Cruel and Usual Punishment
The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law

Growing Up Muslim

Nonie Darwish is angry at the world she grew up in, the Muslim world of Egypt. She is an educated upper-class woman whose first brush with the West sowed the seeds of discontent with Muslim standards, especially Sharia law. She ultimately married and left Egypt with her husband (about whom she tells us nothing) for America where she worked as a journalist and became an American citizen.

In this book, she tells us exactly what was (and still is) wrong with the Muslim world and why its ideology is a danger to America and Western civilization. The book was published in 2008, before the rise of ISIS, and seems fairly prophetic. She particularly unloads on Sharia law, the laws advocated by Muslim clerics based on the teachings of Mohammed. These laws, which some Muslim states grant the power of civil law, are particularly harsh to women, giving men power over the lives of their wives and daughters. These laws also grant virtually no rights to non-Muslims and advocate jihad against non-Muslims.

Inequality and Discrimination is OK in the Muslim World

This is not the same thing as "freedom of religion" as we have in the US. In the Muslim world, all religions are not equivalent. Islam is the only true religion for these believers and they do not have to treat non-Muslims with any compassion or grant them any rights. Muslims living in the US and other Western nations can hold onto these beliefs in their new country and act on them, as we saw in the incident in San Bernardino where a Muslim couple went on a rampage in a banquet hall, killing 14 people. According to the author, Muslims are often urged to live separately and resist assimilating into the culture of an adopted country.

While I think the author is a bit over-the-top at times in her anger, I also could identify with it, especially in regards to treatment of women. In my own case, I stopped being a Catholic in large part because the Church favors men over women both in the roles they can play in the Church and in the way they are judged. But if I thought the Catholic Church mistreats women, I'd have to invent a whole new word to describe the incredibly discriminatory and cruel way the Muslim religion deals with women. This is mistreatment on steroids, sanctioned by state-sponsored religion! Being totally powerless, women in these countries have no way to fight back. To even protest against their treatment could be fatal. Islam prescribes death for those who try to leave Islam.

Reading this book made me think about a couple of things.

First, I've always wondered why the US is an ally and "friends" with Saudi Arabia (the land where Islam originates). This is a country that practices the most backward and restrictive form of Islam (Wahabism) and where women cannot even leave their house without a man's permission. Women must have their husband's permission to have a job and they cannot drive a car, but must have a man drive them wherever they need to go. Then there is the whole "honor killing" business, where men can simply kill women who violate Sharia law. While men can have multiple wives and even "one-night temporary marriage" with a partner in a brothel, women are always blamed in cases of rape. Being raped also means a woman will never find a husband. Weddings are legal arrangements based on selling the bride's virginity, which must be proven by the husband brandishing a bloody towel or bedsheet at the actual wedding for the guests to see. Yes, I understand why Nonie Darwish is angry.

The other thing I thought about was the image of George W. Bush after the 9/11 attack on TV telling the Muslim world "We respect your faith." I immediately thought "Well, I don't respect it.... a religion that inspires these hijackers to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and kill 3000 people!! I DON'T respect that! I wondered why Geaorge W. Bush didn't begin with denouncing this deadly deed and the ideology that inspired it instead of implying religion had nothing to do with it. It appears it had everything to do with it.

Is Islam a Religion or an Ideology?

The author makes the point that Islam is not just a religion but is actually a political ideology, with its demand for an Islamic State, which today we actually have. ISIS has established its "Caliphate" in parts of Syria and Iraq. It is very much NOT a part of our American democracy to enshrine one religion as superior to others and to establish laws according to a religion born in the 7th century in the deserts of Arabia. It sounds ridiculous that Sharia law could ever come to the United States of America, but the author thinks we should be paying attention.

Should We Fear Out Muslim Neighbors?

Do our Muslim neighbors here in the US pose a danger to us? The author thinks that potentially they do. But she acknowledges that many Muslims do not really know what their religion teaches and many have no interest in attacking their Christian and Jewish neighbors or waging jihad or beheading any "infidels." Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, can be brought into modern times. I found her message compelling in showing the roots of Islam DO advocate eliminating non-believers and establishing the Islamic State (the Caliphate) everywhere in the world. But we could find lots of stuff in the Bible that indicates practices in the past that are not followed today by Christians or Jews. Even the Catholic Church is backing off a bit on some of its Imperialistic ideas, and we got rid of the Inquisition a long time ago. Isn't it possible most Muslims do not take these calls to jihad against non-Muslims seriously?

We need to arm ourselves with knowledge of Islam and its teachings, but keep in mind that actual Muslims who live here may not subscribe to extreme ideas from another time and place. I live in the Detroit area where we have the largest concentration of Muslims in North America. A small city called Hamtramck (it is surrounded by the city of Detroit), formerly a Polish enclave but recently with an influx from the Middle East, recently became the first city in America to have a Muslim majority on their City Council. A Council member was asked by a TV reporter if the Council will try to establish Sharia law in Hamtramck. He replied that he and the other Muslims living there mainly came here to GET AWAY FROM Sharia law!

Should I be worried? Honestly, I don't know.