[jubilance1922]

Originally posted by honeychile
I'm using my pledge sister's Muslim/assumed name, as her family wants to stay in contact with her sons.

Sarai met a man from Malaysia while in college, and they became engaged. He asked her to meet his family, and bought her a plane ticket to Malaysia. Once she got there (and I'm not going to pretend that I know the complete details here), she was told that she couldn't leave Malaysia without a visa, and to get a visa, she had to be married, to get married, she had to convert to Islam. They got married. Her new husband was a broadcaster, very well known, and they had a very luxurious lifestyle. Townhouse in Kuala Lampur, a MAJOR house in the "suburbs", a country house in Viet Nam, several nice cars - the whole package. Yet, she felt the constrictions, and she felt that she had been tricked into the marriage - even though she loved her husband.

They had a son, and at that time, they agreed that an American education was far superior to that of Malaysia, so they would buy a house in America, so their son (and future children) could go to Amerian schools, with Sarai with them. They had three more children, but one died young.

Fast forward to when the son turned six. Sarai asked when they were going to go house hunting, so their son could start school in America. The husband announced that he had changed his mind, and they were going to remain in Malaysia. At this point, she had not seen her family in 8 years. They argued, and at some point, he locked her in a room with no windows. The next day, with the "holy men" present, he executed her. He is considered a hero, a real family man.

As I said, I cannot provide the particulars, as her family wants to maintain contact with Sarai's children. I spoke to her a couple times while she was still alive & in Malaysia, and she made it clear that her husband only used his religion when it was to his advantage - he had alcohol & other things not permitted by the Quran. Towards her end, her letters became more and more urgent, until the last one, which was smuggled out. Along the very edges of this small letters, she had written in code: "Don't EVER let anything come between you and American citizenship! You don't know what it's like, to not even be able to go to the Embassy for help, just because the country you're in doesn't consider you an American anymore!" She said more, but some of it is private.

That's the gist of it. Our chapter's Spirit Award is named after her, as Sarai was one of the lovable & beautiful young women most of us ever met. If one person is saved from harm by the telling of her story, I will feel justified.

This is an incredibly sad story.

I have a question though...what is saving someone from harm? Not allowing them to marry Muslims? Because EVERY religion has fanatics that practice their religion incorrectly and twist it for their own personal gain. Islam shouldn't be signaled out.