Summary: According to the United Nations Population Fund, an estimated five thousand women are victims of so-called honor killings. These women are murdered, by family members, for doing things seen as degrading of family honor. Those things include everything from committing adultery to getting a divorce to being raped. These killings take place all over the world; although a number of them do happen in Muslim countries. And, in the West, it seems as though, every few months, therersquo;s a story in the news about an honor killing. The victim almost always a Muslim woman killed by her male Muslim family members. What these stories often overlook is that there is nothing Islamic about an honor killing. ldquo;That is one of the black and white statements I can make,rdquo; says Indiana University doctoral candidate Rafia Zakaria. ldquo;There is absolutely nothing, either in the Qurrsquo;an or in the Hadith, or even in any secondary source that says that honor killing is something that Muslims should do or can do or that is lawful.rdquo; Muslim Cultures And Islam Zakaria is a human rights activist and sits on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA. She says honor killings are not about religion at all; they have become linked with Islam because they do take place in some Muslim societies. When they do happen mdash; or are suspected to have happened mdash; the media are quick to pick up the story and Islam becomes framed as a religion that condones honor killings. ldquo;The fact is everything that happens in Muslim societies is not Islamic. But the problem is that because the Muslim world is under so much scrutiny these days, these iterations of horrific crimes become denominators of what Islam is or what Muslim society is.rdquo; Violence By Any Other Name Often, honor killings are portrayed in the West as a barbaric institution inherent to all things Muslim. This stereotype establishes an archetype of ldquo;civilityrdquo; in the West and ldquo;barbarismrdquo; in the East. It covertly implies the West is free from such acts of violence. Zakaria points out that domestic violence has risen 72 percent in the United States since the beginning of the economic recession. Though she is hesitant to link honor killings with domestic violence, there is a connection: victims of both types of violence suffer because they have no voice. Zakaria says no amount of reform can occur if this issue is not addressed. ldquo;I donrsquo;t want to promote an Orientalized version of women as powerless and subject to honor killings,rdquo; Zakaria says. ldquo;But at the same time itrsquo;s important to me to bring attention to the fact that the girls who are being killed are in their society powerless and are horribly repressed and essentially killed for no reason at all.rdquo;
