A Muslim Woman's empty dreams
Tonight, the respected businessman Sharif is going to visit Nazira's family. On the telephone he said he wants to talk with her father about a new car, but Nazira knows the real reason for his visit. Nazira is already 24 years old and single. For quite some time her family has been looking around for a potential husband for her. However, that is not so easy. Farud, for example, who wanted to marry her three months ago, is an alcoholic, like many people in Tajikistan.
The Agreement
Evening came and Sharif visited Nazira's family. Since the civil war of the 1990's, this Central Asian country is slowly recuperating and business is steadily growing. Sharif is one who is doing well economically. His house has running water with regular electricity and he drives a German car. In Tajikistan the estimated average annual income is around 250 Euros per person, but Sharif is one of the exceptions. He already had two wives and Nazira will become his third. It seems obvious that Sharif is a good candidate. Quickly the parents agree and arrangements are made. The wedding will take place in the coming two weeks. Everyone is happy, however Nazira realises that some of her cherished dreams will not come true.
It is estimated that the number of Tajikistan workers in Russia number about one million. Since there are only seven million people in Tajikistan, this means that a large percentage of the male population is away from home. Women and children are in the majority. In the villages the women live amid tensions between old traditions, atheism and a new wave of radical Islam.
Few Believers
Tajikistan believers were few and far between even when there was freedom of religion. Now worries about radical Islam are being countered with new laws to restrict the rights of small religious groups. These laws also affect Christians.
Flag of Tajikistan
Map of Tajikistan
Prayer Starters
* Pray for increasingly healthy and Biblically oriented families among the followers of Jesus in this nation.
* Pray for the many Tajik men in surrounding countries to be reached with the Good News.
* Pray that Tajikistan believers can develop more and more their own style of worship in their own language.
* Pray in small groups for women like Nazira, remembering many Muslim women receive dreams from Jesus.
Did you know:
LIMITED NUMBER OF WIVES
Mohammed limited the number of wives in Islamic marriage to four spouses. Previously some men had been marrying many more women than they could support financially. According to Muslim scholars women were better treated in Arabia following the rise of Islam than previously. Islam recognizes that men are especially weak in the sexual realm. The possibility of having four wives is seen as a limit on man’s sexual urges and thus gives stability to society.
Video: Sights and Sounds from Tajikistan
Background Information on TAJIKISTAN is Here →
Gospel Language Recording: Hear the Gospel in Tajik (external link, opens a new window)
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There's also some evidence out there that there that polyandry existed on the Peninsula before Mohammed (bpuh), and therefore Mohammed made things worse for women.
Hello JP:
What evidence are you talking about? For your information, Prophet Muhammad married only one virgin, Aeesa. Others were widows. He married these widows (except Khadija, his first wife) primarily to help them live their lives as nobody would take care of them. Let me tell you that Prophet Muhammad greatly grieved for the loss of his first wife because he loved her so much. During her lifetime, The Prophet didn't desire for any other woman except her. Polyandry in Arabia happened during the Arab age of ignorance (Jahiliyyah). This practice was erradicted when Islam came. Islam was the first religion to give rights to women, in case you're not aware of it.
Not very good rights - always being less than the man - and, according to one hadith, when mohammed was shown a vision of hell, "the vast majority were women"
http://answering-islam.org/Women/in-hell.html
So, despite having fewer rights and privileges during life, they still get treated worse in the afterlife.
Not very good rights to speak of.
Besides, this "Islam was the first religion to give rights to women" doesn't even bear up to analysis. In pagan religions, women were often venerated long before islam came into existence.
You mention a limit of four wives. Does this include "pleasure marriages?" I believe that is what it is called. A friend from a Muslim country was explaining to me that sometimes men will marry women, have sex with her, and then there is something of an annulment shortly thereafter.
Jen- muta'a marriage- temporary marriage- is practiced only by Shi'i, and not Sunni, the majority of Muslims. It is sometimes a way around the polygamy laws in the US, when Shi'i Muslims want more than one wife, and so will have a muta'a marriage for one, but not a civil marriage. Some muta'a marriages last for life; most do not.
do not lie
salam
Islam may be merciful in theory but the way it is practiced today degrades women. Islamic law has not reached the level of advancement of secular law. Women do not have the same rights and benefits under islamic law.
This is not just a factor of religion, but of culture. There is nothing culturally advanced about the oppression of women in islamic countries. And to those who talk down to me about not "understanding" the real motive of Islam, it is obvious that they do not know about history or they would know that western women had the same problems as muslim women, several hundred years ago. It is modernity that has separated the east from the west, not religion. THere is nothing inherently wrong with Islam, but there IS SOMETHING INHERENTLY WRONG WITH THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS PRACTICED TODAY.
their is now sites for Islamic polygamy marriage such ( 2or3or4 dot com )
Hehehe. More lame religious twaddle from bickering Bible-bashers and Koran-bashers. I think every man should be entitled to one million wives each, and the wives should support HIM economically. That is the true meaning of feminism - lazy cow getting off her fat bum and contributing to the world.
Salom ba dustoni man tojikon khudo nigah doraton bod