Page 89 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Adnan Oktar
(Harun Yahya)

still remain in the Arab world as a powerful factor in
the background, which, according to him, will pose an
obstacle to the development of individual freedoms in the
Middle Eastern societies. The distorted values and rules of the

tribal culture not only provide a wrong justification for violence
like feuds, but they take their highest toll on women. In various
Islamic communities, women and girls are often subjected to
forced genital mutilation by their families under the pretense of

protecting their chastity. They are forced to marry people they
don't want to marry, are almost made slaves of their husbands.
They are usually not even allowed to go out shopping without
their husbands' consent and constant domestic violence
becomes almost a routine. They are not allowed to drive, do not
have the right to vote or be elected, and are kept away from

education and business life.

These rules are nothing but bogus principles and traditions
made up to protect and further the interests of the patriarchal
mentality dominant in these tribal cultures, and to appease the
inferiority complex and jealousy so often seen in these settings.
Inevitably, this nonsense in time turned into social and "reli-
gious" convention, and sometimes even became state laws.

Regrettably, the Islamic world is largely represented by this
primitive and backward frame of mind, yet the ugly picture cre-
ated by the mentality in question is unfairly attributed to Islam
and the Qur'an.

1. Book Reviews, Mark Weiner. The Rule of the Clan: What an Ancient Form of Social
Organization Reveals about the Future of Individual Freedom, Reviewed by: Rick Dock-
sai, World Future Review, Bethesda, MD, USA

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