Sex on the back of a camel, why not? – Sairana Mohd Saad

An article entitled “I am a woman, and I am afraid”, penned by a green human rights activist Shafiqah Othman Hamzah and published in the Malay Mail yesterday, lulled me to sleep last night.

In essence, her piece tried to insinuate that all Muslim men are sex maniacs who demand sex from their wives no matter what, when, where or how – and Muslim wives have absolutely zero right to refuse.

That’s how the story goes and that’s how she got “afraid of being a woman in Malaysia”, she claims.

I yawned and fell asleep soon after.

Actually, I feel sorry for her and for those who believe in whatever she says.

To substantiate her claim, she made reference to Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria who said that women have “no right” to refuse sexual relations with their husbands, quoting a hadith whereby the Prophet said even when husband and wife are riding on the back of a camel and he suddenly has an urge for sex, she has to give in.

She then quoted Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia’s spokesperson, Ustaz Abdul Hakim Othman, who said that a woman’s body is to be used by her husband, and that when a man marries a woman, there is no need at all for him to get consent.

And lastly, she made mention of Dr Norsaleha Mohd Salleh from Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), who said that a man forcing himself onto his wife should not be claimed as rape as long as his demands are within the limits of the Islamic penal code.

In reading this article, three things came to my mind:

1) Is this a subtle version of Charlie Hebdo with the objective of belittling Islam and its teachings?

2) Is this article aimed at protecting women’s rights or inducing fear?

3) Has the writer been married or is she just writing for the sake of commenting on what others have said?

First of all, it sounds to me like she has absolutely no clue of what married life is all about.

Secondly, her knowledge of Islam appears to be rather superficial but she is trying her best, anyway.

And lastly, she is suggesting that most women in Malaysia don’t know their rights, whose bodies are properties to be sold at a certain price and that most men are animals who only long for sex.

How shallow.

The trend to degrade Islam and induce negative notions into people’s heads is now becoming a global competition. While it’s quite understandable that most propaganda is driven by non-Muslims, the tactics used by Muslims for the same objective are totally despicable.

It’s bad enough that they deny God’s orders without shame, but they artistically write articles to deviate people from the right path and worse, paint a picture horrid enough for the world to believe that Islam is such an ugly religion.

Most of them hide under the label of human rights.

To this, I only have one thing to say.

From the little experience that I have, men who rape women are those who are not in the right state of mind, ie. drugged or drunk. And as far as Islam is concerned, drugs and alcohol is forbidden and by deduction, rape should not even occur. To add to that, Islam allows men to have four wives, for those men who are always on high gear. So if you have issues with giving in to your husband, perhaps you should allow him to marry two, three or four?

It appears to me that the writer is trying very hard to grasp the meaning of “sex on a camel” but has failed to understand the various elements in a marriage.

But let me tell you one thing, little sister, after all these years of married life (that’s 23 in total) if my husband were to send me a request for having sex on a camel, I’d say “Yes, sir” in a heartbeat – but there would be one problem, though: it’s gonna be tough finding that camel in Malaysia!

* Sairana Mohd Saad reads The Malaysian Insider.