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The Lovers

Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet : the True Story of How They Defied Their Families and Escaped An Honor Killing
Apr 15, 2016Eil_1 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The author follows the desperate attempts on the part of Zakia and Ali to escape the attempts of her family to destroy them. The author also describes the fates of many other women in Afghanistan who go against their families' wishes. The same conditions exist for girls/women in other Middle East countries as well as in Europe and North America. These people deal with the principle of "Honor" which is nothing other than the belief that their daughters are their property. Should a woman disagree with her family, she is subject to beatings and eventually death. Unbelievably, the entire family, including the mother, siblings and extended family is part of the effort to punish the 'sinner'. The history behind this system is tradition, age-old hatred of Sunni versus Sharia, the belief that women are less than human and a twisted interpretation of Islam. We can only hope that Zakia, Ali and their daughter are still safe. Ayan Hirsi Ali is an internationally recognized author. She escaped from her country and family and now heads up the AHA Foundation. She works to help young girls and women to escape from forced marriages, female genital mutilation and 'honor' killings in the U.S. If you should want to learn more about this deviant behavior, you might read "Nomad". She has also written other books but this one, for me, was a compelling book on this subject.