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[Order a copy of Robert Spencer’s forthcoming book, Muhammad: A Critical Biography, by clicking here.]
On Tuesday, a mother in Texas pleaded guilty to severe abuse of her fourteen-year-old daughter, including choking, beating, and even burning. The case is horrifying enough in itself, but it uncovers even deeper issues that no one in American public life has yet shown any willingness to face. Eventually, however, these issues will become unavoidable and obvious to everyone.
Click2Houston reported Tuesday that Sittarh Mazhar Khan, a Muslim woman in Kingwood, Texas, a section of Houston, “is accused of beating, choking, and burning her 14-year-old daughter in October of last year.” At a hearing on her case, an officer explained that “the defendant, upset the complainant did not wear her hijab at school, beat and choked the complainant, causing her to lose consciousness.”
As if that weren’t bad enough, Khan also became enraged after her daughter overcooked some pita bread. She then “forced the complainant’s arm onto a hot oven rack, causing her to have three burn marks.” Yet for all this, Khan received only cursory punishment: “Khan’s plea agreement includes deferred adjudication for three years. During that time, she has to complete 100 hours of community service, donate $100 to the Houston Food Bank, cannot use drugs or alcohol and must attend a 4-hour anger management class.”
Not only is that a ridiculously light sentence in light of what Sittarh Khan did, it is also undeniable that none of it is going to ensure that Khan won’t engage in this kind of behavior again. That’s because none of it addresses why this happened in the first place. The prohibition on drugs and alcohol is entirely irrelevant, as Khan didn’t abuse her daughter while drunk or high. The anger management class is likewise beside the point, as Khan is unlikely to have acted upon a fit of uncontrollable rage. Nothing in Khan’s sentence addresses the fact that she treated her daughter this way because of principles and assumptions derived from Islamic texts and teachings. No one involved in this case, aside from the defendant herself and her friends and family, was likely aware of that, or would have dared to address it if he had been.
The daughter is the victim here, but it is hard not to have some sympathy for Sittarh Mazhar Khan, who is likewise a victim of a culture that has passed on this kind of behavior from generation to generation for centuries. She was likely treating her daughter the way she herself was treated when she was a teenager. The abuse of women is hard-wired into Islamic texts, and so has gone on unchallenged for generations.
The Qur’an teaches that men are superior to women and should beat those from whom they “fear disobedience”: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” (4:34) This is not a dusty text that has been ignored ever since it was written. Even the prophet of Islam is said to have acted in accord with it. Muhammad’s child bride, Aisha, says in a hadith that Muhammad “struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: ‘Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?’” (Sahih Muslim 2127)
Another hadith states: “Rifa’a divorced his wife whereupon AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi married her. `Aisha said that the lady (came), wearing a green veil (and complained to her (Aisha) of her husband and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating). It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah’s Messenger came, Aisha said, ‘I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!’” (Sahih Bukhari 7.77.5825)
Imagine a different world, in which Texas authorities read out such texts and others like them in the courtroom during the trial of Sittarh Khan. If they had done so, at very least Khan’s sentence would have been different, and would not have wasted so much time on irrelevant provisions. Some people also might have begun to ponder the larger implications, for women and for the nation in general, of the wisdom of opening our doors to mass Muslim migration. Eventually these issues will become a matter of national discussion, for Sittarh Khans will be all over the country, and there will even be calls for the repeal of laws criminalizing the abuse of women. Despite the warning sign of Sittarh Khan’s case, however, it is still true that no one sees that coming.
Was the child at least removed from her custody?
a judge failed to convict two towel heads for FGM , his verdict was that it was a cultural issue and that he couldnt convict them on that basis , they walked with no conviction . [ i guess it would have been islamaphobia and we cant have that .] one more reason why GOD has condemned america . muslims have a free pass on all things abhorrent its downhill from now on . .
What a great contribution to our country these people make. We should open the Southern Boarder and let some in.
Or maybe give them airline tickets and fly them in first class.
All thoroughly vetted of coarse.
Im sure they wont pack their hatred for Jews and Christians in their suitcase, and bring it with them.
“The daughter is the victim here, but it is hard not to have some sympathy for Sittarh Mazhar Khan, who is likewise a victim of a culture that has passed on this kind of behavior from generation to generation for centuries. She was likely treating her daughter the way she herself was treated when she was a teenager.”
You undermine your argument completely here.
Everybody’s a victim of Islam, right? Even Hamas. Even the 9/11 hijackers. Even the San Bernardino couple, and so on, and so on, and so forth.
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke
You gotta understand
It’s just our bringin’ upke
That gets us outta hand
Our mothers all are junkies
Our fathers all are drunks
Golly Moses, naturally we’re punks!
Gee, Officer Krupke, we’re very upset:
We never had the love that every child oughta get
We ain’t no delinquents
We’re misunderstood
Deep down inside us there is good!
Wow you just solved the world’s problems by quoting a stupid song from West Side Story. I guess you thought you were being clever and “sophisticato”.
Sorry, You only showed us what an effete NYC elitist you are. Out of touch and full of himself.
Here’s a better song from West Side Story (the west side of Rafah)
I have often walked
Down this street before.
But the pavement always stayed
Beneath my feet before.
All at once am I
Several Stories high
IDF found the street
Where you live
My Fair Lady, you mean.
Too bad, Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein aren’t around to sue this intrepid copyright violator into penury.
Just ANOTHER EXTREME example of WHY we should not allow islam into Our Nation! Look at England – or whatever it is now! Look at all the Nations that have allowed islam to creep into their midsts! Seen anything get BETTER?? I’m fairly certain that that DEMOcrats wouldn’t put up with the Baptists acting the same way and beating, burning, and choking a child because of a head rag! I’ve never heard of a Jewish kid being beaten because he didn’t wear his little head beany! Even the Snake Handlers are tolerant of a misplaced viper every now and then! Why does the WORLD tolerate the 7th Century??
A terribly harsh and dysfunctional family culture, as is described in any number of easily available books, that is passed down generation after generation, and, as Nonie Darwish states, is arguably a microcosm of the dysfunctional, larger state. itself.
A woman whose problem is that she is a Muslim is sentenced to a prohibition on the use of alcohol. THAT’LL straighten her out for sure.
You’re right. The sentence should have included a prohibition on her practicing Islam.
The demented bee-otch does not deserve to be a mother. She does not deserve residency in the USA. She deserves to be flown back to her sh8hole country where her child-raising customs will be applauded.
There is one sign of hope here – at least the matter was tried in a mainstream court, not a sharia one. I somewhat suspect that, in a sharia court, it would have been the daughter on trial rather than the mother. There need to be refuges for girls like the one in this account though. It is hugely ironic that, if the problem had been that she wanted to identify as male, she’d be in the foster system by now.
And, actually, another sign of hope is that the girl complained to the authorities at all, albeit that she must now be wondering why she bothered.
Who ever said Islam is the Religion of Peace must have been dropped on their head way too many times
Now if she has been a Christian the Media would have regular Feeding frenzy to make Vultures and Sharks Blush but she is Muslim we hear the Crickets