My initial reactions:
(1) This SOUNDS like it has a ring of truth in it, but since they (whoever REALLY wrote the email) quote a person and reference a book, I want to make sure.
(2) I searched about.com's urbanlegends pages and found this this great site.
(http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/religion/a/joys_of_muslim_women.htm).
(3) After realizing that, like most emails I get, this is a TWISTING of truth. Therefore, if I'm going to form an honest opinion, I'm going to have to read the book referenced in the email: Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law by Nonie Darwish. (Amazon.com has this book HERE.)
(4) This will be a better journey if others join me in reading this as well. I invite you to buy or borrow a copy of this book and let me know you're reading it. I'd appreciate a chance to interact and discuss as we 'journey' through it together. (ONE CAVEAT THOUGH: There will be NO new books read by me until AFTER Easter. Or the day after, for that matter!)
THIS is the text of the email as I received it:
Joys of Muslim Women
By Nonie DarwishIn the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as 1 year old and have sexual intimacy with this child. Consummating the marriage by 9.
The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy.Even though a woman is abused she cannot obtain a divorce.
To prove rape, the woman must have (4) male witnesses.
Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives 'at will' and he does not have to say why he has beaten her.The husband is permitted to have (4 wives) and a temporary wife for an hour (prostitute) at his discretion.The Shariah Muslim law controls the private as well as the public life of the woman.In the West World ( America and Britain ) Muslim men are starting to demand Shariah Law so the wife can not obtain a divorce and he can have full and complete control of her. It is amazing and alarming how many of our sisters and daughters attending American Universities and British Universities are now marrying Muslim men and submitting themselves and their children unsuspectingly to the Shariah law.By passing this on, enlightened American and British women may avoid becoming a slave under Shariah Law.
Ripping the West in Two.
Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.
Ripping the West in Two.
Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before immigrating to America in 1978, when she was eight years old. Her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza .When he died, he was considered a "shahid," a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing.. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping shariah law - what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed. Westerners generally assume all religions encourage a respect for the dignity of each individual. Islamic law (Sharia) teaches that non-Muslims should be subjugated or killed in this world.Peace and prosperity for one's children is not as important as assuring that Islamic law rules everywhere in the Middle East and eventually in the world.While Westerners tend to think that all religions encourage some form of the golden rule, Shariah teaches two systems of ethics - one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims. Building on tribal practices of the seventh century, Shariah encourages the side of humanity that wants to take from and subjugate others.While Westerners tend to think in terms of religious people developing a personal understanding of and relationship with God, Shariah advocates executing people who ask difficult questions that could be interpreted as criticism.It's hard to imagine, that in this day and age, Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam or choose to stop being Muslim should be executed. Sadly, while talk of an Islamic reformation is common and even assumed by many in the West, such murmurings in the Middle East are silenced through intimidation.While Westerners are accustomed to an increase in religious tolerance over time, Darwish explains how petro dollars are being used to grow an extremely intolerant form of political Islam in her native Egypt and elsewhere.(In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. And Britain To elect the President by themselves! Rest assured they will do so... You can look at how they have taken over several towns in the USA .. Dearborn Mich. Is one... And there are others....) ( Britain has several cities now totally controlled by Muslims)
I think everyone in the U.S. And Great Britain Should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!It is too bad that so many are disillusioned with life and Christianity to accept Muslims as peaceful.. Some may be but they have an army that is willing to shed blood in the name of Islam.. The peaceful support the warriors with their finances and own kind of patriotism to their religion. While America and Britain are getting rid of Christianity from all public sites and erasing God from the lives of children the Muslims are planning a great jihad on America .. (and Britain ) ..
This is your chance to make a difference...! Pass it on to your email list or at least those you think will listen..
Analysis: Despite the attribution at the top — "Joys of Muslim Women by Nonie Darwish" — this text wasn't written by Nonie Darwish; indeed, the bottom two-thirds of it refer to her repeatedly in the third person. Darwish confirmed via email that she did not write the article, though it is, in her words, "to a large extent accurate." She also told me her 2009 book, Cruel and Usual Punishment, better represents her views.It should be noted that while the email is at least partially based on Darwish's personal experiences growing up in a Muslim country and reading the Qur'an, it's awash in generalizations and makes pronouncements about Islam and Islamic practices that don't necessarily pertain to all Muslims.
For more on Nonie Darwish's views in her own words, see Cruel and Usual Punishment (Interview) - FamilySecurityMatters.org, 8 January 2009.
For a differing view on the Islamic faith, see Myths About Islam by Christine Huda Dodge - About.com.
Starting April 10th, will you read with me?
