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Be Thankful You Aren’t a Woman Born in Iran

By Pat Racimora on November 22, 2010 at 12:00 PM in Current Affairs

This time of year we begin to reflect on what we are grateful for, a welcome hiatus from the daily onslaught of bad news here and abroad.

I will pause to give thanks for a great many things large and small, but upon reading today’s news I added one to my list—gratitude for not being born in Iran.


The high profile case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 42 year-old mother who was sentenced to be stoned for adultery, has allowed the Iranian’s tawdry notion of justice to be witnessed by the world community.

Amazingly, stoning, where tennis ball sized rocks are hurled at a person, has been justified by one of Iran’s human rights officials. Why? Because the victim has a chance to survive!

Yep—that’s right. An ABC news story outlines how this barbaric practice works.

Stonings are typically carried out in a secluded cemetery outside of public view. Stones, prescribed under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, must be large enough not kill with one blow, but not so small as to not cause injury.

Larijani’s contention that it is possible to survive a stoning seems to apply more to men than women.

Men are buried to their waists, but women are buried up to their shoulders. Ghaemi said that under Iranian law, the stoning ends in many cases if the accused confessed his crime and can dig himself out of the hole.

Now, how are women with bloody, bashed-in heads going to dig themselves out exactly? How could anyone buried up to the shoulders dig out?

As for the ill-fated Ashtiani, she has since been accused of complicity in the murder of her husband. She will likely be hanged instead. A woman’s testimony is worthless in Iran, yet she was paraded on Iranian television. She (or somebody—the image was purposely blurred—see here) “confessed” to sinning. (Fully coerced, no doubt.)

  • SoCalDem

    Such a peaceful religion!

  • TeakWoodKite

    And who wants to Iran have a nuke as a stone? Screw sharia.

    LJ was talking about moral authority to try terrorists, but the plight of dissent and the un equal justice is disgustting.

  • Me

    Do you think Obama still believes these are the type of people with whom we can reason, with whom we can have logical, diplomatic discussions?

  • don x

    Sharia law sucks!  I guess we can be thankful we live in a SLIGHLY more civilized nation where we only let the very poor live without medical care or starve to death while the rich live in luxury and keep their tax benefits. :(

  • Annie Soda Cracker

    Great illustration, Pat.  Yes, I am grateful that I wasn’t born a Muslim…any place on the planet.  Now I have to do all I can so that my children and grandchildren don’t have to suffer under any reign of these cretins.

  • Dean

    Yes I’m thankful for both, but thanks for reminding me.

  • susiepuma-still a crazy cracker

    Oh please – this is a REPUBLIC not a gd socialist country – get over yourself – if you wanna redistribute your wealth to the rest of the country – feel free -

    this country has turned into an entitlement nanny state where no one no longer has to take responsibility for anything – screw that – I wasn’t raised that way and I’m getting damm tired of paying for other people ……………………..

  • susiepuma-still a crazy cracker

    Of course he does – he still hates this country even tho he’s suckin up all the money he can ……………. impeachment please??

  • jtomorrow

    Thanks, Pat

  • Sowsear

    Great cruelty has been wrought in this world in the name of religion…Catholic, Protestant, Muslim…you name it.

  • HARP

    Thanks to the idiot in chief, we have to listen to this from the UN.

  • helenk

    If this country does not get past the  political correctness nonsense that says we must allow a shrine to the hijackers to be built at ground zero, we might be living in a country that is a lot like Iran.

    When the Shah was deposed I remember seeing on TV, Iranian women who were students here in the USA quite anxious to go back and live under shria law. I thought you poor fools  do you have a clue of what you are going back to.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE CHATTERING PEOPLE RULE

  • wodiej crackerdawg

    I am thankful they don’t stone women here but there are still an inordinate amount of abuses of women in this country with many men thinking that is ok. 

  • HC123

    I once debated my uncle (who was educated in the old soviet union on a scholarship he thought was going to be medicine, but turned out to be architecture. surprise!) about which was worse for living a pleasant life, socialism or islam.

