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AIBU?

To wonder why so many honour killings happen in Islamic countries when Islam preaches peace?

999 replies

Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:11

Also, how could a parent who loves their child consider killing them for honour, or do the people that commit them not really love their children?

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gordyslovesheep · 02/11/2012 21:18

because bad people exist in all communities - 2 women a week die in the UK as a result of domestic abuse

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lovebunny · 02/11/2012 21:20

i don't know whether to answer or just ignore because i think its a mischievous thread.
i'll go with 'answer'.

i think people are very conscious of the family's reputation. if a family member brings shame, and the rest of the family do nothing about it, that brings more shame. the only way to cleanse the reputation is to punish the wrongdoer.

this doesn't just happen in Islam. Sikhs and Hindus have also been in the news for it. and didn't Christian girls get bricked up in the walls of their homes, in the past? i'm sure i've heard of that. not to mention the ones more recently put into mental homes and the 'care' of nuns for having relationships of which their families didn't approve, or for having babies out of wedlock.

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TeaBrick · 02/11/2012 21:20

All religions preach peace, but murders happen everywhere. People kill their own children in this country too, maybe not for the same reasons, but they still do.

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gordyslovesheep · 02/11/2012 21:21

Lovebunny I felt that as well Hmm

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kim147 · 02/11/2012 21:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:28

No, I'm not being mischievous. It is a genuine post.

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chunkymunk · 02/11/2012 21:30

In my opinion this is cultural, not Islamic. However the lines are blurred.

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:31

I'm not trying to trick anyone into saying anything politically incorrect, I just wonder how the feeling of shame (or what other people think) can be so strong that someone would kill their own child because of it.

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FreakySnuckerCupidStunt · 02/11/2012 21:31

For the same reason that Christians have committed atrocities against other Christians (and everyone else) despite the fact that the New Testament is lovey dovey; bad people will do bad things and they will always find a way to interpret their Holy Books in a way that justifies what they do. This is not a problem specific to Islam, this is a problem specific to the human race.

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:32

I agree it is probably more cultural, although as you said, the lines are blurred

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:35

But this is presumably mentally sound families killing their own children because their children have embarrassed them.

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FreakySnuckerCupidStunt · 02/11/2012 21:36

I doubt anyone who kills their child because they've embarrassed them is 'mentally sound'.

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:38

I doubt anyone who kills their child because they've embarrassed them is 'mentally sound'

So do you think their religion /culture has driven them to insanity?

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gordyslovesheep · 02/11/2012 21:42

there is usually a history of domestic abuse and control in families that do this though - they are not nice, normal families - they are dominated be people who want those within to do as they say and behave - and they will use violence to achieve that

it's really not as simple as 'I am ashamed so I will kill you'

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aldiwhore · 02/11/2012 21:44

Well people murder people in the UK for no reason whatsoever even though our laws say it's wrong.

What is your point?

YANBU to think it crazy that people kill people despite knowing it's wrong.

YABU to think only Muslims do it.

People kill people, sometimes for some misguided honour (No, I don't get that at all) sometimes because they looked at them funny in a bar (don't get that either).

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FreakySnuckerCupidStunt · 02/11/2012 21:47

I think it can drive people make insane, stupid and unreasonable decisions - I don't think it makes them insane. Being mentally unstable does not automatically equal being insane.

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WorraLiberty · 02/11/2012 21:50

It's cultural, it's barbaric and it has to stop.

That's it really.

You can bring up all sorts of other statistics about other people being killed etc...but to stay on topic honour killings are wrong and I'm glad the perpetrators are being caught and imprisoned.

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:51

aldiwhore - yes of course I realise this, but my point is that these are family members killing their own children because they have brought shame to their family

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maddening · 02/11/2012 21:51

I think it's not that it's any person but how could you do that to your own child. Yes people kill their own children all over the world for many other reasons but there's usually something badly wrong in those parents' thinking e.g. psychosis, major personaility disorders and severe mh problems - but in a sane person doing it for embarrassments sake is something I'm sure all of us cannot comprehend.

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Mooblies · 02/11/2012 21:55

I am not being mischievous and of course I don't think that all muslims are potential 'honour killers'.

I am just wondering what can drive a family to kill their own children because they are worried what other people will think of their 'shameful' act.

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gordyslovesheep · 02/11/2012 21:57

Worra has a point though

the whole family doesn;t kill btw - usually one person does and the family cover it up

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SoleSource · 02/11/2012 22:18

Yanbu poor Banaz (sp?)

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Softlysoftly · 02/11/2012 22:25

Because they misuse their religion, corrupt it, twist it and use it to control. The culture is all about honour, the religion is not.

Those individuals with a propensity to violence and control issues commit killings they dub "honour" but are actually lashing out at someone who they can't control.

In the UK (a nominally Christian country) men kill wives and children (some women do too) who won't do as they are told, because we are less religious they are called "DV murders" and can be treated as individual cases. It's all about semantics.

And they are all bastards.

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lovebunny · 02/11/2012 22:32

the New Testament is lovey dovey
?Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ??a man against his father, a daughter against her mother a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law? a man?s enemies will be the members of his own household.?
Matthew 10:34-36

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LimeLeafLizard · 02/11/2012 22:41

Have you looked for any books on this subject? MN seems a strange place to 'research' something like this. A poster's first guess answer is unlikely to be accurate.

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