More incidents to challenge those who would modernise Islam In an ancient madrassa in the hills near Bitlis, a septuagenarian sheikh consults Islamic scriptures as he speaks over the phone. Sheikh Nureddin, a spiritual leader in Turkey's Kurdish south-east, is negotiating over a young woman hiding in his home. Hatice Kaya's in-laws have wanted her dead since November, when she was kidnapped by her childhood sweetheart and then abandoned. Only her blood can cleanse the stain of dishonour, the family insists. "Nonsense," sniffs the sheikh. "Islam forgives, the Prophet forgives, and so will her husband."
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