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No, terrorism is not part of Islam. Regrettably, too many have been led to believe that terrorism has something to do with the Muslim religion. That, undoubtedly, is the principal reason there is animosity between the West and some Muslim countries. The truth is, religion has nothing to do with the terrorist’s goals. It has been purposely and maliciously used to benefit those who portray it otherwise for their own agenda. Terrorism is not restricted to Muslims. Timothy McVey, the man executed for bringing down a government building in Oklahoma in 1995 was an American Christian and, in his own mind, a patriot. Similarly, in Muslim countries, some parents teach their children that Westerners are part human, part devil and must, therefore, be destroyed because it has been so decreed by self-proclaimed messengers of God, come to earth in the form of humans such as Bin Laden. They believe that those who serve him are pure and it is their duty to kill every non-Muslim. Astonishingly, this message is the antithesis of the medieval message of the Inquisition in thirteenth and fourteenth century  Europe. True Islam does not approve the brutal acts of depraved men who use it for their own evil agenda. The crimes inflicted on the world by these malevolent pirates do not reflect true Islam. Terrorism, although frequently closely associated with religion, is a separate entity. It is not about God or religion but about power. Those who recruit terrorists exercise power over them and they in turn over others. In their sick, twisted minds creating fear is being in power. Today, Muslim fanatics/terrorists use Islam as an excuse for their own agenda.

Terrorists, hijackers and kidnappers are modern day Pirates or Mafia Godfathers that, instead of coming from Europe , come from the heart of poor countries. Their only reason for being Muslim is to have a coverup. There is nothing new about the modern world pirates. As long as humans have been on this planet, some have always found a way to fight for personal benefit and used religion to justify it. Using Islam is the latest victim of their trick.

Poor, naïve people succumb to the lure of the warped message of the terrorist; trusting that therein lays their salvation. The extremist give them false hope and empty promises of money and heaven. Khomeini took over the Iranian nation by making the same promises. The unfortunates betrayed by terrorists are among the poorest in human society.

Terrorism grows in an environment where there is a lack of knowledge. Poor people are susceptible because they can’t afford advanced education. They learn their prejudices from people with malice in their hearts. The world’s poor, mostly Muslim, can only continue a bare bones existence in countries run by an abusive government.

Children in a Harlem project look rich in comparison with their own kids who grow up in shacks with hills of dirt as their playground, where they sit on the bare floors of half ruined rooms called classrooms in schools that have no doors or windows, walls marked by bullets and a black board that is hardly black and barely writable. It is not a pretty picture. Children, barely fed, walk miles to be on time in this shanty school. Hoping for a better future than their parents, they are eager to learn to read and write, even though their worn and outdated books are nearly unusable. In many third world countries, education is still considered a luxury and not all parents can provide even a minimal learning opportunity for their children. An illiterate generation fosters ignorance and a citizenry more malleable and prone to blindly follow than an educated one.

Devoted Muslims are obligated to pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan and shun most pleasures of this world in order to receive the pleasures of the next. Most Muslims live in potentially the richest region on earth, unfortunately, it is also among the most volatile and poorly managed spots on earth.

Death is a very real and imminent possibility for too many of these deprived individuals. Consequently, they are overly and blindly religious. Their hearts and minds are easily manipulated by the unscrupulous. This environment is a green house for the poisonous Terrorism Plant, waiting to be seeded and cultivated.

Religious people are easier prey, more readily manipulated than the secular who place less stock in the afterlife and take their pleasure as they find it in this one. For a poor Muslim, whose life is a joyless day-to-day struggle, heaven is the relief to which he is looking forward. If he is told his key to heaven is under a stack of five American bodies, then five Americans it is. He will eagerly kill them to get that key. He has been taught that because Americans don’t pray to Allah, they are imperialist infidels intent on sucking the oil and money from poor nations and deserve to die.

An example of misguided interpretation of Islam; on May 28, 2003 a Florida woman, an Islam convert, sued on religious grounds for the right to wear a veil in her driver’s license photo. There is no justification in Islam for such a demand. Callow, naïve individuals concoct a mix of tradition and religion that only they understand and then try to force their interpretation on others.

