http://www.centerforinquiry.net/isi...ation_of_tribalism_islam_cultural_relativism/
I have put some paragraphs from this article. It also talks about legal dimensions and political islam in the nest paragraphs:
The Lethal Combination of Tribalism, Islam & Cultural Relativism
by Azam Kamguian
It is not a democracy and an open society where a man can talk about politics without anyone threatening him. Democracy is when a woman can talk about her lover without being killed. Saud M. El Sabah
I intend to contribute to the debate surrounding honour killings as an activist and writer engaged in issues affecting women in the Middle East and in societies under influence of Islam. I shall examine the legal, social, religious and tribal dimensions of honour killing and will discuss the issue as it stands in the region, in the West and among intellectuals and the academic world. I will conclude my talk with my analysis of what needs to be done.
Is honour killing tribal? Is it Islamic? Is there any justification for violence against women in the religion of Islam? What is the role of religion in honour killing? Can we explain honour killing within the general framework of domestic violence against women? Is honour killing a form of universal patriarchy?
Hundreds of women get shot, burned, strangled, stoned, poisoned, beheaded or stabbed every year in Muslim inhabited countries because their male relatives believe their actions have soiled the family name. They die so that family honour may be preserved. According to tribal and religious culture a woman is a man's possession and a reflection of his honour. It is the man's honour that gets tarnished if a woman is 'loose'. Being killed deliberately and brutally is, in fact, a price that victims pay for attempting to practice their minimal human rights.
It takes far less than a pre or extramarital relationship for a woman to be condemned as dishonourable and deserving of death. There is no 'typical' case one can speak of: 'honour crimes' can include a husband killing his wife for leaving the house too often, a son killing his mother to prevent her from remarrying, a brother killing his sister and her husband for marrying without the family's consent, a man killing his wife for refusing to wear the veil when leaving home. Reputation and rumour play an active role in instigating honour crimes and the killing of women. This phenomenon is comparable to the emphasis on the chastity of wives in Victorian morality. Because the concepts of male honour and female subservience are deeply ingrained in Islam and in tribal culture, honour killings have become commonplace in Arab and Middle Eastern countries, in other Muslim inhabited countries and Muslim immigrant communities in the West.
The available statistics in honour killings show just the tip of an iceberg. The reality is far darker. The statistics do not show the number of female suicides provoked, or engineered to cover up an honour killing, nor the number of mysterious disappearances. Many honour killings never get reported or registered. Many are mislabeled.
In Egypt between 1998 - 2001 suspicion of 'indecent' behavior was the reason behind 79 per cent of all crimes of honour. The women were killed just because of rumours or suspicions that they may have crossed the line. The UN statistics for 1997 show: Yemen 400, Pakistan over 1000, Egypt 52, and Jordan 25 -35. The UN also reported that as many as 5000 women and girls worldwide were killed last year by family members, majority of them for the 'dishonour'.
Tribal dimension
According to tribal culture and values, women's 'misbehavior' is not only a shame on the family but on the community, the village, the tribe, the neighbourhood and the neighbours. The tribe and community participate in the killing by endorsing it. If and when the family fails to kill the woman, the tribe will cast it out. During the pre - Islamic period Arab society was patrilineal and Bedouin, where the highest authority was the father or male members of the family. At the time slavery was rife and women were perceived to be the property of their family or tribe with the potential of bringing disgrace to their kinsmen. The Bedouins before Islam practiced female infanticide. Later, the Islamic religion attempted to regulate sexual relationships and transgressions: prostitution, zina, infanticide were prohibited, and sex out of wedlock and adultery were brutally penalised. Yet, the pre-Islamic code of conduct survived, creating a powerful value system, parallel to Islam and practically and mutually nurturing and supporting one another.
Honour killing has been practiced in Mediterranean societies as well as the majority of Muslim inhabited countries. While most Mediterranean countries have abolished laws condoning such crimes and crimes of honour occur only rarely, most Arab and Muslim inhabited countries still maintain specific articles in their penal code dealing with such crimes.
In addition, the post colonial elite in the Middle East seeking to produce a new woman - who is not supposed to resemble her mother, and must be anything like a modern woman, a Western woman, endorse and support honour killings. Women's honour in this discourse becomes a symbol of national identity. Many Islamists as well as pan-Arabs and tribal sheiks are united on this issue, perceiving leniency towards it to be a symptom of