Honor Killing - Religion

Religion

According to University of Toronto professor of women's studies Shahrzad Mojab, followers of Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism and Christianity have used their religions as a rationale to commit honour killings. She said that honor killings don't have "any definite connection with religion at all", and that honor killing had been practised before any major religion came into existence.

Widney Brown, the advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, said that the practice "goes across cultures and across religions." Human rights advocates have compared "honor killing" to "crimes of passion" in Latin America (which are sometimes treated extremely leniently) and also to the killing of women for lack of dowry in India.

Tahira Shaid Khan, a professor of women's issues at Aga Khan University, notes that there is nothing in the Qur'an that permits or sanctions honor killings. The first and most basic right in the Qur'an that every Muslim is expected to follow is, in fact, the right to life. As written in the Qur'an,

For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth. (5:32).

Khan instead blames it on attitudes (across different classes, ethnic and religious groups) that view women as property with no rights of their own as the motivation for honor killings. Khan also argues that this view results in violence against women and their being turned "into a commodity which can be exchanged, bought and sold."

A survey by author Ellen Sheeley revealed that 20% of Jordanites sampled believe that Islam condones and even supports murder in the name of family honor. Others note how religious meaning attached to terms such as virginity and bride-price help to reinforce social traditions and the control of a woman's body and their sexuality.

According to a 2000 article, in Jordan the official religious authorities argued that, while adultery should be punished by the proper authorities, in some cases by stoning to death for both men and women, unauthorized honor killings can be traced to pre-Islamic tribal traditions and are not part of the religion. However, the Islamist party argued that honor killings are one part of the Islamic code.

The Qur'an verse An-Nisa, 34 has been interpreted as supporting wife-beating, (See Islam and domestic violence) and has been argued to reduce resistance to honor killings.