ali’s guest post
Three out of four voters in california believe medical marijuana should be legalized. They have passed the measure at the polls in opposition to existing American laws. I was recently talking to an otherwise young and healthy friend who also happens to be a strong supporter of the californian position on medical marijuana. He kept on pointing out the various opiates, barbiturates, steroids, and whatnots that are legally prescribed by doctors. Possession of such drugs without a prescription is illegal. Similarly, possession of marijuana would remain illegal without a prescription. The only reason why common sense wasn’t prevailing, he believes, was because of Big Pharma influence. For somebody with an impressively broad knowledge of various drugs, he just couldn’t understand the difference between a controlled substance and an illegal drug. You can beg your friend who went to the dentist for some leftover oxycontin or you can hand over a mini fortune on the street. But you can’t grow it in your backyard. Pot, you can grow in a pot in your studio apartment. Kids on street corners will hook you up for 10 bucks. Morphine is controlled in vaults. It is administered in controlled doses in controlled environments. Once you put such controls on medical marijuana its cost will shoot up and everyone will be looking for stronger stuff at similar prices. Or they will still get it on the street. The californian voters in favor of medical marijuana are not in favor of legalizing drugs. Or maybe they are. Damn hippie spawn. The american govt. stance against such measures is not trying to punish those already in pain. Or maybe it is.
Laws follow attitudes. If you are angry about the one verse in koran that allows hitting a wife, get angrier because there are many more verses that allow taking slaves. In wars past muslim warriors were even allowed to take the women of their enemies as slaves. But so did everyone else those days. There is still slavery going on in the world, even when it is universally illegal. No one is using religious texts or cultural norms to defend or justify them. There is a clear understanding those who engage in such business are doing it for the profits.
There are over 6300 verses in the Koran. Search for “wife beating islam” and Google spits out thousands of pages repeating the same single verse that allows hitting a wife. One could say even one verse is one too many. But there are many more verses that tell us to cherish and treat women with respect and equity. Those are not paid any attention either. I am not going to say that hitting a woman is not allowed in Islam. It is. But women are not hit because one verse in the koran allows it. I have never seen, heard, or read of any instance where a man has justifies his violent behavior by bringing up the Koran. They are hit because the men feel they have no other avenue left in the confrontation. Some men take that street at the first instance. Some men don’t know that street is even on the map.
Domestic violence in islamistan is not inspired by that singular verse. It is a cultural thing like every other culture. And at the heart of the matter, it is a personal thing. It needs to change but the change is not going to come out of questioning the Koran. The muslim mind becomes completely unreceptive at the first hint of questioning the authenticity of the text. The change has to come out of the culture. Every second Bollywood film has the male lead or other good guys slapping the woman when she gets out of hand. Watch old hollywood movies and the women are getting slapped around like nothing. Different cultures and different rates of change. One day soon one would be able to pick up a blunt OTC at the corner sav-on-drugs, and people will stop beating up their women. Or maybe not.