The beneficiaries of terrorism are those who draw attention and instill fear by indiscriminate killing in the name of religion or political doctrine. More accurately, it is the founders and leaders of terrorist organizations who benefit. The grunts doing the actual dirty work are like drones to a queen bee and will disappear if the architects of their evil are eliminated. Bin Laden is the brain. The foot soldiers are just the tools that point and shoot; killing without remorse because they have been convinced they are fulfilling their holy destiny. When one is captured he takes pride in his crimes and readily admits them. He rejoices in his actions, giving a thumbs-up and looking forward to his dubious reward in heaven.

We all remember our childhood and the action heroes we admired. For children in the West, action heroes range from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Batman. A child in Afghanistan doesn’t play video games and real guns are popular and easily available. His heroes are Bin Laden, Khomeini and Sadam Hussein.

Iraqi children grew up with Sadam Hussein lauded as a hero despite the atrocities he and his callous sons committed. As cold hearted as this may sound; if Sadam Hussein’s grandson had not been killed in action along with his father and uncle, we would have been fighting him again in our lifetime. His legacy would have been to inherit the underground support of Saddam loyalists and to try to elevate himself to renewed dictatorship.

Middle Eastern children are indoctrinated by environment to be the fighters, terrorist and dictators of tomorrow. They chant hatred against the West before they can count their own fingers. When a child grows up with a real gun in his hand and has seen death up close in his family and in his neighborhood, whether in Israel’s Gaza Strip, in Afghanistan, in Iraq or in Iran, there is a great likelihood that child will become an enemy of the West. The solution is to not only change his action heroes but also to create a peaceful environment. Instead of bullets and blood, let the child grow up among friendly faces of every color from every nation and background. The US military may be able to put down one resilient generation but they cannot bear the cost forever. All nations must unite to stop the malicious teaching to the children.

Jihad is the Holy war of Muslims that has been rarely ordered. People in this era only know Jihad as an international crisis. Few people knew the Arabic word Jihad prior to 9/11 or, more recently, the Madrid train station bomb massacre. Even though it strikes fear in the western world, most still do not know the true meaning of the word. Heard repeatedly these days on radio and TV, it invokes an angry image of machine guns, suicide bombings and the blood of innocent people painting the streets. The images speak a thousand words of militia attacks in Baghdad ; vindictive guerilla attacks around the world and soldiers arriving home in body bags. The world is justifiably terrified by the prospect of another 9/11.

It breeds fear on our thin skins and our minds struggle to understand the depravity of such an enemy. We question the nature and integrity of a religion whose devotees pray five times a day and fast, from dawn to dusk, the entire month of Ramadan. Can it be the same religion that teaches people not to kill an ant unless they absolutely must? To heal our wounds we often drive patriotism in a direction where there is a fine line between discrimination and nationalism.

In the time of Prophet Mohammad , Jihad was interpreted the same for Shiah and Sunni. However, since the division of the two sects, some Sunni Sheikhs have a different interpretation of Jihad. As an informed Shiah, I can only speak for the Shiah Muslims. But, I believe truthful Sunni Muslims, mostly moderates who seek true answers, agree with the belief of Shiah about Jihad.

There is ongoing debate among many Shiah Ayatollahs. Since the time of Imam Ali, Jihad is no longer used as an attack order but as defense tactic. Islam forbids attacking. Since Islam has not been attacked, a Shiah Ayatollah cannot issue this order. According to the rules of Shiah, the order can only be used to defend and should not be abused, manipulated or taken lightly. It is not a simple or casual instruction. In the wrong hands it can have far reaching lethal consequences.

Muslim extremist use illegal Jihad to gather followers and to bridge the gap between their personal agenda and Islam. Killing is against the basic tenet of all religions, not just Islam. Warped men declare holy wars and falsely preach that religion makes it permissible to kill. An example of the abuse is Bin Laden, who calls himself a Sheik, compares his evil soul with Prophet and has issued more than 1,500 orders of Jihad into cyber space.

Today’s terrorists are not the same breed as those decades ago. They are sophisticated modern pirates who hide behind the religion, rob it of its core and its followers of their dignity. They tear humanity apart to achieve their goals. In olden times, it was all for God, now it is for money and power. Terrorist claim they are fighting Imperialism. Khomeini made the same claim but in truth he simply replaced the Shah with himself as a brutal, unprincipled dictator.

