Domestic violence in England and hostage taking in Pakistan

Today I followed yet another case of domestic abuse. It is almost like beneath the sometimes calm veneer of life in England, there is this darker and secret pandemic of women being beaten to a pulp. Today there was a twist in the case when the victim changed her testimony, I think she lied in court but that's just my opinion, and said it was all her fault. This time though I had no sympathy with her. In England they have a term for girls like her, apparently they are labelled "white trash" or council estate barbies. Yet somehow, in a bizarre way, both her and her boyfriend of two years (yes her baby was out of wedlock) are victims in some bizarre and vicious cycle. England is, like many other countries, a land divided between the haves and the have-nots, but here it is institutionalised and shameless in a way that not even the United States of America has managed to pull off. I pity these people, yet it is their war machines which are wreaking havoc in the world.

Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, hostage takers attacked a temple for the Ahmadi cult in Pakistan, a religion which spread in the 18th century. Apparently there are not enough Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq so jihad is now being diverted to unarmed people. In all seriousness, this is no different to the frustrated, unemployed men who I see every week in court, having taken out their weakness and frustration on their wives or children. When you feel weak it seems you need to lash out at the weakest target so that you can feel strong again. This is not right on any level, I've never been squeemish about my moral support for resisting occupation and injustice but I have never heard the Prophet say or do anything like this. Nobody has in fact and that's because he never did or condoned anything like this.

This is not our way. This is what Israelis or Americans do when there are no cameras but we as Muslims have a higher standard that we must adhere to because we know there is a judgement for our actions. Look at Hezbullah, these men and women have, through patience, perseverence and faith managed to defy the Israeli war machine and now nobody on earth can disarm them. They freed South Lebanon in 2000, something thought impossible in 1982 and they didn't need the Soviet Union, or America or China or any of the present day pharaohs or sultans.

Hezbullah don't go into churches and kill Christians, they follow the Qur'an and the Sunnah and it is they who teach the Israelis morality and justice - not the other way around. You simply can't expect to be considered a legitimate resistance movement against occupation if you end up butchering people and then tell them you're there to save them. Again, that's what the Americans do and Muslims are supposed to be the good guys. Even al Qaida in Iraq realised that they couldn't get credibility if they kept blowing up innocent civilians, and publicly 'apologised' for the 'mistakes' that had happened previously.

I'm actually quite annoyed, both because of what I saw in court today and because of the news. It is ironic that our humanity is precisely what enables us to do such horrid things to each other.