There are a lot of Islamic nations in this world. Some like Afghanistan and Pakistan are horrific shitholes whose culture and politics are guided by some of the worst forms of Islam on the planet. In these nations everyone,whether Muslim, non-Muslim or heterodox Muslims such as the Ahmediyya, are oppressed in one way or another.

Nations like Pakistan and Afghanistan have brutal legal and social regimes that allow disgusting concepts such as ‘honour’ crime and because of this ‘honour’ culture treat women with a brutality that is often beyond comprehension. However not all Muslim nations are like this. Some like the United Arab Emirates are making changes to bring their nations into the modern world or at least into the 20^th century.

A recent article that I found via Sargon’s Lotuseaters You Tube channel that had been put up by one of the commenters absolutely astounded me. It showed that the UAE, which has made peace with Israel and is trying to look outwards to the wider world rather than inwards to the Islamic world, is abandoning many of the Shariah inspired laws that oppressed women, non-Muslims and those Muslims who like a beer or two now and again.

The Marketwatch website said:

The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday a major overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalizing so-called “honor killings.”

The broadening of personal freedoms reflects the changing profile of a country that has sought to bill itself as a Westernized destination for tourists, fortune-seekers and businesses despite its Islamic legal code that has previously triggered court cases against foreigners and outrage in their home countries.

Marketwatch added:

Changes include scrapping penalties for alcohol consumption, sales and possession for those 21 and over. Although liquor and beer is widely available in bars and clubs in the UAE’s luxuriant coastal cities, individuals previously needed a government-issued license to purchase, transport or have alcohol in their homes. The new rule would apparently allow Muslims who have been barred from obtaining licenses to drink alcoholic beverages freely.

Another amendment allows for “cohabitation of unmarried couples,” which has long been a crime in the UAE. Authorities, especially in the more freewheeling financial hub of Dubai, often looked the other way when it came to foreigners, but the threat of punishment still lingered. Attempted suicide, forbidden in Islamic law, would also be decriminalized

But this is not all. ‘Honour’ crimes that afflict many Muslim women will be treated as crimes and the perpetrators punished. This means that no longer will women be beaten up or murdered because they disobey the ‘honour’ culture of their families or disregard religious law.

Although this doesn’t throw away all of the nation’s religious conservatism, this new law change didn’t mention stuff like homosexuality, this is still an amazing leap into the modern and enlightened world for an Islamic nation to take. It just goes to show you that Islamic nations can reform and be civilised and not end up like oppressive shitholes in the pattern of Pakistan and Afghanistan.