Will justice be served?
10 December 2004 8:18 pm
The problem with religious law is not the religion, but the men and women who are the instruments of such a law. Power corrupts. Power given in the name of God corrupts absolutely. Take for example the sharia law (I refuse to use the Malay spelling, syariah, which is supposed to be more phonetically faithful to the Arabic word. A rose is a rose is a rose. Live with it.)
It incenses me that the Syariah Court (here I have to use the official spelling) in Singapore drags its feet when it comes to handling divorce cases. The bottom line is that if you're a man, the law works in your favour. You can divorce your wife for whatever stupid reason; for instance if she has a close male friend whom she chats with regularly on the Internet you can accuse her of infidelity and divorce her. The Syariah Court will grant you the divorce. If you're a woman? You might as well die. Because even when you walk in with bruises all over and debilitatingly depressed, the officer attending to you will just hold your hand and tell you to be patient and see the good side your marriage (e.g. you have a roof over your head). That is if you get a woman officer. A man may just dismissively tell you to go home and not give up on your marriage so easily, after asking you a few token questions. You have to be prepared for a long, vicious bloody battle to win your freedom. Or convince your husband to let you go. Now, if you're married to a psychotic freak like my ex, fat chance of that happening.
You just have to read a thread like this to see that such an attitude towards divorce is prevalent in many Islamic countries, especially when there is a strong patriarchal tradition. Some of the posts really make me sick to my stomach.
You call this God's law? I say FUCK YOU.
I cannot reconcile such inhumane treatment of women with God's will. I cannot believe God created women in order to have men put them in their place. At least in Singapore no one gets amputated for stealing. The day sharia law becomes a tool of oppression, is the day I will say to the powers that enforce it, "If this is what you call Islam, then I am not a Muslim. You can no longer do what you will to me."
In their eyes I will be an apostate. I can live with it. Because God knows better, and it is His judgement that matters.
I repeat, it's His judgement that matters. You with your beard and your verbatim quoting of the Quran, you mean nothing to me if you turn your face away from a woman's suffering. A human being's.
Older entries
Ramadan - 08 October 2006
Where I Have Been - 03 October 2006
Baby Talk - 10 August 2006
6 Weeks of Separation - 16 July 2006
Unacceptable Rudeness - 21 June 2006