Enduring the Pain of Submission

Theo Van Gogh was murdered in 2004 for his role in producing a short film called, Submission. The film was written and proposed by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-Dutch woman who grew up in an abusive Muslim home.

Several months ago; I discussed approaching Islam from Benazir Bhutto's point of view. Bhutto was a woman who believed in the goodness of Islam and hoped to bring peace to her country of Pakistan. You can read my thoughts on the matter by clicking the link.

But today, I want to share a few of my thoughts following Hirsi Ali's encounter. She was brave enough to tell the world her story in her book, Infidel. She is also, now, an activist for Islamic women's rights, no longer a follower of Islam, in fact she claims to be an atheist.

The following excerpt explains one of Hirsi Ali's most painful experiences as a child. I will warn you, it is graphic.

"In Somalia, like many countries across Africa and the Middle East, little girls are made "pure" by having their genitals cut out. There is no other way to describe this procedure, which typically occurs around the age of five...After the child's clitoris and labia are carved out, scraped off, or, in more compassionate areas, merely cut or pricked, the whole area is often sewn up, so that a thick band of tissue forms a chastity belt made of the girl's own scarred flesh. A small hole is situated to permit a thin flow of pee. Only great force can tear the scar tissue wider, for sex.

Female genital mutilation predates Islam. Not all Muslims do this, and a few of the peoples who do are not Islamic. But in Somalia, where virtually every girl is excised, the practice is always justified in the name of Islam. Uncircumcised girls will be possessed by devils, fall into vice and perdition, and become whores. Imams never discourage the practice: it keeps girls pure...Many girls die during or after their excision, from infection. Other complications cause enormous, more or less lifelong pain. My father Abeh was a modern man and considered the practice barbaric. He had always insisted that his daughters be left uncut. In this he was quite extraordinarily forward-thinking...Grandma decided that the time was right for us to undergo the necessary and proper dignity of purification. My father was in jail and my mother was away for long periods, but Grandma would ensure that the old traditions would be respected in the old ways...

...the scissors went down between my legs and the man cut off my inner labia and clitoris. I heard it, like a butcher snipping the fat off a piece of meat. A piercing pain shot up between my legs, indescribable, and I howled. Then came the sewing: the long, blunt needle clumsily pushed into my bleeding outer labia, my loud and anguished protests, Grandma's words of comfort and encouragement. "It's just this once in your life, Ayaan. Be brave, he's almost finished." When the sewing was finished, the man cut the thread off with his teeth. That is all I can recall of it. But I do remember Haweya's [her sister] bloodcurdling howls."

This experience happens to so many young girls in the Middle East and Africa. It's a reality and it's wrong. Hirsi Ali has spoken out against the practice. It is one of control and it is demeaning to the God created human anatomy. According to the World Medical Association, female mutilation is practiced in at least 30 countries world-wide. According the World Health Organization, 100-140 million girls experience this operation every year. The WHO includes several long term health problems such as infertility, urinary tract infections, childbirth complication, cysts and even death. Female mutilation is both a cultural and/or religious practice in many places around the world. And it is not an attractive quality for either. If the purpose of religion is condemnation and being damned to hell, then what good will it do anyone to be converted? Justice in Islam may be control and submission, in the name of Allah, but then God is no better than the devil. So then, like, Hirsi Ali, one can wonder about the purpose of a God at all.

This is sad and devestating b/c certainly, I believe God to be mericful and loving, but b/c we were given the gift of choice, men will choose evil, they will choose to inflict pain.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was fortunate, however, as she grew; she endured abuse from her mother, a father, while most often gracious, was away with other wives, or Somali revolution, and she was forced to marry a man she did not want. But on her way to Canada (to join her husband's family), she escaped that life, hid in Holland and rose to every occasion to be recieve a university education and later become a member of Parliment. Her transformation was extraordinary, and her persistance to change the world, be an activist for women around the globe is astounding. I recommend her book to anyone...for her story, for her cause.

Finally, I am including the short film she produced with Theo Van Gogh. It is a bold statement.