As many of you who have been reading my work for more than a few days know, I'm the father of four grown daughters. Three of them are married, and their mother and I are pretty happy with the choices they've made. My wife and I look forward to our golden years, knowing our daughters are OK.
Think on this, though: What if one of them had chosen to marry (or otherwise consort with) a young man we disapproved of, for one reason or another? Well, we probably would have rationally and calmly expressed our reservations, in private, to the daughter in question, and if she persisted, we would have accepted it as her choice as a grown woman. Grown children, after all, sometimes do things their parents may not agree with. That's life - at least, it is in the civilized world.
But it's not one world.
In Washington, a father and mother are now on trial for attempting to murder their 17-year-old daughter, in what is called an "honor killing."
Ihsan Ali, 44, and his 40-year-old wife, the victim's mother, Zahraa Ali, are charged with second-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted kidnapping, first-degree attempted kidnapping, and second-degree domestic violence assault in Thurston County.
Additionally, Ihsan Ali is charged with fourth-degree assault and Zahraa Ali is charged with violation of a domestic violence protective order and second-degree burglary.
The parents' alleged Oct. 18, 2024, attack on their own teenage daughter may have been a possible "honor killing" attempt, according to witness accounts detailed in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Their daughter's offense? Resisting her father's intention to send her to another country, presumably an Islamic country. The daughter has a boyfriend, who we might assume prompted part of the issue, although he remains unnamed, due to being only 16. The father, Ihsan Ali, had also intended his daughter to go through with an arranged marriage - another barbaric practice.
The victim's boyfriend's mother later told police that she had been present once for a CPS interview with the 17-year-old victim in which she apparently stated that "her father had recently been threatening her with honor killing for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another country."
This is difficult for those of us who inhabit civilization to understand. A father protects children, even grown ones; any father who wouldn't give his life to protect his family doesn't deserve to be called a man. And that's the great flaw in the justifications behind what is called "honor killing," which is anything but honorable.
Britannica defines this barbaric practice thusly:
Honor killing, most often, the murder of a woman or girl by male family members. The killers justify their actions by claiming that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family name or prestige.
This is, of course, the exact opposite of honor. Honor, as properly defined, is a state of esteem. There is nothing lower than harming or killing one's child. This is unconscionable - and it's going on all over the Western world.
Just weeks ago a teenager pregnant with her rapist's baby was brutally murdered by her fiance in Turkey during an apparent 'honour killing' after he found out about the sex attack.
And, last year, the father of an 18-year-old woman who was tied up and dumped in a canal reportedly confessed to killing her after she started dating alocal Dutch boy and 'wanted to stop wearing a headscarf'.
As the number of attempted and fatal 'honour killings' keeps rising, the question remains; When will the international community take action and finally end the barbaric practice?
That's the question, indeed. The deterrence of almost-certain arrest and imprisonment didn't stop Ihsan and Zahraa Ali. These people were willing to carry out this barbaric practice here, in the United States, where it's impossible to think that they didn't know the consequences would be harsh, even in liberal Washington.
This isn't a practice that can just be ended by passing another law, or waving of hands and pronouncing "awareness."
Read More: What Is 'Taqiyya' and Why Are You Hearing About It So Much Lately?
The elephant in the room, of course, is Islam. Granted, "honor killings" are not exclusive to the Islamic world, even today, but it's alarming how many of the incidents of these attempts (some of which, sadly, succeed) in the civilized world are perpetrated by immigrants from the Islamic world. How do we, the civilized world, address these barbarities?
In the Islamic-majority nations, we can't. We have little influence in those nations, and neither do any of the other Western nations. In our own nations? The American left has reliably opposed any attempt at cutting off immigration from hostile nations, much less nations where practices like this are routine. But, while we cannot force reform on the Muslim world, we can - and should - at least enforce our own immigration standards, and honestly, people like Ihsan and Zahraa Ali should never have been allowed into the United States. Not because of their skin color, not because of their religion, but because they come from a barbaric society that makes excuses for the murder of one's own children.
It's not one world. This is a facet of the great conflict of our time, that of civilization vs. barbarity, and in the Western world, many of the civilized nations have already allowed the barbarians inside the city walls. Honor killings are the acts of barbarians. There's no other word for it.
