MUSLIM SHARIAH LAW
ABDUL RAHMAN, a 41-year-old Afghan, was a Muslim for 25 years before he began working for an international Christian group helping his fellow countrymen in Pakistan. Within a couple of years he had converted to Christianity.
Fourteen years later, the decision may cost him his life. After four years in Peshawar, Mr. Rahman spent the next nine in Germany. His problems began when he returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to recover his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who were living with his parents in Kabul.
His parents refused to return them. The matter went to the police, with the parents complaining that their son had become violent. Mr. Rahman’s father then denounced him as a convert. Mr. Rahman was promptly arrested, and found to possess a Bible. He now languishes in Kabul central prison and will, if convicted of an “attack on Islam”, face the death penalty under Afghanistan’s new constitution.
Mr. Rahman’s case is shaping up as a trial of strength between Afghanistan’s religious conservatives and reformers. “The constitution says Islam is the religion of Afghanistan, yet it also mentions the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 18 specifically forbids this kind of recourse,” one human rights expert said in Kabul last night. “It really highlights the problem the judiciary faces.”
News of his plight is likely to cause outrage in predominantly Christian countries such as Britain and America, whose troops are fighting to free Afghanistan from the religious zealotry of the Taliban.
The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who leads the Church of England’s dialogue with Islam, told The Times: “I’m amazed that the constitution that has been agreed in post-Taliban Afghanistan under the very eyes of the international community should allow this kind of thing to take place — for a person to be arrested for having been converted 14 years ago and to be threatened with execution simply for his beliefs.
“The British Army in Afghanistan is losing soldiers there through injury and death. Is the Army there to uphold this kind of thing? I thought we were there to promote democracy and freedom.”
Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, told The Times: “We are asked to believe that in Afghanistan we are defending a more secular and democratic state when in fact the likes of Abdul Rahman face the death penalty. What sort of democracy are we defending? All reports suggest that the Taliban are coming in through the back door and their views through the front door. Hamid Karzai (the Afghan President) needs to be told that this absurdity must stop.”
Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrats’ defense spokesman, said: “This is a horrifying situation and it makes a mockery of the efforts we are making to bring Afghanistan back into the international community. We have committed many soldiers to the situation in Afghanistan, many of whom will be committed Christians; we have spent huge amounts of money and committed resources and so I think we can take a strong moral position on this and explain to the Afghan authorities that to prosecute or even kill someone for having a different faith is unacceptable.”
Mr. Rahman is being prosecuted for an attack on Islam, the punishment for which, under the draft constitution established in 2004, is death.
“The Attorney-General is emphasizing he should be hung,” Judge Alhaj Ansarullah Mawlawy Zada, who will be trying his case, told The Times. “It is a crime to convert to Christianity from Islam. He is teasing and insulting his family by converting. In your country (Britain) two women can marry; that is very strange. In this country we have the perfect constitution, it is Islamic law and it is illegal to be a Christian and it should be punished.”
The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, has said that he would drop charges if Mr. Rahman converted back to Islam, but he has so far refused to do so.
“He would be forgiven if he changed back, but he said he was a Christian and would always remain one . . . We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.” In the first hearing of Mr. Rahman’s case, Judge Zada, the head of the Primary Court, said that a verdict would be reached within two months.
If the judge imposes the death penalty, Mr. Rahman will still have two avenues of appeal under Afghan law — the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court. The death penalty has to be ratified by President Karzai.
Prison authorities refused repeated requests for Mr. Rahman to be interviewed, but a cellmate, Sayad Miakhel, told The Times: “He is standing by his words; he will not become a Muslim again. He has been a Christian for over 14 years. It is what he believes in . . .” Mr. Miakhel, 30, said that conditions in the prison were basic, with 50 men to a cell built for 15. “Most prisoners have food brought to them by their families, but none of Abdul’s family has been to visit. I’m not sure how he is eating.
“He seems depressed. He keeps looking up to the sky, to God,” said Mr. Miakhel.
Sharia (Arabic: شريعة; also Sharī'ah, Shari'a, Shariah or Syariah) is the Arabic word for Islamic law. In the Islamic state sharia governs both public and private lives of those living within the state. Sharia governs many aspects of day-to-day life; politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law, and social issues. The term Sharia refers to the body of Islamic law. Some accept Sharia as the body of precedent and legal theory before the 19th century, while other scholars view Sharia as a changing body, and include reform Islamic legal theory from the contemporary period.
