all is forgiven!
More recently, Deepa Mehta's encountered
fierce opposition filming WATER. The riveting movie chronicles the
lives of windows who endure enormous suffering and deprivation on the
demise of their 'saintly male spouses', following the 'sacred religious
text of Manu'. The movie set had to be relocated from Banaras to Sri
Lanka after religious fanatics destroyed the
movie set. It is a national shame that our society tolerates the cruel and archaic custom which imprisons a
staggering 43 million widows to unnecessary suffering. The widows are
forced to shave their heads, and discouraged
from appearing in public lest their 'impure' presence or indeed their shadows should defile the public at large.
Alas, these 'children of God' are
given three choices according Manu, die on the husbands pyre, marry the deceased's younger brother, or live in
isolation in a widow's home. Often these women are loaned out for sexual favors
to generate additional revenue.
It is time for enlightened Indians to
demonstrate their utter revulsion to these grotesque
practices which sadly are sanctified by religious texts written by men to
undermine the basic human rights of widowed women.
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