Acid Attacks on Women in Egypt

* Upon reading John Daniszewski’s article, “Egyptian Woman Scarred by Hate” (May 3), I was outraged. It was, of course, the plight of these women that originally angered me. My outrage came, however, when I read the words of Ahmed Magdoub, a professor at the National Center for Sociological and Criminal Research: “To prevent these crimes, mothers should teach their sons that women have the right to reject men, as men have the right to reject woman, and that men and women are equal.”

These mothers that he speaks of, aren’t they the women described in this same article as “a third of whom report in surveys that they are beaten at home and half of whom say they fear violence from their husbands?” And the reasons for these beatings are described as “the most amazing thing, all sorts of trivial stuff.”

What do you think would happen to these women if they took it upon themselves to attempt to teach the children of these marriages that father is wrong, his beliefs are wrong, his actions wrong?

KELLY COLEMAN

Long Beach

* As a Muslim woman of Egyptian origin, I was terribly offended after reading the article. It is disturbing that the article even remotely suggests that Egypt’s epidemic of violence against women is attributed to the practice of Islam.

Unfortunately, in all parts of the world, a common form of violence against women is that committed by husbands on their wives. Despite the outrageous claims made by some religious figures that there are “situations when violence is legitimate,” genuine Islam requires just the opposite.

Islam insists that husbands treat their wives with respect and it prohibits any form of physical or emotional abuse.

The Muslim Women’s League acknowledges the suffering of the Egyptian women who were scarred both physically and emotionally by the cruelty of those deranged men. Furthermore, we would like to strongly emphasize that violence toward women has no basis in Islam. Rather, it is a societal problem that must be eliminated through education and the empowerment of women.

RANIA ABDELLATIF

Muslim Women’s League

Los Angeles