The imposition of Jihad is comparable to the use of an atomic bomb. It is the last resort and is to be used only against the enemies of Islam who would stop people from worshipping ALLAH or GOD. It is only to be used to save Islam from destruction. Only the purest of men, closest to God, who have studied religion for decades and hold the highest office of virtue and servitude to God and Islam, can issue an order for Jihad.

In a battle for the survival of Islam, even though God himself had already given him the order, Prophet Mohammad consulted with his closest confidants before issuing a Jihad. Jihad, ordered by the wrong man for personal reasons or any motive other than saving Islam and killing anyone who has not participated in an act to destroy Islam is not Jihad; but pure murder.

Jihad is not meant for the wrong reasons; a mask for murderers to hide behind, pretending they are fighting for a holy cause. People kill each other for many reasons and attempt to justify their act with various excuses. Islam is one of the excuses the murderers try to use for their inexcusable sin. Bin Laden and others who claim authority to issue Jihad are imposters not qualified for the job. They are fake mullahs with a pile of linen wrapped around their head, hiding behind lies and a long beard, poisoning innocent souls and using them for their own agendas. Men, such as Bin Laden, who slaughter innocent people to achieve their warped objectives, are not considered Muslims by rational Muslims. Such barbaric acts were condemned by Prophet Mohammad and are not allowed in Islam. Those who use people’s lives and the name of God to achieve their own evil master plan are not practicing Islam.

The Koran warns, ‘No matter how smart they are, no matter how they try to make up rules for Islam, God is aware of their inner motives and will not forgive them.’ Our religion’s leaders teach us to not judge people by the color of their skin, to not play God and to not punish others for our own sake or for what we think is right. No matter by what name your belief is called, if you care about and are good to other human beings and you do not kill, rape or steal and want the same for others that you want for yourself, that is all that matters.

There is a story in Islam that illustrates this concept. In the time of the Prophet Mohammad , there was a wealthy innkeeper named Hatam Taiie who was famous among both Shiah and Sunni. He served food on golden plates without charge to all travelers who came to Hejaz , in present day Saudi Arabia . They could stay at his inn as long as they wished. Some ingrates, who arrived tired and hungry, after resting and eating instead of thanking him, took the golden plates with them. He told his servants not to stop them.

This generous man did not believe in God. Despite his best efforts, the Prophet could not convince him to accept the God of Abraham. He denied God to the last day of his life. Because he lived in denial, most of the faithful assumed he would burn in Hell. However, when Hatam Taiie died, God sent a message to Mohammad through the Angel Gabriel that the man who had denied Him all his life would be saved. God said, “He was good to people, his generosity resembled mine, I spare his eternity from punishment, despite the fact he didn’t accept me as his God.”

This true story can be a lesson to us all. We can’t predict what God’s judgment will be. He sees everything, hears everything and doesn’t need us to protect Him. We cannot pass judgment, condemn their belief or punish someone because they do not believe or worship exactly as we do. We must look beyond our differences. I have researched Islam extensively. I love Islam with all my heart. Islam is the religion of equality brotherhood and sisterhood among all human beings, especially between women and men. All religions need to understand that we all pray to the same God. It is not my God or your God or someone else’s God. He is our God.

Most people in North America only know about Islam what they have heard and read in the news. It is a pity this great religion has not only been wrongly used but has also been presented in an unfair negative way.

In Shiah, Ayatollah Ozma is a Fagih and the highest religious scholar. An Ayatollah’s position is, in most respects, comparable to the Pope. Only a lawful, knowledgeable panel of Ayatollahs whose only commission is to save Islam from vanishing and whose decision is not affected by personal agenda or profit can order Jihad. He is a source of great wisdom but seeks the opinion and counsel of his peers. All the members of an Ayatollah Ozma’s council must agree on the order for Jihad. It is an enormous responsibility that can change the destiny of nations. I emphasize, it is only issued to protect Islam from vanishing. It is not for severity, not for forcing anyone to embrace a religion and not for personal issues.

When he gives the order of Jihad, it becomes every Muslim’s duty to leave their lives behind, pick up a weapon and fight with an army and only with an army.