    He said for men Islam is better and for women socialism, but that both really sucked for any thinking person.

    Of course when you combine them like in many muslim countries you get something so awesome you cant imagine how great life is. Unless you are powerful enough to ignore the law, and also have a penis.

  • Suzie Ivy

    Many years ago I decided to read the Koran in order to gain understanding of its followers. I was left feeling very saddened. I never gained understanding only insight to their thought process. I read a few verses daily and it took me about a year to finish. I encourage everyone to know our enemy and understand what we are facing. A good translation can be found at   http://www.submission.org/Q-T.html I believe you will also find this chapter on women enlightening http://www.submission.org/suras/sura4.htm According to the Koran the only thing lower than a non-believer is a Jew. I’m thankful for my country of Jews and non-believers.

  • Onofre’s arm

    Well Suzie, most of us know to some degree the particulars of mistreatment to women that Islam sanctions, but what I found most disturbing about the passages you’ve linked to, isn’t the explicit sexual inequities described, but the fact that the entire Quran is written in such a way that the presumptive readers of it are only males. It’s a book written by males, FOR MALES, and although Muslim women are allowed to read it, they are not the target audience, and reading it would only educate them about their roles as man-servants. As it is written, the Quran ITSELF dehumanizes more than 50% of the population.

  • Crackerjack -Obamastahn Rebel Resistance

    I cherish every minute I have left of my freedom.  I don’t have much of it left.  I believe shariah is coming sooner than you think.  The lastes tTSA crap convinces me that its not for security its to get us used to being humilated for being infidels. soon we will have to pay our tax in person only to be spat upon.  They dont pat down muslims do they? case proven

  • Onofre’s arm

    Well Suzie, most of us know to some degree the particulars of mistreatment to women that Islam sanctions, but what I found most disturbing about the passages you’ve linked to, isn’t the explicit sexual inequities described, but the fact that the entire Quran seems to be written in such a way that the presumptive readers of it are exclusively males. It’s a book written by males, FOR MALES, and although Muslim women are allowed to read it, they are obviously not the target audience, and reading it would only educate them about their roles as man-servants. Essentially, as it is written (not just it’s contents), the Quran ITSELF dehumanizes more than 50% of the population.

  • Crackerjack -Obamastahn Rebel Resistance

    we’re such evil pieces of shit

  • Crackerjack -Obamastahn Rebel Resistance

    what a spiel of shit

  • Crackerjack -Obamastahn Rebel Resistance

    I tried to read the Koran.  its just bad poetry that goes in circles in cirlcle and I ended up yelling after a few pages “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?” 

  • Doc99

    The silence of many so-called feminists on this Iranian madness is deafening.

  • mamakay

    Thank goodness my state of Oklahoma passed a law in November that forbids sharia law from ever being allowed in  our court system.  Of course some muslim group ( not from Ok) has challanged it and a judge has but a hold on it for now.  Seventy percent of Oklahomas voted for this.  It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.  We may not be stoning women, but there have been many “honor killings” and beatings in this country.  We do need to be spacific about our laws and that sharia will not be tollerated in our courts.

  • Onofre’s arm

    I wish I was the American Ambassador to the UN, this would be my response to this:

    “To all of you cowardly, rat shit, dictator fellating countries who’ve used this forum to take petty cheap shots at a country you couldn’t hold a candle to, my response is “GO FUCK YOURSELVES”. And to Egypt, the second highest recipient of US foreign aid, I hope that the afore mentioned countries have enough energy after screwing themselves to gang bang your scrawny, bare-hand-wiped ass.”

  • Suzie Ivy

     I felt that way most of the time but I kept reading. I wanted to be able to challenge anyone that said I could not judge unless I read the Koran. I feel you have given you opinion very eloquently and as someone that did make it through I will ask the same question as you, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?”

