The story is a terrible one John, such things have always gone on, not only in the Islamic world. Not that many years ago in this country, children were the property of their parents until they were of age and, even then, girls and women did not have control over their own money or property. Their husbands did, if they married. They often had better lives as single women if they had some money left to them. As for violence in the home, the law considered that to be 'domestic' and rarely intervened (obviously murder was a different matter).
Girls could be shut away in residential care if they were considered to have a tendency to be morally 'easy' and their voices were often not heard again. There were cases of men having their wives 'circumcised' (genital mutilation), if the woman showed too much interest in sex. It doesn't bear thinking about.
None of the above had anything to do with religion but scriptures were often distorted to justify such actions.
We hear about 'honour killings' occasionally and the concept is alien to us. You said:
This sort of attitude clearly also permeates the thinking of some of the UK's immigrants and should be of concern to us also, whether we are Muslim or not.
I venture that it is of concern to the majority of Muslims in this country, also in other countries. None of it has anything to do with Islam but religious texts can be distorted to justify it, which is what extremists do.
Mohammed came from a culture where women had absolutely no rights. He established a religion that emancipated them, by the standards of the day. They were, and are, allowed to keep their money after marriage; if they earn money it is for them to decide how it is spent. Men were permitted to take up to four wives but only after consultation with existing wives, and with their consent, whereas previously a man could have dozens if he could afford it. None of this seems like much to us but it was quite revolutionary in its day.
We have a lovely Muslim poster called Gabrielle but we haven't seen her for a couple of weeks. It would be nice if she came back and answered you. However it's possible she is fed up of being accused of so much just because she is a Muslim; even though the criticism is not addressed to her personally, she constantly has to defend and explain her faith and that must wear a bit thin after a while.
