According to Bongino.com, “a report issued by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction noted that even though the United States spent more than $787 million dollars on ‘gender equality projects’ in Afghanistan since 2002, ‘harmful socio-cultural norms’ kept them [from] making major progress.” There have been a lot of people around since 2002 who could have told the political elites that spending $787 milllion, or even $1, on “gender equality projects” in Afghanistan would be a fruitless waste of money, but they have not been heeded, and indeed have been dismissed as “Islamophobes.” And now, despite the persistence of those “harmful socio-cultural norms,” those millions are almost certainly going to continue to flow into the “graveyard of empires.”
The Bongino report noted mildly that “restrictive sociocultural norms and insecurity…continue to impede progress for Afghan women and girls.” Among these are the fact that “girls’ access to education is constrained by the lack of female teachers and infrastructure, and pressures on girls to withdraw from school at puberty”; there is “a lack of female healthcare providers”; and “gender disparity is still a persistent characteristic of the Afghan labor force.”
Well, yeah. Anyone with a modicum of sense could have predicted all that back in 2002, when the payments first started being made, and long before that as well. Yet it’s likely that no one who allocated or spent this money had any idea why women are discriminated against in Afghanistan, and why these “harmful socio-cultural norms” kept them from making major progress.
They have no clue about this because it’s all about Islam. All too many on the side of freedom become as politically correct as any leftist when it comes to Islam, jihad, and Sharia.
The grim reality that the Washington “experts” on Afghanistan don’t realize or don’t want to face is that the Qur’an teaches that men are superior to women and should beat those from whom they “fear disobedience”: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” (4:34)
Muhammad’s child bride, Aisha, says in a hadith that Muhammad “struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: ‘Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?’” (Sahih Muslim 2127)
There is a great deal more of this. The Qur’an declares that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man: “Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as you choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her.” (2:282)
Another hadith has Muhammad extrapolating from this that women are mentally deficient:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out to the musalla (prayer place) on the day of Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Fitr. He passed by the women and said, “O women! Give charity, for I have seen that you form the majority of the people of Hell.” They asked, “Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religious commitment than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.” The women asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is deficient in our intelligence and religious commitment?” He said, “Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Is it not true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women said, “Yes.” He said, “This is the deficiency in her religious commitment.” (Sahih Bukhari 304)
The Qur’an also allows men to marry up to four wives, and have sex with slave girls also: “If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly, then only one, or one that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.” (Qur’an 4:3)
It rules that a son’s inheritance should be twice the size of that of a daughter: “Allah directs you as regards your children’s inheritance: to the male, a portion equal to that of two females” (Qur’an 4:11)
It allows for marriage to pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures “shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated.” (Qur’an 65:4)
There is also a suggestion that there is something unclean about women. Islamic law stipulates that a man’s prayer is annulled if a dog or a woman passes in front of him as he is praying. “Narrated ‘Aisha: The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, ‘Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).’ I said, ‘You have made us (i.e. women) dogs.’ I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away. for I disliked to face him.” (Sahih Bukhari 1.9.490)
Another hadith depicts Muhammad saying that the majority of the inhabitants of hell are women: “I looked into Paradise and I saw that the majority of its people were the poor. And I looked into Hell and I saw that the majority of its people are women.” (Sahih Bukhari 3241; Sahih Muslim 2737)
When asked about this, he explained: “‘I was shown Hell and I have never seen anything more terrifying than it. And I saw that the majority of its people are women.’ They said, ‘Why, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, ‘Because of their ingratitude (kufr).’ It was said, ‘Are they ungrateful to Allah?’ He said, ‘They are ungrateful to their companions (husbands) and ungrateful for good treatment. If you are kind to one of them for a lifetime then she sees one (undesirable) thing in you, she will say, ‘I have never had anything good from you.’” (Sahih Bukhari 1052)
There is a great deal more in this vein, but the point should be clear: Those Washington wonks who sent $787,000,000 in American taxpayer money to Afghanistan for “gender equality” projects should have known all this, and realized that their schemes were foredoomed to failure. They didn’t know all this. They should have been fired. Instead, Biden’s handlers are likely to give them promotions.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
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