  • FLDemFem

    You might try reading up on Mohammed for some understanding of where the Koran’s attitude towards women comes from. He was married for the first time to a woman older than he was, who owned her own business and supported him. From what I have read, he was mostly supported by his wives and the businesses they owned and ran during his lifetime. After reading a bit about that, the light bulb went on over my head.. aha!! No wonder Islam is all about keeping women down. It was written by a man who had to ask his wife for every penny, or drachma, he spent. She earned it so she had control of it and he had to ask. In Islam, women are not permitted activities that would put them in such a position. In other words, the Koran was written by a man who was essentially pussy-whipped. And it shows.

  • Guest

    Oh, that is interesting. On the issue of human rights and child welfare, I was personally only aware of the (first) underage wife – which however much an abberation has unfortunately paved the way for modern court rulings and laws in Muslim countries upholding his ‘example.’

  • Rich

    Now tell me one more time what a peaceful religion Islam is and that Islam represents the high moral ground and we non believers are the devil and must be killed.  I wonder where in the Islamic bible does it say that God hates women therefore they must be treated worse than animals in order to please God?  Because if God does not hate women, in my opinion, the Islamic religion definitely makes it look that way.  So, either God hates women or the Islamic religion is wrong in its treatment of women.
    I have often wondered why the men who believe in the Islamic religion seem to be so afraid of women that they must control them the way guards in a military prison must control the inmates and degrade them both as a form of control.
    That is just me.

  • Annie Soda Cracker

    I agree mamakay.  I read one Oklahoman’s response on another blog to the CAIR lawsuit against OK:  “Push us too far in OK and you’ll find out that we carry and we know how to play cowboys and Muslims.”  Gave me a laugh for the day.

  • Annie Soda Cracker

    100% discredited since since the 2008 elections and confirmed as 100% irrelevant with the deadly silence over Sharia. 

  • jackie

    Let us all support Oklahoma and its efforts to put the LAWS of the USA the only ones to be heard in the courts.  THe only laws to hold sway here.  We should all be so lucky to lie in Oklahoma

  • Ferd Premium Saltine Berfle

    Let us all wish jackie a safe and happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas and that she gets the burqa she’s always wanted to replace the paper bag she’s been forced to wear all these years because her mug is simply too hideous for general exihibition. 

    And here’s to her consorts who will then be able to take their paper bags off as her new burqa isn’t as likely to break.

  • Ferd Premium Saltine Berfle

    As a native Sooner, I’d say you’re right, Annie. And our native natives also carry and know how to play Indians and Muslims.

  • elaine

    Google: Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA

    I’ve read they are trying to get Susan Rice @ the U.N. to adopt this in a few days

  • FLDemFem

    His first wife was older than he was, not a child by any means. And the child bride wasn’t a child bride, at least not the way we think of it. In the ME, children are betrothed, we call it engaged, at a very young age. This was usually to cement familial and tribal bonds. The betrothed child is raised by its parents, and then after puberty, is formally married to the husband. No sex takes place before the bride is old enough to bear children. The dowry isn’t handed over until the actual marriage either.

  • Guest

    Sorry…that would be the second wife.

    This happens in Islamic Countries because the prophet of Islam Muhammad himself married his second wife Aisha when she was only 6 years old. Muhammad then consummated the marriage with Aisha when she was only 9 years old,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Muhammad

  • Portia

    “This happens in Islamic Countries because the prophet of Islam Muhammad himself married his second wife Aisha when she was only 6 years old. Muhammad then consummated the marriage with Aisha when she was only 9 years old, ”