Media plays a great role in portraying the West as the heaven for the wealthy. Westerners are perceived as enjoying money from oil and other precious natural sources of the poor countries.

Back in Iran , ‘Baywatch’ was a popular show, among men, on satellite television. Iranian men looked on all American women as a bunch of half naked whores. Nevertheless, they enjoyed looking at them. When I moved to Canada , I realized this was a very low budget TV series. I intend no offense to the director, actors and actresses but they really don’t know how they are perceived among other nations.

The cliché, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ should be applied to some of the programs that are broadcast overseas. Some may jeer the notion that people on the other side of the ocean judge a nation on what they see on TV. Believe it or not, it is true. People in those countries assume people of the West sweep money on the streets and live in utmost comfort. That is why coming to the West is the dream of many of them. We all know that movies and television do not present a realistic image of life in the West but the man in the street in Iran or Iraq does not know it. He is scrabbling to survive while believing Westerners receive their money and live a great life doing nothing.

Critics argue that, although it was not deliberate, the West bears some responsibility for terrorism, citing debatable exploitation of vulnerable countries. Defenders counter with equally cogent arguments. The solution lies with religion, politics, education and the relationship of the disappointed, disadvantaged and disillusioned nations with the West.

Exploitation is not the exclusive province of the West. It is a worldwide tragedy and a disgrace that dictators exploit national resources while the mass of the population lives in misery.

A case in point: In Equatorial Guinea , West Africa , the Kuwait of Africa, President Obiang , the dictator/president runs the country as a family business. He appoints family members to influential, lucrative posts overseeing national resources. His son has mansions in his home country and in Europe and was caught by a concealed camera spending a half million dollars on a shopping spree at Cartier in Paris . In contrast, the people of Equatorial Guinea live in shacks on less than a dollar a day. As a famous Persian proverb says, ‘It didn’t rain money from the sky; either he is a thief or his father was.’

The source of Equatorial Guinea ’s wealth is oil. It is no surprise that American oil companies are the biggest developers of the Guinea oil fields. Some would have you believe that there is something wrong with this arrangement. The US companies provide the capital and technical skills required to explore and develop Equatorial Guinea ’s oil reserves but they operate at the pleasure of the man in control. The alternative is to leave the oil in the ground, which benefits no one. It is not the fault of the oil companies that Equatorial Guinea ’s dictator plunders the oil revenue unmercifully and they cannot control it.

It has been publicized that Obiang is treated like royalty by the US oil company’s president, plying him with an 18 th century bottle of champagne and Persian caviar. Business savvy people understand that they are trying to find new oil reserves to benefit their stockholders and satisfy an oil hungry world. Obiang’s is the palm they must grease to gain access to Equatorial Guinea ’s oil.

It is imperative that the United States not be completely dependent on oil from the volatile Middle East . It must develop alternative oil sources to supplement domestic shortfall. The uninformed and misinformed populations of countries that complain they are being exploited do not understand that responsibility for their misery is not on US shoulders alone. Their own dictatorial government must take the lion’s share of the blame.

The United States has laws prohibiting doing business with countries where the president is also a dictator but no such prohibition is in force for Equatorial Guinea . Detractors will whine that the oil is more important to the United States than fairness. The hard truth is; if United States companies were not developing these resources, other countries would be doing so under terms even more odious to the host nation.

Having said that; if revolution ignites a fire in Africa , when the people look at who buys their oil, it is the United States that will be blamed, not the oil companies or the greedy dictator. The unfair element to US citizens is that while the oil company president vacations in a safe corner of the world on a private island protected by bodyguards; the ordinary people, the little people of America will pay the price if, on their next trip to Africa on their honeymoon or a missionary trip, they are cornered by African guerillas and rebels.

Hatred of the United States starts when the suffering people look at a small window that portrays America as bloodsuckers while African and Asian children are dying of starvation, neglect and disease. Americans are presumed to have it all. This is not true but, because the people receive little benefit from the deals that large US companies strike with their government, they blame the people of American and not the oil companies. Hate for everyone in the US and the West will simmer in their souls until it eventually erupts.

Twenty years ago, Khomeini broadcast exactly the same message of exploitation to Iran , claiming that Iran ’s money and resources were going to America and into the pocket of US citizens who were getting rich out of our misery.

