The True Cause of Özgecan Aslan’s Murder Is Secular Capitalism

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The slaying of the 20-year-old psychology student in Turkey, Özgecan Aslan, during an alleged attempted rape has prompted angry street protests across the country and demands that the Turkish government do more to combat violence against women. Police on Friday discovered the charred corpse of Özgecan Aslan in a riverbed in southern Mersin province. According to authorities, she was killed while fighting back a sexual assault by the driver of a minibus she took to go home. (Source: LA Times, 14 Feb 2015)

The brutal killing has refocused public attention on what women’s advocacy groups call Turkey’s soaring levels of gender-based violence. Women’s rights activists argue that the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is not doing enough to halt such violence—or to ensure those guilty of crimes against women receive adequate punishment. Many argue that Turkey’s judicial system is sympathetic to perpetrators of such crimes.

The number of gender-related homicides of Turkish women has soared in recent years. Authorities reported fewer than 100 in 2002, compared to almost 300 in 2014.

First of all we want to express our condolences to our precious sister Ozgecan’s family, in particular to her mother. Our hearts burn with your heart. May Allah ease your pain, and may Allah Almighty give the punishment you demand for those men who dared to do this brutal harm to your beloved daughter. And we also want to express that it is your God-given right to demand the heaviest punishment of those killers, for Allah (swt) said in His Noble Qur’an,

﴿وَلاَ تَقْتُلُواْ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللّهُ إِلاَّ بِالحَقِّ وَمَن قُتِلَ مَظْلُومًا فَقَدْ جَعَلْنَا لِوَلِيِّهِ سُلْطَانًا فَلاَ يُسْرِف فِّي الْقَتْلِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مَنْصُورًا﴾

“And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right. And whoever is killed unjustly – We have given his heir authority, but let him not exceed limits in [the matter of] taking life. Indeed, he has been supported [by the law].” [Al-Israa: 33]

And Rasulallah (saw) explained this right in the following way:

قال رسول الله : «من قتل في قتيل فأهله بين خيرتين إما أن يقتلوا وإما أن يأخذوا الدية» رواه البخاري

“And if somebody is killed, then his closest relative has the right to choose one of the two– the blood money (Diyya) or retaliation having the killer killed.” (Bukhari, K. Lekatah, 2254)

However! Oh Muslims! Oh Muslim Sisters!

This right will not be given by this secular democratic system! Have you not recognized that these atrocities occur again and again due to the secular capitalist system under which we live? Have you not recognized that day by day the more these Western secular, liberal values such as personal and sexual freedoms become entrenched within our societies; forced upon us by the laws implemented upon us; promoted on TV, in papers, films and series; and taught at schools; the more the insults, rapes and murders of women – noble Muslim women – has increased in a horrific manner? And imagine: the greatest increase of these crimes have been witnessed over the last 7 years, as it is reported by the government itself! This is the government that boasts itself with protecting and propagating Islamic values! This government itself announced this week that violence against women increased by 1400% over the last years. What the government itself did not want to publish itself, but was revealed by the Human Rights Association Istanbul in February 2015, was that last year 257 women were killed by men, 282 faced sexual abuse and rape, and 575 faced violence by the hands of their husbands or partners.

So even if this government who absurdly boasts itself as being Islamic, while working with all its efforts to spread and protect the non-Islamic democratic and secular system and its rotten values is not prepared to accept that the way it has chosen leads to destroying the lives of its people. So noble Muslim people and our honourable Muslim sisters, is it not on you to call them to change their path?!

Is it not time to call for the removal of the secular system in Turkey and in all our Muslim lands that implements and promotes the Western liberal values within our Muslim societies – values such as personal and sexual freedoms which encourage individuals to act according to their desires and lusts rather than based upon accountability to Allah (swt)? Such ideas are clearly unable to regulate the relationships of men and women in society in a way that protect women from the lower instinct led desires of men! Islam in contrary declared women as an honour to be protected and to be respected. This reaches that far, that men are even not allowed to stare at other women, let alone being able to assault a woman verbally or physically:

﴿قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ ذَلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ﴾

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity: this will be most conducive to their purity – [and,] verily, God is aware of all that they do.” [An-Nour: 30]

Additionally, Islam promotes the concept of taqwa which leads men to be conscious of the Commands of their Creator in the manner they treat women – Commands which oblige women to be viewed and treated with respect always. Islam also prescribes a comprehensive social system that regulates the relationship between men and women, directing the fulfillment of the sexual desires to marriage alone. And finally, should anybody ever dare to harm the honor of a woman, or even her physical, psychological well-being or should dare to kill her, Islam’s punishment for such crimes is extremely harsh and aimed at deterring others from doing a similar act.

So no matter what feminist groups and movements demand and what secular democratic politicians and rulers promise, solving the problem of violence against women cannot be achieved by changing a few laws here and there, but requires radically changing the non-Islamic values and laws in the society to those based upon the ideology of Islam that has a clear strategy to deal with such problems.

It is time now to confess that the problems of women increased and expanded since the digress from the Islamic rulings and values and since replacing them with the provisions of capitalist systems.

Therefore, to solve this heinous problem of violence against women and all acts of injustice against women we have to demand a change, but not in the way that feminist, secular women’s rights activists do! Because their way has proven as a sure way of destruction and failure over the last 90 years in our Muslim countries! And furthermore, Western states that have ruled by this secular system for centuries and championed it to the world, still have not found a solution for their own women for such crimes, who are until today plagued with soaring levels of abuse and violence against women within their societies.

The Muslim women have never witnessed such ruthless times during the implementation of Islamic rule upon Qur’an and Sunnah from the time of our Prophet Muhammed (saw) until the last Khalifah!

So if you want to achieve a change and to reach a satisfying compensation for the injustice and especially the murder of your daughters, sisters and mothers, then call for what Allah (swt) has promised will give life to you! And this is and will only be the removal of this false secular capitalist system and the implementation of Islamic rule under the Khilafah Rashidah:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ﴾

“O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.” [al-Anfal: 24]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Zehra Malik