There is now a story floating around that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has passed a law allowing husbands to have sex with their wives for up to six hours after their wife’s death.
REALLY??????
I first heard about it from listening to good old reliable Rush Limbaugh. He prefaced it with saying that he had not verified it yet, but then proceeded to talk about it as IF IT WERE TRUE. There was no hesitation in his believing this about Muslims.
Nor does it seem incredible to many of the conservative and religious conservative blog sites and media outlets that I looked at after getting back home. And much as I hate to say it, even the Huffington Post has bought into it, so it is not an exclusively conservative idiocy.
Some outlets try to cover themselves by noting at the end of the story that it has not been verified yet as the Huffington Post did. But then they treat it, like Rush did, as if it were true. What happened to the standard of verify before reporting the story; or at the very least posting the fact that it has not been verified at the very beginning of the story and make it more prominent.
But I guess I should be happy that given the status of Islam and misperceptions and bigotry about Muslims that there was even this token nod to skepticism and fair treatment. Many conservative and Islam hating outlets did not even bother doing that.
I can’t help but believe that were this reported of a Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or Hindu group there would have been a greater amount of skepticism displayed in the reporting. I believe that the only other group that might have had such an uncritical acceptance of this idiocy being true would be atheists. But since it happened to Muslims and not atheists, let me focus on that.
This from the Christian Science Monitor, a source not exactly known for being friendly to Islam
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/0426/Egypt-necrophilia-law-Hooey-utter-hooey
“Today, Egypt‘s state-owned Al Ahram newspaper published an opinion piece by Amr Abdul Samea, a past stalwart supporter of the deposed Hosni Mubarak, that contained a bombshell: Egypt’s parliament is considering passing a law that would allow husbands to have sex with their wives after death.
It was soon mentioned in an English language version of Al-Arabiya and immediately started zipping around social-networking sites. By this afternoon it had set news sites and the rest of the Internet on fire. It has every thing: The yuck factor, “those creepy Muslims” factor, the lulz factor for those with a sick sense of humor. The non-fact-checked Daily Mail picked it up and reported it as fact. Then Andrew Sullivan, who has a highly influential blog but is frequently lax about fact-checking, gave it a boost with an uncritical take. The Huffington Post went there, too.
There’s of course one problem: The chances of any such piece of legislation being considered by the Egyptian parliament for a vote is zero. And the chance of it ever passing is less than that. In fact, color me highly skeptical that anyone is even trying to advance a piece of legislation like this through Egypt’s parliament. I’m willing to be proven wrong. It’s possible that there’s one or two lawmakers completely out of step with the rest of parliament. Maybe.
But extreme, not to mention inflammatory claims, need at minimum some evidence (and I’ve read my share of utter nonsense in Al Ahram over the years). The evidence right now? Zero.
There was a Moroccan cleric a few years back who apparently did issue a religious ruling saying that husbands remained married to their wives in the first six hours after death and, so, well, you know. But that guy is far, far out on the nutty fringe. How fringe? He also ruled that pregnant women can drink alcohol. Remember, alcohol is considered haram, forbidden, by the vast majority of the world’s Muslim scholars. Putting an unborn child at risk to get drunk? No, that’s just not what they do.”
This from a female Egyptian blogger that I recently (today in fact) found. I have checked out what she has said in other places and this seems like a good and accurate summary of what happened.
“Now after little research it turned out that this is rumor was started by Egypt’s Glenn Beck aka Tawfik Okasha who hates the Islamists just as he hates the revolution.
Up till this moment the journalists in Egypt have failed to confirm the news or find any real source about this law in the parliament and I am speaking about journalists who have reached out to the food expenses of the parliament during the joint sessions in the constituent assembly jazz in details , who are making the life of the Islamists like hell to the level that the supreme guide of Muslim brotherhood Mohamed Badie called them “The black wizards”
We are all following the people’s assembly so carefully in Egypt to the level that people closely watch every word of the MPs recorded on TV or mentioned in the press in a way that you would not imagine.
Yes there were some attempts to pass laws concerning marriage and divorce and thank God the people are awake enough for these attempts.
From Islamic point of view , there is no such thing in the Islamic Sharia according to those who studied the Sharia especially when it comes the deceased’s rights.I know that the widowed husband should not attend the final wash of his deceased wife. Already I do not know what sick person will do this , it is sick horrific thing.
This is a rumor so far, I really wish people to be careful on what they are spreading. “
Now, what does this say about us as a people that so many are so ready to accept this absurd and sick story as being true?
Are we really so afraid of Islam that we ascribe all things immoral, no matter how atrocious, to it and now believe that nothing good can come from it?
Have we now allowed our biases, prejudices, and bigotry to blind us to what is true and allow us to not only confuse lies as truth but to promote those lies as truth?
That is one reason why I try to defend Islam and Muslims against so many of the absurd charges and beliefs going around about them. I agree that Islam has large problem with terrorism, with women’s rights, and with anti-Semitism. However I believe that Islam has within itself the ability and resources it needs to solve those problems.
I believe that because I have read the Qur’an and the history of Islam.
I believe it mostly though because I see so many Muslims who are already living good and moral lives, whose men treat women with respect and as equals, who are not anti-Semitic, who do believe and support democracy and freedom (including freedom of belief and speech for all).
I believe it because the vast majority of Muslims condemn terrorism of any type.
I believe it because I know that most Muslims are good people trying to do what is right and moral.
I believe it because I see so many Muslims who display the best of what Islam can be and who are working to change so that even more Muslims will do so.
As I have said many times a religion is what its followers make of it. Every religion – whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Atheism, Islam, etc. – can become either a force for good or a force for evil: they have the materials to go either way, depending on what their followers choose.
In this case, in this country, it was mainly the Christians who went astray here and allowed hatred to make them rush to judgment and accept a horrible lie as the truth. What is truly terrible about this is that this story will circulate for many years by those who blindly hate Islam and will be passed on as true.
Bad Atheist 