Letter: Women do not enjoy social equality under Islam

I was disgusted to read Hamza Aziz's sugar-coated Feb. 12 column, entitled "Hajj--a manifestation of human equality." It was a good column, except for the fact that it mentions "social equality inherent in Islamic ethics." I cannot believe Aziz had the gall to mention such a phenomenon, considering the fact that all Islamic countries share a social inequality: brutality and neglect toward women. Here Muslims will generally get out their Qur'an and start pointing to the verses dealing with women, arguing that even though a woman is half a man, nowhere in the Qur'an was a particular type of brutality mentioned.

But instead of reading a highly theoretical text, let's review the facts: In Saudi Arabia, the most "Islamic" country and where the Hajj takes place, women are not allowed to drive, to walk around without a male relative, or to work/get medical treatment without the permission of a male relative. Imagine your mother getting cancer, but not getting treatment, because your dad had other ideas. Saudi women are supposedly able to own assets, but since they (until recently) did not have ID cards, it was easy for a male relative to quickly deprive them of such, simply bringing another veiled woman to the bank and identifying her as the wife, and then receiving her money. You probably heard that 15 girls were prevented from escaping a burning school last year by Saudi police, who pushed them inside? They all died.

In Pakistan, hundreds of women are killed in the name of honor each year. Almost all go unpunished. An honor killing is when you know, or most of the time only suspect, that a female relative has talked to a stranger on the street, or leaves the house too often. You kill her, and, as you are the only witness, the judge gives you some sort of minimum punishment reserved for such cases. It's a good way to get rid of a wife you've gotten too bored of-just claim she stains your family's honor, and kill her. Still not convinced? Go to http://www.secularislam.org/women.

The irony of Aziz's column is that although he claims that "Muslim policy was the first to give rights to slaves," Muslim policy still treats women as slaves.