Today, his successors are still broadcasting the same fiction throughout the world. It is shameful to admit but that is what I heard and, for a short while, believed as a child. Because I was a child of revolution and war, I can smell volatility and lies miles away.

A patriot can be someone as notorious as Cuban dictator Castro or the North Korean dictator, Kim Jung, who both know no religion at all, Sadam Hussein who raped women and prayed to God or Khomeini whose moral values were as featherweight as his fine linen turban.

The question is, how can we change people’s mistaken interpretation of their religion and counter the blasphemous lies they are being fed? The good news is, if we persevere as nations united against terrorists we can deter and defeat them. The bad news is, it can’t be done in one generation or by the removal of any one person.

Terrorism is a world wide epidemic. It did not come from outer space and aliens do not direct it. The criminals that commit atrocities live among us. Their legacy can only be ended if civilized nations band together. We don’t need an American organization to end terrorism. We need a World Wide Anti-Terrorism Organization. One nation cannot win this war on diverse terrorists while the rest of the world whistles. Today the United States carries the burden; tomorrow it will be every country’s nightmare.

We will all eventually pay a price. Terrorism is a weed growing in the mind of the innocent. It takes more than guns and troops to eradicate it. It takes knowledge and awareness.

For such a task, we need a World Intelligence Agency. We need personnel and informants from the ‘hood’ who have been there and understand the mind of the terrorist; who can read their mind and anticipate their actions. The best FBI profilers are, presumably, reformed criminals now working alongside the FBI. There must be a lesson there.

A man in Jakarta , convicted for bombing a hotel killing hundreds of tourists, gave a ‘thumbs up’ in court when he was sentenced to death and proclaimed that he was going to heaven. God never approved such barbaric cruelty. I will bet my seat in heaven that when judgment day comes, he and other evil people who use religion to justify killing innocent people will not make it through the Pearly Gates.

The bad news is not only his killing innocents; the worse news is the next generation will grow up with even less remorse and will not hesitate to commit worse crimes. For these people the cause is holy. The Ayatollah or the Sheikh has given him the thumbs up. From what I have been taught about God’s justice, he doesn’t operate on who prays and who doesn’t. It is not my job to speculate on whether these terrorist will go to hell or to heaven but I seriously doubt that God is going to appreciate anyone assuming his role and killing others whether the cause is holy or pure evil.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Muslims are brainwashed and poor. Bin Laden, a distant prince of the Saudi crown family is a multi-millionaire and owned stock in the Twin Towers he destroyed. He purports to be the Muslim Messiah. It is easy to believe someone of the same religion and from the same cultural background. So, Bin Laden pretends that he is one with the poor, sits on the same pad in the cave and eats the same crappy food with his fingers from the same tray.

It is logical for his followers to believe him as Messiah instead of an American that they see as evil, even though the American is telling them the truth. As we say in Persian, ‘Truth will eventually come out.’ Just prior to the United States 2004 presidential election, Bin Laden, in his latest video, spoke directly to the American people; the same people he called evil and wanted dead. He made his first mistake by proudly accepting responsibility for 9/11. Many of his followers did not think he was behind 9/11, believing it was a CIA plan. Without defending anyone, we all know the CIA has been behind many plans around the world, including deposing the Shah of Iran, but killing thousands of US citizens for no plausible reason, wasn’t part of their agenda.

Bin Laden has the advantage of culture and religion and that is why his supporters have not turned him in; not even for fifty million dollars. Consider this. An uneducated tribesman, living in a no-mans land among men who cut their watermelon with the same machete they slaughtered their sheep or camel with the night before, is not going to be comfortable at St. Moritz or on Park Avenue. Does he really need or care to have fifty million dollars? I think not. Long before he finishes counting his money his soul will be floating overhead, looking down at his beheaded body. Afghanistan , like most Islamic countries, follows the judiciary system of an eye for an eye or, in this case, a head for head.

After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japanese despised America . As always happens after such cataclysmic events, even many shortsighted Americans questioned the morality of the attack. The United States , wisely, did not offer to compensate individual Japanese. Instead, the US provided the knowledge and resources that allowed Japan to grow into a viable, prosperous country. As a result, Japan became a US ally instead of an enemy.

