Islamists or just freaks???

I my self have heard the news and know the whole story. It took place in Pakistan trible area. you are right about what the decision was but what you didn't menton is that it had nothing to do with Islam. Trible area of pakistan doesn't come under federal law just as some trible areas doesn't come under federal laws in australia, malaysia and many other countries. They were not following Islamic code but the trible custom that too is not strictly defined as the decision depends on a deciding body, not on laws. You also didn't mention that the whole religious clergy of Pakistan condemned this act and demanded for justice and inteference from government. Reading one of your response to one of the comments, I can see that you also don't know about the status of women in Islam. In Islam, a woman is equal to a man. All punishments that apply to woman are equal in quality and quantity to what is prescribed to men. In fact in the history of same country that this incidence has happened, much more men have been punished on adultry than women. According to an American scholar who studied the judicial system of Pakistan concluded that more men are punished in pakistan than women who get exonerated based on rule of doubt (Charles Cannedy, the status of women in pakistan in islamization of laws, p74). But misconception is not really your fault, Media makes us believe what we tend to believe. It seems that whoever or whatever opposes America comes in a negative Media spot light. Muslim jihadists were heros and freedom fighters (including Ussama bin laden)for America when they were fighting for America against Russia. Saddam hussain was a hero even after mercilessly killing over a million people with the help of America and easily got away with that when he was a close American friend in 80s. Crimes of Raza shah of Iran are not mentioned in pre-revolution Iran because he was a friend. Will it be justified for me if I call American crimes as christian crimes just because American President is a christian or because dominant population of America is christian? We always need to take things in right perspective:-)

Isn't it just like Islam, to make a woman pay for a mans crime. Even though I am thoroughly disgusted by this, I can't say I'm surprised. Of course muslims will come charging in here praising allah and claiming this had absolutely nothing to do with islam, even though these people who made that judgement are muslim.

YES..some people are really freak and specialy .."Islamic" one..I should not say the name as it will be offending to them!!And they are very stirct! Now What kind of punishment is that. Mostly women are the only one who suffers and mostly because of others not beacuse of themselves!! and that "others" are mostly men!! Raping the criminals wife..huh! I read an article on a girl from pakistan!! Now you will never belive it!! A boy was caught walking with a girl from a higher class -this is a crime there!! A tribal court decided that as punishment his sister would be gang-raped and paraded naked through town. "honor crimes" like this are common in pakistan!!! Now how miserable is that!! We do not do that even with the guy who raped!! Isn't it disgusting !!

It's a shame that the only representatives for a religion are now extremists and such people. I am Muslim too. Now I'm not an expert on my religion or any religion for that matter, but I know that Islam is not as radical or as extreme as it's meant out to be. In fact if we do some research, you will find that it was the first religion that gave any kind of freedom and status to women. It was the first religion that gave women the right to divorce their husbands if they choose to do so. It gave women inheritance rights. The right to marry who she wished to be married to. In fact, Khadija (PBUH) who was Prophet Mohammad's(PBUH) wife was I think 25 years his senior, which is still a faux pas today and she was a very successful businesswoman. Islam encouraged that. Even the veiling and covering of the face, however its not optional but still it only works if a woman does it of her own will and not from force. I think the image of Islam has been so distorted because of incidents like these, which are just culminations of illiterate, and backward people and their culture and customs, its not part of a religion. Religion is a way of life, and any way of life is not meant to be that difficult. Of course, I cant' blame you for having the wrong idea of it, because I gotta admit advocates and representatives of the religion have not done a very good job in bringing forward the true essence of "Islam" the literal meaning of which is "peace". But take my word for it, these extremists and terrorists are not real Muslims, so don't use them as an example. And you're right, they twist and distort religions to make this ugly thing which is not true. I do condemn that decision, and even if mine is just one voice, it's still a voice speaking out. i know that you speak with no malice, it's just that you're outraged by the stupid and unfair decision in that rural court, but that's not religion, that's ignorance. And the main problem is that these ignorant people then connect their actions with Islam and just give it a bad name, whereas real Muslims are not like that at all. But just like everyone else.

