Islam Is “Submission”

As an atheist, I find the dogma of all religions, aside from their ethical pronouncements, to be without substance. If one reads all the rules closely, the “raison d’etre” is about power, the ability to control the everyday life of people. But at least in the modern era, most religions, while not free of proselytization, have been relatively free of violence. Not so with Islam! In reading the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali woman who escaped from a forced marriage arranged by her father, the narrative in her book “Infidel” is compelling and leaves the reader in a state of disbelief and emotional horror.

The literal translation of the word “Islam” is total submission to God by men and women. The Quran states that men rule over women in every detail of daily life. Women must obey their husbands. Women are worth half a man. For me, a person living in a democratic Western country, the essence of modern life is the growth to near equality between men and women. Such a situation is not available either in practice or in theory in Islamic countries. With Hersi Ali’s intelligence and will to succeed, and after a university degree and election to parliament in Holland, her country of refuge, she manages to have a survey done in just two police districts out of twenty-four, to count the number of honour killings. Much to the surprise of the Dutch people, eleven young Muslim women had been murdered. The Dutch thought that she had been exaggerating.

Around the middle of March, 2002, a Saudi newspaper reported an incident that took place in Mecca. Fourteen young school girls were burned to death or were asphyxiated by smoke when an accidental fire engulfed their public school. The doors of the schools were locked from the outside by Saudi religious police in order to prevent the escaping girls from being seen without their veils by the firemen and civil defense personnel. It is incomprehensible that an incident of this nature should take place in the twenty-first century.

Theo van Gogh, a Dutch satirist and author, co-wrote a film with Ayaan about women and Islam and their experiences of forced sex and beatings from their husbands. Van Gogh was murdered for this, his throat slit from side to side, and a note left on the body threatening Ayaan with the same fate. Muslims born into the religion can never leave it and if they do leave they are subject to the death penalty. This religious philosophy is not acceptable in the western world and should be unacceptable elsewhere.

There is no proof that a God exists and the dogma of all religions is man-made. It is necessary to make it clear to any immigrants to our country that secular law is paramount and religious laws which contravene the laws of the land are illegal.While it is true that some practices read in the prayer books of Christianity and Judaism are cruel and unjust, they are ignored in everyday religious life today. Hopefully this is true of Islam in the west.