This week in Islam

[Shady]

I guess I messed up that response. I was on my iphone! I was going to say:

Your post reflects your lack of research and understanding of the women of Afghanistan. Many, many women in Afghanistan were educated, were able to practice their profession until the Taliban. Your comments are degrading towards the women in Afghanistan. Can you possibly think for just a minute about the women who were educated in Afghanistan until they were banned from their profession. They were not and are not illiterate and unsophisticated. Your comments disgust me and many women who you know nothing about.

I think you may be thinking of Iraq or Iran.

[WestCoastRunner]

I think you may be thinking of Iraq or Iran.

If I was thinking of Iraq or Iran I would have said so. Here is a bit of history on women and girls in Afghanistan:

"Prior to the Soviet occupation and Taliban takeover, Afghanistan was a relatively liberal country with a progressive outlook on women’s rights. Afghan women comprised 50% of government workers, 70% of schoolteachers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul. However, the effects of war and the Taliban regime quickly effaced the rights of women in public life and relegated them solely to the domestic domain."

And this is what I was referring to in my earlier post.

Many organizations are at working helping to improve and educate the lives of women in Afghanistan. It's a shame to hear comments thrown about speaking about these women as was posted earlier.

Here is one organization working to improve their lives. http://www.raziasrayofhope.org/documents/Women%20in%20Afghanistan.pdf

[Shady]

If I was thinking of Iraq or Iran I would have said so. Here is a bit of history on women and girls in Afghanistan:

"Prior to the Soviet occupation and Taliban takeover, Afghanistan was a relatively liberal country with a progressive outlook on women’s rights. Afghan women comprised 50% of government workers, 70% of schoolteachers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul. However, the effects of war and the Taliban regime quickly effaced the rights of women in public life and relegated them solely to the domestic domain."

And this is what I was referring to in my earlier post.

Many organizations are at working helping to improve and educate the lives of women in Afghanistan. It's a shame to hear comments thrown about speaking about these women as was posted earlier.

Here is one organization working to improve their lives. http://www.raziasrayofhope.org/documents/Women%20in%20Afghanistan.pdf

The same could be said of Pakistan. Unfortunately, like Afghanistan, extremist Islam has turned that country completely backwards.

[Shady]

Regardless, I'd like to know where they get their numbers from considering Afghanistan has always had sky high illiteracy.

[Argus]

I guess I messed up that response. I was on my iphone! I was going to say:

Your post reflects your lack of research and understanding of the women of Afghanistan. Many, many women in Afghanistan were educated, were able to practice their profession until the Taliban. Your comments are degrading towards the women in Afghanistan.

What my post was, was accurate, however much that offends your delicate sense of equality.

Meanwhile, the school day in Afghanistan remains barely three hours long, the quality of content in textbooks is notoriously bad, few schools have even rudimentary science lab supplies, and the ministry of education struggles with basic tasks such as getting accurate statistics on its schools and teachers. There are districts without a single qualified female teacher. Only 20% of women aged 15-24 are literate more than a decade after the Taliban were ousted from power, and that number is three times lower in rural areas. The Afghanistan cluster surveys found that only 30% of adult women with some primary education are literate, which means that the education system is failing too many girls.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jun/21/funding-education-in-afghanistan

[Argus]

Argus comments are illiterate and lack education.

No, my comments were absolutely true, and, unlike yours, not influenced by ideology. Afghanistan as a country has a very low literacy rate. And given the cultural attitude towards women and education, their literacy and educational levels are even lower.

[WestCoastRunner]

What my post was, was accurate, however much that offends your delicate sense of equality.

Meanwhile, the school day in Afghanistan remains barely three hours long, the quality of content in textbooks is notoriously bad, few schools have even rudimentary science lab supplies, and the ministry of education struggles with basic tasks such as getting accurate statistics on its schools and teachers. There are districts without a single qualified female teacher. Only 20% of women aged 15-24 are literate more than a decade after the Taliban were ousted from power, and that number is three times lower in rural areas. The Afghanistan cluster surveys found that only 30% of adult women with some primary education are literate, which means that the education system is failing too many girls.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jun/21/funding-education-in-afghanistan

My delicate sense of equality? What a sexist remark! I was referring to your complete ignorance of the history of Afghanistan women. Again, do some research before you spout off your insults.

[Argus]

They certainly do not coincide with my "boots on the ground" experience.

Really? Spent a whole lot of time tromping around in Afghanistan talking about education with women, have you?

Afghanistan overall 28.1%, males 43.1%, females 12.6% age 15 and over can read and write (2000 est.)^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

Edited July 26, 2014 by Argus

[Argus]

My delicate sense of equality? What a sexist remark! I was referring to your complete ignorance of the history of Afghanistan women. Again, do some research before you spout off your insults.

