Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Just want to be me

A young Toronto woman who just wanted to be herself paid the price for it at the hands of her father, who wanted her wearing the hijab, according to a slew of news stories.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=162281

It is my hope for my own daughters to persist in the family faith, it really is. And perhaps they will, although young people frequently wander away from it, as I myself did.

But if they do, they'll stick with it on their own. I've done my part by providing a household that puts our faith in its best light. I've never understood cultures where fathers believe they can force their wills so completely on their kids. As a father, I may be responsible for my daughter's well-being... but as frustrating as it is when I make breakfast, I can't decide for her what she likes to eat. I can't set her tastes in clothes.

As for Aqsa Parvez, nobody will ever know what the course of her life was to be. She could have made her family very proud someday, as all kids have the potential to do. But because of her father's cold-hearted rigidity, they will now never know.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think people should stop apologising for islam. Islam is responsible for the death of thousands of daughters. Islam is a religion of hate and coersion. Only a coward would kill his child because he is embarassed. I only hope that the child had a good life until her death and that God has had mercy on her and that she has a special peace now. I hope her father can understand his misdeed, for the Creator commanded thou shall not kill, repent and accept merciful forgiveness under the terms the Creator has prescibed. Love, hope, mercy ... surely good things for mankind. Peace.

evolver said...

With all due respect, I don't buy that. I didn't post this to blast all Muslims. In Canada, nobody has objected more to this than the Muslim groups, who have been demanding that this man be charged with the maximum possible offence under the law.

The article I quoted was by two Muslims. Yes - there's no question that Muslims have a challenge on their hands with extremists in their midst. But who hasn't?

Even we Christians must remember that our own extremists, such as Torquemada, have done terrible things.

"And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye; and, behold, a plank is in thine own eye?" (Matthew 7:3-4)

Anonymous said...

qskmWith all due respect, possibly you miss my point, but you said you didn't understand the "culture" which inherently refers to a collective of people. It is easy for Canadian Muslims to condemn the man that killed his daughter for they are embarrassed and condemnation is their religious cultural basis. Martin Luther was a reformist who said look to the scriptures and look to His words and compare them to the words of our religious leaders. What words are the muslims going to look to?; Mohamed's early or final words? You say you do not understand the culture; what culture is this that you refer to? I don't think I should remain silent when thousands die and millions are suppressed because there is a log in my eye. Or because I am not a muslim. People stood by and watched the nazis kill millions; did they do it because there was a log in their eye? I am sorry but I grow weary of the violence and the inconsistent claim of peaceful religion. I don't blast all muslims but I do blast all nazis and their kin. I blast any ideology that proposes violence or coerces the birth of it. I'm also trying to deal with my own plank. And I am embarrassed about many ventures of Chritians too. You are right we can not easily separate ourselves from our associations. Thankfully we can speak out without undue fear of suppression or death. I can not offer solice to the Germans who stood by passively or informed on their fellow homo sapiens while the nazis expressed their culture.