Early Muslim society wasn't a segregated one..
people want to be prostitutes as much as they want to have a sexually transmitted disease. We really need to rise above that judgmental way we view people, those who are far less fortunate. Especially that we as Muslims are responsible for them and we pretty much drove them to this by allying ourselves with kaffirs and neglecting our duties as Muslims...
By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 24, 3:24 AM ET
DAMASCUS, Syria - The Iraqi women jump onto the stage at the al-Rawabi club, their long black hair swinging, their young faces caked with makeup. Iraqi pop music booms out as they sway and dance under strobe lights.
Nearby, a woman nicknamed At’outa meets her paying dates — men who hand over $90 a night for companionship and sex.
This club in northwest Damascus represents one of the most troubling aspects of the Iraqi refugee crisis — Iraqi women and girls who are turning to prostitution to survive in countries that have taken them in but won’t let them or their families work at most other jobs.
No reliable figures of Iraqi prostitutes exist, but an increase in the number of Iraqi women seen in recent months in clubs and on the streets of Damascus, Amman and other cities suggests the problem is growing as more Iraqis flee their country’s violence.
Most of the Iraqi women at the al-Rawabi club appeared to be in their late teens and early 20s although some were older. While some danced on stage, about a half-dozen others strolled around the tables, smiling at men and inviting offers to sit down for a drink.
Ayman al-Halaqi, a club manager here, said Iraqi dancers are cheaper to hire than Syrians. Back home, even dancing in a skimpy costume would be considered shameful. Iraqi women who go beyond that can earn 10 times more from a single encounter with a client than by working a full day as a housemaid.
At the al-Rawabi club, the usual customers are mostly Iraqi or Syrian men, but summer brought the annual flood of visitors from Persian Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
Bassam Abdul-Wahid, a 27-year-old Iraqi who runs an import-export business in Damascus, was partying with three male companions at the club one evening. Sporting three gold rings and a flashy gold bracelet, he motioned for more whiskey as two slender young Iraqi women in tight jeans slipped into chairs at the men’s table.
Abdul-Wahid, a regular at al-Rawabi, joked that he likes his table to be “an example of Iraqi generosity.” As the liquor flowed, the women laughed and exchanged “high-fives” with the men — but refused to talk with a reporter.
At’outa, a blonde in her late 30s whose nickname means “little kitten” in Arabic, agreed to tell her story but refused to give her real name for fear neighbors or her children would learn what she does.
Last year, she fled Iraq with her son and two daughters, all teenagers, after her husband was gunned down by militants in Baghdad’s volatile Ghazaliyah district.
After a few months in Syria, her late husband’s savings were running out. She tried working as a tailor and a housemaid, but could not make ends meet, she said. Then, a man offer to cancel a $250 debt in exchange for sex. Since then, she has regularly met other dates at the al-Rawabi club, where sex earns her enough money to pay the
bills.
this is the harsh reality of our sisters, who have lost their families and been made to leave their homes!
again I say, La 7wala wla qiwta illa billah
