Honor Killings

It’s ironic that it happened in a place called Surprise, Arizona. On Oct. 20th, a 20-year-old Muslim woman was intentionally run over by her father for living with her boyfriend rather than her Iraqi husband. She died a few days later.
Surprise.
But it isn’t the first time something like this has happened. In July 2008, Sandela Kanwal wanted a divorce from her husband. Her father refused to let her, and finally he strangled her for her continued pleas.
They are calling them “honor killings,” the Islamic killers justify their act by claiming their rights to protect the honor of their family.
Supna Zaidi, writing for Islamist-Watch, explained it this way: “An honor killing is defined as the murder of a girl or woman who has allegedly committed an act that has shamed and embarrassed her family. For the family to show its community that it has reasserted control, the woman is killed. Thus, ‘harm to reputation’ is a partial or complete defense to murder.”
Zaidi reiterates that there is no passage in the Koran that discusses or justifies honor killings. (http://www.islamist-watch.org/928/does-islam-justify-honor-killings)
Other Islamic authorities make it very clear they do not condone such killings.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
“There is no such concept in Islam that is called ‘honor killing’. . . .[Islam] does not allow people to take the law in their own hands and administer justice, because doing so will be leading to chaos and lawlessness.”
Kutty goes on to say that for any killings to take place under the approval of Islam, there must be a “binding verdict issued by an authoritative law court.”
In both of the above stated cases, the killers acted without the sanction of the law, religious or otherwise.
Muslims are not the only ones who have such concepts woven through their religion. The concept of killing a child for disrespect or disobedience is older than the Bible. Middle Eastern countries share similar aspects in their culture, the same way Western cultures share many of the same customs, and this was even more true anciently, though the different religious laws delineate one nation from another.
The Ten Commandments state clearly to “honor thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12).
Further instruction was given to ancient Israelites in the Law of Moses that children who cursed their father or mother should be put to death (Lev) 20:9. More specifically, girls still living under the protection of their fathers could not make promises, even to the Lord, without the approval of their fathers (Num. 30:3-5). Once she was married, a husband had the right to dissolve her vows since he was now her protector and provider.
Under the Law of Moses, a child who disobeyed or disrespected his parents could be brought before the elders. If the parents testified against him, the child would be stoned to death (Deut 21:18-21).
One similarity in both religions, as Kutty made very clear, is that to kill without a legal verdict in a court of law, leads to "chaos and lawlessness." It was true then. It remains true today.

David lived in such a culture, where respect for parents was second only to respect for God. We don’t know what all of David’s family relations were like, but I imagine when Saul was anointed to be king over Israel, it made quite a stir in the minds of the young men of Israel. Perhaps one of David’s brothers might have defied their father (Abba) in his desire to follow King Saul.

Against The Giant pg. 84-85
“What is it you’re saying to me, Shammah?” Abba’s voice was not loud, but there was strength beneath it like the rock foundation under the house.
“The tribes are gathering now at Gilgal,” Shammah said, “ to renew the kingdom and proclaim Saul king the way it should have been done the first time. I will be going to Gilgal. Saul is my king now, and I will follow him.”
Abba lifted his head. David didn’t breathe. There had never been a reason for Abba to invoke the law on his children, the law that said a wayward son or daughter could be turned over to the community and killed if the parent testified of their disrespect.


Links:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQrGM_fwG1lNOCSlxPkDk0BtmJxg
http://www.islamist-watch.org/928/does-islam-justify-honor-killings
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543392