What to do if you are married into one of the middle eastern countries

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Aug 11, 2013 at 15:19

Dear Dr Pipes: A lot of people issue warnings to western women against marrying into Middle Eastern countries. But such marriages do occur. A woman who is in such a marriage has probably agreed to her husband's right to polygamy, has agreed to "willfully" convert to Islam, and has agreed to raise the children of the marriage in Islam. Besides that she has probably agreed to admire a country/society that does not care for democracy and has less appreciation for an individual's right to express his/her opinions. With all this, what to do next? What should the advice to these women after they are in such a marriage? When the decision to marry occurs people do not think very far or wide but over the years they can think better. I suggest to these women to never give up on the cause of freedom of thought, on the societies' need to practice fairness (golden rule), and the fundamental human need for critical exploration. The hypocrisy that exists in the Islamic society must end and it will end. When Muslims marry outside of their religion (or when they convert people), they do not realize that with every marriage and conversion, their religion changes a bit. The people who marry or convert are the messengers of the free world into the world of Islam. These people should be able to see the double standards better than other muslims. These people should try to bring the change.

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