Christine Douglass-Williams

This is a welcome response, but it’s strange coming from the Canadian government, which has often wielded the “Islamophobia” battering ram. The former Conservative government, to which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has referred as “Islamophobic,” passed the “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act.” However, following the Trudeau win in 2015, the Senate approved a bill to remove mention of “barbaric cultural practices” because this was deemed to be “insulting to cultures in Canada,” according to Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer.

This implied that referring to forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), honor murder, virginity tests and the like as barbaric was “insulting to cultures in Canada,” which is ludicrous. Aside from Jaffer’s patronizing and absurd political correctness, which harmed women, the “cultures in Canada” to which she was referring was really Islamic culture only. No other religion or culture sanctions such abuses. But to point this out is deemed to be Islamophobic in Canada. The National Council of Canadian Muslims (formerly CAIR-CAN) provided a definition of Islamophobia as follows: “fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or towards Islamic politics or culture.” The Liberal government has fully enshrined the word “Islamophobia” in its program, basing numerous policies on the anti-Islamophobia Motion M-103. That Motion was followed up by a 23-million-dollar initiative to “monitor citizens for compliance,” among other disquieting measures. I myself was fired by the government of Canada for criticizing the very elements of Islamic politics and culture which are contrary to human rights.

So now it is being reported that “Canadian immigration authorities want to deport a female doctor who ran ‘virginity tests’ on women in Afghanistan, arguing that her actions are a crime against humanity….Saida Ahmadi worked at a hospital in northern Afghanistan before coming to Canada in 2017 and making a refugee claim.”

In Afghanistan, virginity tests may be used as evidence in court when prosecuting females for having sex before marriage, a crime known as zina.

Although the National Post article points out that “according to the World Health Organization, virginity testing has no scientific or clinical basis,” that same organization published guidelines on “Hymen care for unmarried Muslim females: role of the forensic consultant in gynaecology interventions.” This showed the WHO’s recognition of what virginity means in Islam. Back as 2008, the New York Times ran an article investigating the “debate over Islam and virginity.” The article was about a private clinic that “restored” the virginity of Muslim women. The reason couldn’t have been explained any better than it was by one student who opted for the restoration surgery: “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt,” she said. She went on to say: “Right now, virginity is more important to me than life.”

The importance of virginity in Islam is backed up by both religion and culture. The greatest level that any Muslim can achieve in Islam is martyrdom, and the reward for it is 72 virgins. No better deed. No better reward.

The Messenger of Allah said: ‘There are six things with Allah for the martyr… he is married to seventy-two wives among Al-Huril-‘Ayn [virgins] of Paradise…”. (Jami’ At-Tirmidhi, Vol. 3, No. 1663, p. 410).

This hadith attributes the teaching about 72 virgins as a reward for martyrdom to Muhammad himself. Verses that back up killing and being killed in the way of Allah (that is, Islamic martyrdom) as the highest calling for any Muslim include these:

The Prophet said, “Nobody who dies and finds good from Allah (in the Hereafter) would wish to come back to this world even if he were given the whole world and whatever is in it, except the martyr who, on seeing the superiority of martyrdom, would like to come back to the world and get killed again (in Allah’s Cause).” (Bukhari Book 52, Hadith 53).

A man came to Allah’s Apostle and said, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” He replied, “I do not find such a deed. (Bukhari Book 52, Hadith 44)

“Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.” (Quran 4:74)

So now the government of Canada is now being “Islamophobic” by its own definition of the word. The barbaric practice of virginity tests is no different from FGM, child brides, honor murder, etc. Will the Liberal Government of Canada now — for starters — take serious action against such practices such as FGM, which according to the Ontario Human Rights Commission is a big problem in Canada and a violation of human rights?

“Canadian government battles refugee board to deport doctor who conducted ‘virginity tests’ in Afghanistan,” National Post, April 11, 2020:

Canadian immigration authorities want to deport a female doctor who ran “virginity tests” on women in Afghanistan, arguing that her actions are a crime against humanity.

Global News reports that Saida Ahmadi worked at a hospital in northern Afghanistan before coming to Canada in 2017 and making a refugee claim.

In Afghanistan, virginity tests may be used as evidence in court when prosecuting females for having sex before marriage, a crime known as zina.

In interviews with Canadian immigration officials, Ahmadi said that “virginity exams were part of her duties, though they were not routine.”

According to the World Health Organization, virginity testing has no scientific or clinical basis.

A virginity test is a manual inspection of the female genitalia to indicate whether the hymen has “broken.”

Officials have accused Ahmadi of performing virginity tests at the “request of the state” and testifying on the results in court. The Canadian government said that aiding such prosecutions are a crime against humanity.

Ahmadi had said she believed that the tests were performed with consent from the women and that she would not have done the tests had she known they would be used in an Afghan court.

In August 2016, Ahmadi examined a woman named Soraya, who was accused of zina. Ahmadi said she signed a report stating her opinion that Soraya was not a virgin. Ahmadi testified in court, later saying that her testimony was limited to confirming her signature on the virginity test report. Soraya was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Ahmadi said she left Afghanistan after getting threatening calls from Soraya’s family. According to a Canadian immigration report, Ahmadi arrived to Canada from the U.S. in 2017.

The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled that although the tests were “part of the systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan,” they were not a crime against humanity. The IRB’s Immigration Appeal Division ruled that Ahmadi did not make a significant contribution to “the systems in Afghanistan which oppress women.”