    On various websites, this topic is an ongoing argument, involving fundamentalist Christians, fundamentalist Muslims, and then people of both backgrounds who are of a more rational mentality. Some of the Muslims say, so what, she was precocious. Some girls reach puberty at nine. Pretty rare, esp. in those days, but even so, no nine year old is read for all that.
    There is evidence, according to highly educated Muslims versed in the way language was used in those days, who have interpreted the chronology of Muhammed’s hejira, and think that Aisha was 19, not 9, at the time of “consummation” if such did occur. There is divided opinion on whether Muhammed “consummated” any of his many marriages after Khadije, his first wife. He doesn’t appear to have had any more children after Khadije, and many of the marriages he contracted were to help out the women–without marriage in that bedouin society, they had nowhere to go. Many were widows and divorced women.
    Aisha grew up to be a scholar in her own right–Muhammed himself could neither read nor write–; she traveled around independently (as face veils were not introduced until many years later having little to do with Muhammed’s teachings,) and from what words of hers that have been handed down, we know she had a healthy ego and always spoke of Muhammed with affection. Somehow childhood sexual abuse–which is what “consummation” at nine would have been, does not sound plausible. Muhammed was also known for his compassion, esp. towards children and women.  Again–not the sort of person who would have raped a child.
    The corruption of the Islamic faith happened in the years that followed his death, as it has happened with all religions. Also, many of the events and wars during Muhammed’s life have been distorted and misinterpreted.
    All that being said, in defense of the original teachings, Islam today is a negative for human progress. Whatever spiritual genius it provided 1500 years ago, it is too distorted now to use as a social guide and humans have progressed beyond it.

  • Portia

    “This happens in Islamic Countries because the prophet of Islam Muhammad himself married his second wife Aisha when she was only 6 years old. Muhammad then consummated the marriage with Aisha when she was only 9 years old, ”  
     
    On various websites, this topic is an ongoing argument, involving fundamentalist Christians, fundamentalist Muslims, and then people of both backgrounds who are of a more rational mentality. Some of the Muslims say, so what, she was precocious. Some girls reach puberty at nine. Pretty rare, esp. in those days, but even so, no nine year old is ready for all that.  
    However, highly educated Muslims versed in the way language was used in those days, have re-interpreted the chronology of Muhammed’s hejira, and think that Aisha was 19, not 9, at the time of “consummation” if such did occur. There is divided opinion on whether Muhammed “consummated” any of his many marriages after Khadije, his first wife. He doesn’t appear to have had any more children after Khadije, and many of the marriages he contracted were to help out the women–without marriage in that bedouin society, they had nowhere to go. Many were widows and divorced women.  
    Aisha grew up to be a scholar in her own right–Muhammed himself could neither read nor write–; she traveled around independently (as face veils were not introduced until many years later having little to do with Muhammed’s teachings,) and from what words of hers that have been handed down, we know she had a healthy ego and always spoke of Muhammed with affection. Childhood sexual abuse does not sound plausible. Muhammed was also known for his compassion, esp. towards children and women.  Again–not the sort of person who would have tormented a child.  
    The corruption of the Islamic faith happened in the years that followed his death, as it has happened with all religions. Also, many of the events and wars during Muhammed’s life have been distorted and misinterpreted.  
    All that being said, in defense of the original teachings, Islam today is a negative for human progress. Whatever spiritual genius it provided 1500 years ago, it is too distorted now to use as a social guide and humans have progressed beyond it.

  • FLDemFem

    Also from Wiki... ”
    At the age of 25, Muhammad married the wealthy Khadijah bint Khuwaylid who was 40 years old at that time. The marriage lasted for 25 years and was a happy one. Muhammad relied upon Khadija in many ways and did not enter into marriage with another woman during this marriage. After the death of Khadija, it was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim that he should marry Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or Aisha, daughter of Um Ruman and Abu Bakr of Mecca. Muhammad is said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both.
    Traditional sources dictate that Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad but the marriage was not consummated until she was nine or ten years old. While the majority of traditional sources indicate Aisha was prepubescent (and therefore a virgin) at the time of marriage, a small number of more recent writers have variously estimated her age at 15 to 24.”

    When you are dealing with history, which is not always recorded accurately, you have to take several sources and figure out what really happened. Given it was not the tradition to have girls sexually active before puberty in that part of the world at that time, it is very unlikely that his second wife was 9 years old at the time of the marriage. And citing sources whose very title says they are not neutral on the subject, an absolute requirement when dealing with history, gives a slant to the story that should not be there. Ergo, you don’t like Muslims therefore Muhammed must have been a child molester. This is not the critical thinking needed to properly assess what really happened.

  • Pat Racimora

    I found the comments about Muhammed’s marriages interesting. Thanks for these. 

  • mamakay

    Well as of today the stay on the Oklahoma law will continue.  This will probably go all the way to the supreme court. 

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