Confusing Societal Habits with Religious Teachings

As a result of not having the requisite knowledge, most people in the West cannot distinguish between the true teachings of Islam and the cultural practices and traditions of Islamic people. As Pete Seda (2002) indicates, "[it] is a tragic injustice to blame … cultural practices on religious beliefs when the teachings of the religion do not call for such behavior". Suffice it here to discuss the standing of Islam regarding two controversial practices: honour killing and forced marriage.

Killing in Islam is generally forbidden. "If anyone kills a believer deliberately, the punishment for him is Hell, and there he will remain: God is angry with him, and rejects him, and has prepared a tremendous torment for him" [4: 93]. It is only in the case of adultery that the penalty is stoning to death, and only if four witnesses are available for testimony. Now, if we trace what honour killers do in Islamic teachings, we notice two violations. First, those who practice honour killing do not necessarily kill their victims for committing the crime of adultery. They kill them for other reasons as well – which is against Islam's general prohibition of killing. Second, in the case of killing for adultery, the supposed penalty based on religious instructions is stoning the family/clan member, which is not what honour killers usually resort to. They do not stone their victims; they kill the using other means, which means their act is not rooted in Islam. Honour killing has nothing to do with Islam; it is rooted in community traditions.

As for forced marriage, it is indeed unfortunately practised in some Islamic countries despite the stipulation of the Prophet, pbuh, "[a] matron should not be given in marriage except after consulting her; and a virgin should not be given in marriage except after her permission ..."[Bukhari, Vol. 7, Book 62, No. 67]. Imam Malik gave the father/guardian the right to marry his daughter to a spouse of his choice if she makes an immature decision in this regard. However, girls can still exercise the right, granted to them by the Prophet, pbuh, to annul their marriages if ever they are forced into them. Abdullah ibn Abbas narrated, "[a] virgin came to the Prophet (pbuh) and mentioned that her father had married her against her will, so the Prophet (pbuh) allowed her to exercise her choice." [Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 11, No. 2091]

It is noteworthy that the blame for confusing cultural practices for Islamic teachings does not lie wholly on Westerners. In fact, some Muslims do think that their cultural practices are Islamic, and even when more learned fellow Muslims try to draw their attention to the falsehood of their assumptions, they are unwilling to investigate whether there are roots of their practices in Islam. Fatoohi (December 17, 2007) in the "The Essentiality of Jihad" explains:

[justify] There have been, and perhaps will always be, countries that claim to be "Islamic."
These are simply countries whose population is mostly Muslims and which apply a
legal system that reflects a particular doctrinal interpretation of Islam. Rather than
serving Islam, as these states claim, they did and do the most damage to the
image [of] Islam. Those who do not know much about Islam are likely to try to
understand Islam through the examples set by those states. The reality is that
there is no true Islamic state anywhere on this planet today.