The success of this plan was not because of all the fancy gadgets the Japanese make now. It was because the United States and Japan made peace with each other, shared stories and shared pain. People healed because they got to know each other as humans, not as numbers of dead or foreigners with strange looking faces. Today, the people of Baghdad or Afghanistan are only pictures. Even though we put a name beside those pictures, we have not yet effectively communicated. It is hard to see them as our neighbors because they dress poorly and live in shacks shabbier than the worst hovels in the West. Children from the poorest families in the West have a better future than even the more advantaged children of Afghanistan and Iraq . We have difficulty communicating with them because they seem so strange and so angry.

Before I fled Iran , I was told that if I fell flat on my face, unconscious on the streets of Canada or the United States , no one would lift a finger to help me. In my heart and mind, I knew this couldn’t be true but I had no evidence or reason to believe otherwise. When I arrived in Canada , I saw a different picture. Westerners became humans and I could communicate directly with them. I tried to understand their culture. Regardless of differences in skin, language, or religion, I saw common problems. I saw humans like myself; just as susceptible to temptation, just as tired of injustice and just as caring toward others.

It is the nature of humanity that we would have a hard time eating a pet chicken but we slaughter poultry by the millions because we didn’t see them grow up. If we can turn Iraq and Afghanistan into countries such as Japan , the entire world will benefit. These countries will be elevated to a sophisticated, industrial level and we can see each other as compatible friends. If we can get to know each other personally, the fringe will be more likely to rebel against the idea of hurting the West. If we share wealth and knowledge perhaps all the casualties of war will not have been in vain.

Knowledge, sharing of wealth and a one-on-one network is the key to our peace puzzle. The third world society needs to realize Westerners are just as human as they. People are people, where ever they live and they need to know we care about them. People power can turn enemies into friends. I am a native of the region and know the people. They are as human as people of any other country. Belligerent societies, fairly treated, will see the light and reject backward ideas if they know they have a reliable friend.

They must realize that terrorism is not about religion or God. It is about man’s inhumanity to man. Until we can capture their hearts and cleanse their minds from the poisonous speeches and thoughts inherited from hundreds of years of misery, we will have to sit on guard and keep watching our backs. Terrorism is like mould; it grows where there is no sunshine. It grows when people are so naïve as to believe religious leaders with a personal agenda who deliver bogus religion. The chain of ignorance forces people into invisible prisons. It’s parishioners are brain washed people who act as robots and will do anything they are told they must do to take them to heaven.

As long as we try to exercise power and do not bring their life style up to a level close to the West, they will look at life in the United States and continue to think that all its wealth is derived from oil taken from their country. That is our choice; we can turn our enemies into friends or keep making more enemies.

It is hard to believe, in this era when women in backward countries are used as little more than baby makers, that Islam abandoned slavery many centuries prior to its constitutional prohibition in the modern world. Even though this horrendous practice still thrives in Iran , Saudi Arabia , Jordan and elsewhere in the Muslim and Arab world, it is considered a great sin. By enslaving women, the mothers of generations to come will suffer for sins they didn’t commit. One after another, they will walk the same path. The basic element of freedom is having the choice. Often, when that is taken away, women are not able to break the cycle.

Afghanistan recently had a national election. For many of its citizens it was the first time to vote. As bright as this news is, a look at the women in line to vote is sobering. Their eyes didn’t necessarily show happiness and many still wore burkahs. Although the Taliban and Al Qaeda are out of power, the brain washing they did still rules the heart of the people.

Under the Taliban, Afghani women were condemned to a burkah prison for life. It was part of the terrible life style imposed by the Taliban and is a symbol of the lingering influence of the Taliban that will continue until every burkah is burned. The Taliban claim that the burkah is required by the rules of Islam. That is a lie. The burkah is not a Hijab, or requirement, for Islamic woman and they cannot point to any rule or law in the Koran that justifies it. It is just a tool to manipulate and keep the women disciplined and under control. And, it is still working. The Taliban are gone from power but many women in Afghanistan are still hesitant, or are not allowed by the men in their lives, to come out of their burkah.