I don't know what planet you're calling in from, but Afghanistan's educational failings are well-known on this one.

But perhaps you can show me some citation from a qualified body showing the high literacy and educational level of Afghanistan women...

But probably not.

While the inequalities in education are significant within South Asia as a whole, the situation in Afghanistan is especially dramatic. Within South Asia, 1.75 times as many men as women can read and write. In Afghanistan, more than three times as many men as women are literate. Some 47 percent of Afghan men and a tiny 15 percent of women can read and write, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2000/AfghanWomenandMenFarApartinLiteracy.aspx

Edited July 26, 2014 by Argus

[Argus]

I hasten to agree with your comments. Having spent time in Afg. and specifically in Kabul, I met women who were doctors, university profs., even drove cars. Anyone who cares to delve into history books about the region will discover that they are definitely not unsophisticated or illiterate. Granted out in the hinterland the confines of Islamic law as interpreted by the local men do tend to hold women back severly. The honkey redneck comments you refer to demonstrate an equal lack of sophistication IMO.

The only people a westerner would be likely to meet in Kabul were the few educated ones who worked with westerns and understood English. That you evidently took these as an indication the rest of the women in Afghanistan were similarly westernized says more about your lack of sophistication than mine.

Afghanistan female literacy rate 2010 - 18%

http://www.accu.or.jp/esd/forum_esd_2010/program/program12_01/pdf/presentation5.pdf

Edited July 26, 2014 by Argus

[iolo]

Uh....not quite - if only it were that simple. Have a read of the history of Palestine - you'll be left scratching your head.....but gain a better understanding of how we arrived at where we are:

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Palestine

You against Jews as well as Muslims then? Ever thought of seeing a psychologist?

Keepit: This was intended for Argus. I am baffled.

Edited July 26, 2014 by iolo

[GostHacked]

It's less about freedom and more about preventing a new terrorist group from unlimited funding through oil revenue. Seems like a no brainer.

No no no, it's about freedom, always was always will be. But maybe others will take it with a grain of salt next time the claim is 'humanitarian'.

[GostHacked]

Really? Spent a whole lot of time tromping around in Afghanistan talking about education with women, have you?

Have you?

[Shady]

No no no, it's about freedom, always was always will be. But maybe others will take it with a grain of salt next time the claim is 'humanitarian'.

I guess we can agree to disagree then. I'm more concerned about a terrorist group having unlimited revenue.

[GostHacked]

I guess we can agree to disagree then. I'm more concerned about a terrorist group having unlimited revenue.

Yeah like the ones operating in Syria out of Turkey and Jordon supplied by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the USA. Wonder where all that money in Iraq went? And now ISIS also has weapons? The ones the US left behind? Too expensive to bring home.

/facepalm.

[On Guard for Thee]

Really? Spent a whole lot of time tromping around in Afghanistan talking about education with women, have you?

Afghanistan overall 28.1%, males 43.1%, females 12.6% age 15 and over can read and write (2000 est.)^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

The better part of 2 years "tromping" around the place.

[Argus]

The better part of 2 years "tromping" around the place.

My understanding is almost no Afghan women speak English, and that most of them would not speak to an unrelated male anyway. Perhaps you could explain how you solved these issues.

[Argus]

And this week begins with word of the way Islam inspires people in the Phillipines. Evidently, much the way it inspires people in the middle east.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28524068

[GostHacked]

And this week begins with word of the way Islam inspires people in the Phillipines. Evidently, much the way it inspires people in the middle east.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28524068

You should be happy it is Muslims killing Muslims.

[cybercoma]

You should be happy it is Muslims killing Muslims.

2 mins for crosschecking.

[Shady]

You should be happy it is Muslims killing Muslims.

Why would that make him happy?

[GostHacked]

Why would that make him happy?

It makes you happy as well. As long as they are fighting each other, they are not fighting the west.

[Guest]

If they are fighting each other, that's one thing. Jihadists wiping each other out is never a bad thing.

On the other hand, jihadists killing ordinary Muslims simply because they are infidels is not good.

I didn't read the link. Which is this?

[GostHacked]

If they are fighting each other, that's one thing. Jihadists wiping each other out is never a bad thing.

On the other hand, jihadists killing ordinary Muslims simply because they are infidels is not good.

I didn't read the link. Which is this?

Some of the latter. Idiot fundamentalists killing regular Muslims on their way to celebrate Ramadan.

[Guest]

Islamists giving Monty Python a run for their money...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10996726/Islamic-State-jihadists-open-marriage-bureau.html