Khyra Ishaq was, by all accounts,your typical happy-go-lucky 12 year old living in Birmingham. Her mother, a recent convert to Islam, pulled her from school and began to isolate all of her children away from the outside world. Her excuse was that they had been bullied in school over their attire, but no official complaint was filed with the school, and many of the house’s windows were boarded up.
One neighbor, who had left out some stale bread to feed the birds, was verbally lambasted for allowing the children to eat it (they had, apparently, snuck out in desperation looking for food.
The other 5 children were also dangerously malnourished, and at first glance it would appear that the reason may have been because the children were not properly observing their religious rituals. It is likely that this is why Khyra’s mother felt she was possessed; her natural rebellious nature would have easily been confused as some kind of demonic spirit.
It’s rather difficult to get the real story as to what happened. One thing is for sure, however; religion played a role in the neglect and torture of these children. To what extend, it’s difficult to ascertain, but it’s not uncommon for extremely religious individuals to completely isolate themselves from the outside world, especially if they feel it has a corrupting influence.
Trying to use religion to properly raise your kids is like trying to perform brain surgery with a lead pipe; there’s no room for subtlety. How many more little girls have to have their clitoris removed, or die at the hands of their own family for failing to observe religious traditions?
NOTE: It seems she was not only starved, but also tortured. More desturbing news is coming to light, such as the systematic torture (using cold baths, beating her with a stick, etc.) of this little girl for no other reason than her mother felt she had an evil spirit. If you’re surprised by these kinds of actions, realize that they are common practice in many parts of the world.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
here is another heart breakig story of religois abuse. if we as a people are going to pregress and grow we must stop this moronoc ideology.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Some people in this world are beyond fit for living. Idiocracy.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Kevin, please. If you are going to be involved in helping us stop moronic ideologies first learn how to spell so you don’t embarrass us. Hint: when software automatically underlines a word in your text, chances are it is telling you it’s misspelled. IDIOT
June 12th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I there, Im positive the mother must’ve felt like her daughter was the work of the demon or something, otherwise I think a mother would not deliberatly starve their kids.
religion can make everyone go nuts, and for a land of open atheism like my Quebec homeland, this whole story sounds almost unreal. I call such actions an religious abuse of power, and I’d like to bring another one to your attention: http://www.canoe.com/infos/societe/archives/2009/06/20090612-062706.html
The site is in french sory, but what it says, is that today the Quebec court gave a sentence of 18 months only to an ex catholic priest who secually mollested a child 30 years ago. Injustice is everywhere my friend…
BTW, i like your blog , been browsing for a couple a days now and enjoying it, keep up!
June 12th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
“Trying to use religion to properly raise your kids is like trying to perform brain surgery with a lead pipe”
Wow. Are you serious? You can’t possibly impugn all religious activity on the basis of this story or any number of stories regarding the actions of the criminally insane.
Perhaps analogies aren’t for you.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
citing one isolated incident has no bearing on the religion itself, the woman was friggin nuts…learn to distinguish the ginormous difference. Everyone always blames it on such simple minded reasoning but few understand the powerful abnormalities in imbalanced or disturbed beings. Look at the V-Tech massacres, everyone acts like the Korean kid was just naturally evil and violent, but he was deeply emotionally disturbed and everyone judges him as though he were a normal human being, not seeing the true source or understanding it. You can’t judge that kinda stuff from a emotionally/mentally stable perspective.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I say these “parents” should be thrown into a cell with no food and no water and let the msee what its like. See if their precious, non-existent “Allah” can save them!
RT
http://www.real-anonymity.pro.tc
June 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
subtlety?
June 12th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
@EB
What makes you think Kevin did not mistype a word? That is the thing with religious people, they always assume…
June 12th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Good strikes again! Muhahah!
June 12th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
“That is the thing with religious people, they always assume…”
Nah, nothing wrong with insinuating that religion is the root cause of this woman’s insanity.
What about your garden variety psycho? Any thoughts there?
June 12th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Oh she was possessed alright… by bad parents.
June 13th, 2009 at 1:09 am
Khyra was 7, not 12.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I hope they really throw the book at this evil woman (and her man I presume) and also find out what bastard of a religious leader this freak was following. He must share the blame. Religion, it’s not even opium for the people, it’s rat poison