I have a friend who is a Catholic priest from Nigeria. He has told me horror stories about what life is like for the people there. Life is dangerous for any Christian there because they are targeted by Muslims for death. Life for young girls under Muslim law is a living death. My friend explained that the Muslims in Africa hate any other religion that threatens the social structure they have put into place, particularly where women are concerned. A Christian girl may choose education, may choose her own husband, and is considered an equal in Christian communities. For Muslim girls it is a whole other story -as I said, a living hell. In Nigeria, a Muslim girl is "engaged" generally to a much older man, when she is about 8 years old. About this same time as the "engagement" her private parts are sewn together, leaving her a small opening for urination. She is then "given" as a slave to the eldest wife of the man she is engaged to. You can just imagine the hell these kids go through being the slave to the woman who she will soon replace in the husband's bed. These girls are regularly beaten, kicked, and humiliated by the eldest wife until she is married and becomes the youngest wife. When the girl menstruates for the first time, she is officially married to the old bat, who has the "honor" of removing the stitches that hold her privates together, then basically raping her as the consummation of marriage. The girl then becomes his sex slave until she gets pregnant and is replaced by another, younger child. She better hope to have a son, because when the old guy dies, she has nowhere to go as a widow - if her son does not take her in, she will have to beg in the streets to stay alive. This is the Islamic way of life for women throughout the world, give or take a change in cultural custom here or there. The results are always the same. The woman is treated like chattel, humiliated, brutalized and denigrated. Any philosophy or religion that does not condone this kind of behavior is a threat to the reigning mullahs, imams, and other Muslim men - freeing women from their yoke is really raining on their parade. If ever you are engaged in conversation by Muslims or their apologists about the "respect" they have for women - remember this story and let them know about it. This is their dirty little secret, and they will say it is a fabrication - but this is from an eyewitness who has lived his entire life in Nigeria, and still lives there, trying to bring light to those kept in the darkness and slavery of Islam.