The effect of decades of indoctrination and subjugation by the absurd rules imposed by the Taliban will not be erased until a generation of women is educated. There is nothing in Islam requiring women to be secluded or prohibiting them from pursuing an education. In fact, our prophet was in favor of education and equality for women. His daughter, Fatimeh, was never obligated to cover her face or hands and was one of the first female teachers in Islam; teaching crowds of men numbering in the hundreds. What we see in fanatical societies should not be mistaken for the rules of Islam.

Capital punishment is still meted out as it was in the time of the Prophet. The punishment may be carried out the same way but the sins are entirely different. In the time of the Prophet, if a man accused of stealing had a compelling reason and told the Prophet that he couldn’t provide for his wife and children, he wouldn’t be punished. If, his Arab Sheikh master paid him so little that he had to rob to save his family, it was the Sheikh who was punished, not the poor man.

Although Saudi Arabia claims there is no crime in their country, they are still beheading critics of royalty and poor people who are forced to steal because they cannot afford life. To my amazement, in a recent PBS interview with some Saudi Arabia women. They didn’t exactly embrace the idea of being liberated, to vote, drive their cars. They all said they wanted to be left alone. Some even thought the restrictions on women are justified. A woman doctor applauded the custom saying, “The restrictions are fine.”

The Saudi family runs Saudi Arabia much as a family business. Every nephew and grandson is a prince and receives a large piece of the royal pie. Among those close to the royal family was notorious Saudi terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, who received public money supposedly to be used for welfare for the poor; the same unfortunates who are beheaded because they don’t have enough money to live on. For those who think all Saudi residents are rich, I tell them is a false impression. The year I traveled to Saudi, I saw unbelievably dirt poor people in Medina , whose lives were as bleak as that of the Afghans.

Women in Saudi Arabia are no better off than poor people. They are veiled in public and live in harems surrounded by other women. Their duty is to serve a man, usually one with many wives. Many criticize the Prophet for polygamy and ridicule him or anyone else who has practiced it. I need to clarify the rules of polygamy and when, where and why it was practiced.

Islam believes in freedom and equality for women. Koran was given as a miracle to the prophet Mohammad to be the guide for future generations to follow until the end of time in pursuit of the way of God. The Koran repeatedly mentions the equality of women and men. Muslims have been taught that the doors of Paradise are beneath their mother’s feet. Respecting mothers is emphasized everywhere from the Koran to the words of the Prophet and Imams.

His prophecy was not to force women into polygamy. He said clearly and repeatedly that if a man chooses to have many wives, he must divide his time and wealth equally and that failure to do so is a sin. Many Muslim women have fallen for the perverted version of polygamy. It is time for them to brush up on the rules and stand up for their rights. The Prophet did not give these one-sided privileges to men; men took them on their own. It has nothing to do what prophet they follow or what religion they profess.

The Prophet himself did not lead a polygamist life until his only wife, Khadigeh, the love of his life with whom he lived faithfully for many years, died in his arms. When she died, he didn’t want another wife but, as a prophet and a symbol, other tribal chiefs influenced him to marry. Many people find this part of history hard to believe. How could he be forced to marry? He was called the Rohol-Amin in Arabic, which means a man of integrity who never lied to save himself. I choose to believe a prophet’s word over a historian selling books.

He was forced by the Sheiks of two of the tribes to marry a nine-year-old girl called Ayasheh. She was stunningly beautiful and already the center of controversy. The Prophet cried of many hardships she brought to his life. After his death she became the number one enemy of his son in law, Ali .

In modern times, most people think marrying a nine-year-old girl is a sick idea and I agree. However, we are speaking of more than 1400 years ago. I discuss further, in the Marriage section, the reason women in Islam were married so young.

Governments, such as Iran , attempt to spread the impression that their Islamic republic is a benevolent society. That is simply the propaganda of a regime using Islam to hurt people. Their actions speak louder, revealing it to be a close-minded, fanatical regime with a theory of male supremacy.

Like many women around the world, Iranian women go through hell on earth in their lifetime but won’t talk about it. In Iran today, women are still being stoned in the name of God.

Prophet Mohammad brought a new religion and gave women rights when they were slaves and had none. He built a religion and a nation based upon love and respect.

Islam is criticized for not giving women all rights or at least making them equal to men. If Prophet had said to a man that his wife was his equal, she likely would not have survived the night. We can pass judgment on something the Prophet intended to be beneficial but was misused in the hands of his followers. Or, we can use his words the right way and leave bitterness and judgment aside to make a better world.

