Sharia Law and the 21st Century

By Max Douglas

Max Douglas Multicultural Issues Kojo Allen Research Paper Sharia Law and the 21st century What religious book mentions the great Jesus, his virgin mother Mary, and teachings on morals? The first book that you probably think of is the Bible, but there is one other book that talks about such things and that book is the Quran. The Quran belongs to the Islamic religion and it was compiled during the 7th century when the Prophet Mohammad led the first community of Muslims into jihad. Many of Mohammads teaching were originally transmitted orally, but during the first jihad the teachings were written down out of fear of dying during battle. When we Americans think of the word jihad and Muslim in the same sentence we tend to think: terrorists, murderers, or just foreign. Is Islam a religion of peace or violence? What does Islam really teach? What is the difference between radical and moderate Islam? We are going to take a look at some of the teachings of Islam and what the future holds for this booming religion. Before jumping into the teachings of Islam, I am going to give a brief example of how we would come to find out more about the teachings of the largest Christian church on earth so as to give us background of the complexity of discovering Islamic teachings. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination, and the teachings of the Catholic Church are set up on three legs: Sacred Scripture, Magisterium (Pope/Holy See), and Sacred Tradition. When someone has a question about the teachings and consequences of stealing for example, they can turn to the three legs of the Catholic Church to discover the answer. When questions are less obvious, such as, is abortion acceptable? One can seek an answer from the Magisterium leg of the Church, who

is believed to have been given the authority to interpret Sacred Scripture. With that being said, such is not the case with Islam. There is no central authority to interpret the teachings of the prophets from the Quran. Therefore, all sects of Muslim believers use three criteria for authoritative teaching: a consensus of Islamic scholars, reasoning by analogy, or Sharia (Ali, Spencer, Pacwa). Some teachings are crystal clear in the Quran such as, If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have been lost, (Sura 3:85) or the decree to pray three times daily (Sura 11:114), or, In blasphemy indeed are those that say Allah is Christ the Son of Mary. It is also clear that the basic beliefs can be summed up in the Five Pillars of Islam and in the teaching There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet. Muslims have similar practices as Jews and Christians in the fact that they fast, pray, confess the faith, perform almsgiving, and make pilgrimages. However, ambiguity comes to surface when certain theological, social, or political questions are brought into question. It is difficult to determine where Islam stands on many hot button issues, and depending on who you ask you may get some very different answers. Mohammad was not only a religious leader, but a military and political leader as well; so Islam is not just a religion, it is an ideology. Surprisingly, we see the highest level of ambiguity on Islamic teaching in Islamic states. Islamic states are run under their own jurisdiction known as Sharia Law. Sharia is the moral code of Islam that deals with rights, taxes, punishments, prayer, economics, trade, marriage, divorce, purification, etc. of citizens. Most Americans are not well versed in sharia because most schools of thought of Sharia Law are located in the Middle East, the Northern parts of Africa, Asia, and certain parts of Europe where the law is established. Some practices of the law promote peace

and unity among Muslims and non-Muslims but some are so brutal that they include: lashings for drinking alcohol, death for blasphemy, flogging and imprisonment for non-Muslim religious practices, enforced dress code for women, bodily dismemberment for stealing, lenient prison sentences for honor killing, and marriage permits for young girls. The way the law is practiced varies from country to country, but we see a more strict form of Sharia Law practiced in Egypt, Oman, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Uganda, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sudan. Through the eyes of an American, a common trend that seems obvious to these sharia practicing countries is a lack of human rights. It appears to us Americans that this is a form of Radical Islam. In a very recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 38,000 Muslims were interviewed in more than 80 languages throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. The survey showed that At least half of Muslims in most countries surveyed say they are concerned about religious extremist groups in their country, including two-thirds or more of Muslims in Egypt (67%), Tunisia (67%), Iraq (68%), Guinea Bissau (72%) and Indonesia (78%) (Pew Forum). What makes this so startling is another fact taken from this same survey, Support for making sharia the official law of the land tends to be higher in countries like Pakistan (84%) and Morocco (83%) where the constitution or basic laws favor Islam over other religions (Pew Forum) To take this a step further the study says that Muslims who pray several times a day are at least 25 percentage points more supportive of enshrining sharia than are less observant Muslims (Pew Forum). To add to these startling statistics it is important to note that almost all suicide bombers are in support of a radical form of sharia law. From the facts of this survey we can see that the majority of Muslims do not want the entirety of Sharia Law as the law of the land, but the majority of Muslims do support some form of sharia, particularly law for governing family and property issues.

Lets take a look at the current state of sharia in the west. When you give a little, people tend to take a lot, and you better believe the same people who are establishing sharia in Islamic states also want to establish sharia in other countries. In a youtube video filmed by Joy Brighton, MBA from Columbia University, she states that, today British Muslims have a legal choice of taking their family or business disputes to sharia court instead of an English common law court. In six cases of domestic violence on public record, sharia judges convicted all six Muslims husbands of beating their wives, and sentenced them to anger management classes with no further punishment. And, French police have given up control in 751 violent closed Islamic neighborhoods. Police urge non-Muslims to enter at their own risk. There have been reports of rape by girls entering in western clothing. Sharia Law is even active in the United States. In New York, there sits a 70 acre Muslim community founded by Mubarak Ali Gilani. The Islamic settlement is currently practicing forms of sharia and the members are suspected of radical jihadist ideology. This essay was not written to spread fear, hate, or misconceptions about the Muslim people, because we are called to love our Muslim brothers and sisters who are both radical and moderate. This essay was written to bring the reader to a greater awareness of the minority of Muslims in the world who are in support of radical sharia, who are warping the views of peaceful Muslims, and who are establishing injustice throughout the world. There is no doubt that the radicals are a minority, but as Islam continues to grow, at an estimated 30% over the next two decades (Maygers), we will surely see an increase of Islamic radicals. It is a simple math. For some Americans it may seem that Sharia Law would be a breath of fresh air because stealing, pre-marital sex, drugs, alcohol, atheism, porn, prostitution, and immorality in general are all highly discouraged by sharia. As Americans however, we allow people to find truth the hard

way, and we dont turn to murder and irrational imprisonment to combat immorality (usually). So it is up to us to demand that truth be spread throughout the world, ignorance be cast out, and lives be saved. Too many citizens have become victims of Sharia Law. We cannot fix corruption of the past, but we can prevent corruption for the future.

Bibliography

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"The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life." The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. N.p., 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 May 2013.