Is there really a right and wrong? Judging the rightness or the wrongness of certain actions or decisions is greatly influenced by our upbringing, personal prejudices, environment, creed, religion, tradition and customs. As Christians, we feel the wrongness of such decision and we are greatly horrified by such things, but can we really say that they are wrong? What is the basis of us saying that they are wrong? Our religion? law? Muslim law may say that it is wrong to let wrong done to you become unavenged and we say that it is just right? An eye for an eye.

I would hope Muslims would be disgusted by this, but then the facts speak for themselves I guess. Their culture and religion is very supressive to women. This is just really sad though.

All religions, be it Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu are cults. I do not believe in them. I cannot stand religion.

I worked in Saudi Arabia 10 years ago. It is a country where only the Islam religion is practised and other religions are banned. The law or practice relating to rape is quite different here. For a rape case what is needed is medical proof that it happened and the girls word that she was raped. The punishment is to the male only and its severe. I would prefer if this was the rule in my country Sri Lanka too. Then a can even tempt a man and blackmail him threatening to report of rape. This will make the men more cautious and will have a relationship only with someone they love and can trust.

I agree with ur views on this issue .....

Being DIPLOMATIC...." NO comments".....thats it

well that incidence is more cultural than religious, yea islams states that women are inferior to men but i dont think that their religion tells them to do such acts. in egypt a girl was raped by a man so to preserve the family honor the girl's father forced her to marry her this man. again i do believe that the father was acting according to customs instead of religion

those folks are muslims what else would you expect of them????

It is unbelievable but it's not the religion it's the culture.It doesn't have anything to do with their religion.They make their own rules.Ands they are sick.They should be punished for their ridiculous rules.I won't ever respect a country like that i would spit on it.

First, why don't people stop criticising the other. As you rightly said, we use religion as a power tool, of course the Christian and Jewish religions are the most powerful ones. They control the most powerful or brute nations on this earth. And because of them the whole world has gone wicked. What they do in the Islamic world is blown-up into a mountain and blitzed all over the world media, and what sleazy, murky, dirty, slimy, things that go on in the christian world is dressed up in the name of civilised, modern, and developed culture. The Christian world, especially in the west, are equally fanatic compared to the Islamic world. Both try to project their religions based on the stories of Jesus and Mohammed and make people believe that they are supreme or their ideas are supreme, forgetting that they believe in the same god , the god of adam, noah, abraham .... . Its really a shame.

It is a terrible thing for a girl to be raped but to punish the mans wife is just as bad for she is the one being punished and not the man. Too many opinions about the Arab and Muslim countries are based on what the media put out for our information. We only get to learn of the atrocities that happen. We are given this information by a biased reporter. We have our opinions made for us because of the selected information that we are given.

I fail to understand why people drag religion in such criminal acts. They just want to cover their acts thru religion. Every religion is good for people.

yeah u r rite. its not teh religion which shud b blamed and condemned and punished but infact its the humans who utilize their religion to impose their thoughts over others. Like now-a-days its a common propaganda that muslim and muslim countries r a central point of evilness. i ask all those story-tellers that y America is the top of teh list in women, child raping, stealing, killing and other evils. its not the religion whjich forces tehm to do that, but infact its our human weaknesses which do evil things and then use our religion to escape from punishmennts!!

This is truly a disturbing thing. Some people seem to want to defend the actions of this men based on the whole 'it's their culture we have no right to judge' crap. Being human gives you the right and moral duty to stand up against injustice born not from laws of the land but simple understanding of right and wrong. Raping a man's wife because he raped your child is not an eye for an eye. The child is neither vindicated, nor is the wife any happier about it. She'd most likely kill herself. True eye for an eye would be to have the man castrated (not punishment so much as a safety measure, once a rapist always a rapist, keep him from spreading his lack of human decency to another generation by impregnating his victims.) and then have the man raped. I only agree for eye with an eye in some instances, not certain if I do with this one, but one thing is certain. If the tribal elders had ordered the perpetrator raped then he would think twice before molesting another little girl.