The outside world wonders why Islamic women cover themselves so completely. It is a custom rooted in the Koran’s requirement that women dress modestly that has evolved into overkill. Men deprived of female beauty were so sexually repressed that they were conditioned to over-react to any glimpse of a woman’s skin or hair. Men of the Prophets time were not as restrained as the educated male of our era. Women had to cover up to protect themselves.

I traveled to Saudi Arabia when I was fourteen. I can tell you, it hasn’t progressed much in the treatment of women since the Middle Ages. I was groped by a bus driver and saw many women groped by police who were supposed to serve the Prophet and keep thieves out of his mosque. I saw men stare insolently into women’s eyes. The subtly overt harassment made me angry.

Before explaining this title, I want to draw the reader’s attention to scientific studies of the reasons the human body and puberty have evolved with time. In primitive areas, puberty is coming later while in others, like North America , girls are maturing earlier than in the past. Due to the climate and the hardships women endured, the maturity age for girls was different than it is today. They married at an early age and many died by age thirty. By age fifty, they resembled a woman of ninety today. In hot climate countries, puberty may occur as early as nine to thirteen while in colder climates it can be as high as seventeen years of age.

One other factor that shouldn’t be forgotten; the Arabs of Prophet Mohammad’s time were not living in desert palaces. They were Bedouin and did not enjoy a Pharaoh’s life style. I have observed the life of many Bedouins. Their children do not grow up like ours. Their six-year-old girl is equal to our ten year old. The last factor to remember is that marriage was not always about sex. The desert tribes were almost constantly in battles and many men died. Their wives and children had no one to provide for them. These widowed women either had to become prostitutes and beggars or part of a man’s extended family with the respect of his name. This was the course followed by the Prophet. As a Muslim, I can understand why Islam originally allowed men to have more than one wife but I believe if Mohammad were alive today, he would find that rule unfair to women and rescind it. Fourteen hundreds years ago, when he allowed polygamy it was not to degrade women. Wars killed so many men that there was no one to take care of the surviving women and children. Marriage saved them from prostitution, slavery and starvation. As strange as it sounds to the rest of the world, Prophet didn’t allow polygamy for the sake of men but for the sake of women.

Polygamy is part of Islam but has its conditions and strict rules. However, men who practice it only know the number of women they can marry and could not care less about its rules. Fifteen hundred years ago, the short life span due to hard labor, disease and war, gave people as reason to pass on their genes to their offspring before their own youth was over. I am not trying to justify Islam or undermine a generation but we need to consider that our ancestors were quite satisfied to marry because that was how it was. In Saudi Arabia , Persia or Greece , rules were pretty much universal.

According to the Fagih of Shiah Sector, today, officially, a girl must have reached puberty to be married legally. In addition, her parents are expected to consider her physical, psychological and emotional maturity. Undoubtedly, there are still instances of marriage of very young girls, without considering any of these factors. Thankfully, the marriage of pre-pubescent girls is a declining practice.

Plural marriages are not permitted today in all Islamic countries. However, Islamic law permits men to have five permanent marriages. There is also a proviso in the fine print for additional marriages for a specific period of time that allows an unlimited number of common law wives, mistresses or concubines. These temporary ‘wives’ have only to be approved by a mullah. In all cases, men are supposed to be able to meet the financial and physical needs of all his wives.

Men who cannot find suitable marriage partners often seek temporary marriages called Sigeh or, lawful girl friend/boy friend. Religiously, a man is bound to treat the woman with respect and cover her financial needs. Sigeh, however, imposes no legal obligation upon a man who has a sexual relationship with a woman. I should emphasize that under the mullah’s law, men don’t have any obligation toward any woman, married or Sigeh. Women brave enough to attempt to have an independent life have been found dead.

For a number of reasons, primarily poverty, some submissive women have found Sigeh a way of life. Sadly, most of these women find themselves in conflict with the man’s wives and families and some are even killed. If they survive the brutalities of the families of the men they marry for a short time, they still find themselves shunned as legal prostitutes. Legal or illegal, these women are the true victims of poverty and social stigma and easy prey for abusive males.

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