Anne of Carversville Supports Lubna Ahmed Hussein & Her Fight Against Flogging Women

I’m reading before writing, but I’m “nailing this page” as we begin tracking the events surrounding the floggings of 10 young women already in Sudan. Thankfully, their agony will not be in vain, thanks to the bravura efforts of journalist Lubna Ahmed Hussein.

This event has occurs in the midst of significant response to my last journal While the World Debates Burqas, Fashionistas Show Beautiful Abayas at Paris’s Georges V Hotel. I am very pleased to have in-depth responses from several Muslim women on this essay and am working to create a go-forward mechanism for more dialogue.

When one take the top off this controversial women’s rights teapot, one topic leads to another. I do think it’s reasonable to argue that this entire subject must be viewed from the top down.

President Obama disagrees with French President Sarkozy that burqas are our business. Today, the subject of sharia law entered our conversation, with the floggings in Sudan.

Moving beyond dress, we have the topic of sharia law, known for being exceptionally harsh in its punishment standards and particularly unfavorable to women. Theoretically, one doesn’t involve the other in a totally fair society, but is this reality? Or do burqas and sharia tend to reinforce each other? (Please note, that I’m using the word burqas. Pixie has done an excellent job of clarifying a lot of the verbiage around Muslim women’s dress. See her comments.)

We think of sharia law operating in Muslim countries, but they are increasingly active in England. If I live in Britain as a Muslim, which law governs me? There is no doubt that British law is more favorable to women and homosexuals, to cite one example. Read: Sharia law UK: How Islam is dispensing its own justice side-by-side with British courts.

I’ve been told that sharia law operates in America, too. Is that true? I will be investigating. And to my new Muslim women friends, do you believe that sharia laws should coexist with the laws of a country like France, Britain, Canada or America? I know so little about this subject.

Lubna Ahmed Hussein explains that the implications of flogging for a Sudanese girl go far beyond the pain of the lash. (See video posted in in Smart Sensuality Women of the recent Pakistan flogging of a young woman.) The young woman and her family are branded as undesirable. In our language, she is now a harlot, hussy or a slut. She is totally undesirable for marriage, with the scars of being flogged. Essentially, she has no reputation left.

At this moment, the French government has condemned the Sudan floggings and supports Lubna Ahmed Hussein’s challenge that she be tried in court. (Please note that several of the women are Christians and theoretically not governed by sharia law, even in Khartoum.)

The American government has said nothing. (Please correct me if I’m wrong in that statement. I see nothing in extensive Google searching.)

President Obama stated in his Cairo speech that we do not tell other countries how to dress, so presumably we support the floggings as being lawful in that country. In all honesty, I’m very confused about our position on women’s rights globally, although I support the Obama Administration.

I will be researching this topic more thoroughly and following Hussein’s story.

You can reach her directly on Facebook and also see what she was wearing when arrested. She has a fan page, so you do not need to be a Facebook member.

Peace, Anne

Note: Back to Lubna, please see Pixie’s comment on the original While the World Debates Burqas, Fashionistas Show Beautiful Abayas at Paris’s Georges V Hotel article. As a devout Muslim woman who wears Hajib, Pixie says that Hussein should not be flogged, that she has not broken Muslim law.

Tues. July 21st. While we wait for translations of Lubna’s writing into English, I’ll share a dispatch from MEMRI, a Middle East Media Research Institute that is publishing/translating many articles out of the Middle East.

On the face of it, I believe that MEMRI is relatively objective in their communications. See article written by Reformist Saudi journalist and human rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar: Saudi Woman Journalist Calls Saudi Arabia “the world’s largest women’s prison.”