There is a growing tension and debate over allowing the dictates of Sharia Law as consideration for determining outcomes in our U.S. law courts, so much so that some states have enacted legislation banning the use of “foreign Laws” in their courts (e.g., the State of Kansas). Such anti foreign-law legislation is clearly aimed at banning the use of Islamic Sharia Law.
Muslim groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are arguing against such bans. They want the dictates of Sharia Law to be acceptable and applicable in our American court system, when deemed relevant to a case.
I am skeptical and distrustful. But let me be clear: I am NOT in favor of a militant attitude against Islam and its followers here in America. This is a free country. This country is based upon freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, and freedom of religion. However, I do have my concerns about the creeping-in of Sharia Islamic Law’s influence, its use and application here, within our American courts of law. Why?
I’ll give you a ‘for instances.’ Recently a man literally had his hand chopped off, for sheep-stealing (originally it was supposedly a stolen motorcycle). This astounds me. This cutting-off of the hand took place earlier this month, Wednesday, August 8th. It was as a result of the strict application of Islamic Sharia Law; now, today, in the year 2012. Yes, those who did the hand-cutting were Islamic extremists. And yes, this happened on the other side of the world, in Mali. Nevertheless, these Islamic extremists justified their actions on the basis of strict adherence to Sharia Law. Furthermore, a witness later testified, so I read, that after the Islamists cut-off the young man’s hand, they also put his arm in boiling oil. Google it, see for yourself.
“That was in Mali, not America. That kind of thing won’t happen here,” Islamic supporters of Sharia Law will say. Maybe not, but I have to wonder what will happen here, if acceptance and consideration of Islamic Sharia Law becomes more and more acceptable in our law-courts?
Now, I have to say that I know little about Sharia Law. I readily admit my ignorance. Still, I am greatly put-off by what I do see and hear, as to how Sharia Law is used, interpreted and applied by various Islamic adherents around the world. As I see it, the onus, the burden of proof, is on adherents to Sharia Law—to prove to me, to us U.S. citizens—that the application of Sharia law is not contrary to our own American law system, as to its premises, assumptions, values, and asserted truths—not the other way around.
In fact, the basis of Sharia Law has a very different set of foundational assumptions than do our American laws—especially with respect to religious authority, social justice and its practice, and social values and their implementation. As it is, we already have a two-way battle going-on between two conflicting world-view assumptions and authorities: the opposing beliefs between secular humanism on the one side and Judeo-Christian beliefs on the other. Sharia Law introduces a third worldview, a new meta-authority with its own set of foundational premises, assumptions, and propositions. And at the core, all laws are interpreted and applied on the basis of assumed foundational and universal propositional truths. For example, I know this much, under Sharia Law, women and men are NOT equal, and women do NOT have the same rights and privileges as do men. Period!
By writing this, I’m sure to be labeled as Islamophobic. These days, if you want to discredit a person’s opinion, all you have to do is say that he or she has a phobia about the issue, adding phobic to the end of the subject in question—oh, don’t listen to him, he’s just [in this case] Islam-o-phobic. To be phobic about something is to have an irrational fear of something. And that’s the dismissing point, to be irrationally fearful. And that’s my point. I don’t think that I am at all being irrational about this. My fear of Sharia Law makes a lot of sense in the context of today’s world. At this point, I am not at all convinced that the application of Sharia Law has any rightful place in the law courts of the United States of America.
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ReplyDeleteYou say, "Muslim groups, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are arguing against such bans. They want the dictates of Sharia Law to be acceptable and applicable in our American court system, when deemed relevant to a case."
ReplyDeleteThis is not true. You could not cite any instance of CAIR arguing such a thing. Nobody is arguing for Shariah law to be imposed in the United States, and the courts at every level follow a long-established constitutional prohibition against making any religious-based decisions at all. You are just repeating the false accusations of hate-mongering religious bigots who are trying to stir up fear.
There is no sound as pleasing to Allah as the Shout of Allahu Akbar; it tells him an infidel is being punished. But these are words of action and must not be used in vain.
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