Before the 19th century legal theory was considered the domain of the
traditional legal schools of thought. Most
Sunni Muslims follow
Hanafi,
Hanbali,
Maliki or
Shafii, while most
Shia Muslims follow
Jaafari (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006).
Contents
1 Divergent Developments after the 19th century
5 Contemporary Practice of Sharia Law
6 Laws and Practices Under Sharia
6.2 The role of women under Sharia
6.7 Illegal sexual relations: Adultery, Fornication and Homosexuality
Divergent Developments after the 19th century
During the 19th century the history of Islamic law took a sharp turn due to new challenges the Muslim world faced: the West had risen to a global power and colonized a large part of the world, including Muslim territories. Societies underwent transition from the agricultural to the industrial stage. New social and political ideas emerged and social models slowly shifted from hierarchical towards egalitarian. The Ottoman Empire and the rest of the Muslim world were in decline and calls for reform became louder. In Muslim countries, codified state law started replacing the role of scholarly legal opinion. Western countries sometimes inspired, sometimes pressured, and sometimes forced Muslim states to change their laws. Secularist movements pushed for laws deviating from the opinions of the Islamic legal scholars. Islamic legal scholarship remained the sole authority for guidance in matters of rituals, worship and spirituality, while they lost authority to the state in other areas. The Muslim community became divided into groups reacting differently to the change. This division persists until the present day (Brown 1996, Hallaq 2001, Ramadan 2005, Aslan 2006, Safi 2003).
Secularists believe the law of the state should be based on secular principles, not on Islamic legal theory.
Traditionalists believe that the law of the state should be based on the traditional legal schools. However, traditional legal views are considered unacceptable by most modern Muslims, especially in areas like women's rights or slavery [1].
Reformers believe that new Islamic legal theories can produce modernized Islamic law [2] and lead to acceptable opinions in areas such as women's rights [3].
Salafis believe that the traditional schools were wrong, and therefore failed, and strive to follow the generation of early Muslims.
Etymology
The term Sharia itself derives from the verb shara'a, which according to Abdul Mannan Omar's Dictionary of the Holy Qur'an connects to the idea of "spiritual law" (5:48) and "system of divine law; way of belief and practice" (45:18) in the Qur'an.
General
Mainstream Islam distinguishes between fiqh, which means 'understanding of details' and refers to the inferences drawn by scholars, and sharia, which refers to the principles that lie behind the fiqh. Scholars hope that fiqh and sharia are in harmony in any given case, but they cannot be sure.
Sharia has certain laws which are regarded as divinely ordained, concrete and timeless for all relevant situations (for example, the ban against drinking liquor as an intoxicant). It also has certain laws which are extracted based on principles established by Islamic lawyers and judges (Mujtahidun).
For Sunni Muslims, the primary sources of Islamic law are the Qur'an, the Hadith, the unanimity of Muhammad's disciples on a certain issue (ijma), and Qiyas (drawing analogy from the essence of divine principles). Qiyas — various forms of reasoning, including by analogy — are used by the law scholars (Mujtahidun) to deal with situations where the sources provided no concrete rules. The consensus of the community or people, public interest, and others were also accepted as secondary sources where the first four primary sources allow.
In Imami-Shi'i law, the sources of law (usul al-fiqh) are the Qur'an, anecdotes of the Prophet's practices and those of the 12 Imams, and the intellect (aql). The practices called Sharia today, however, also have roots in local customs (Al-urf).
Islamic jurisprudence is called fiqh and is divided into two parts: the study of the sources and methodology (usul al-fiqh - roots of the law) and the practical rules (furu' al-fiqh — branches of the law).
The comprehensive nature of Sharia law is due to the belief that the law must provide all that is necessary for a person's spiritual and physical well-being. All possible actions of a Muslim are divided (in principle) into five categories: obligatory, meritorious, permissible, reprehensible, and forbidden. Fundamental to the obligations of every Muslim are the Five Pillars of Islam.
Sections of Sharia law
Sharia law is divided into two main sections:
The acts of worship, or al-ibadat, these include:
Ritual Purification (Wudu)
Prayers (Salah)
Charities (Zakat)
Human interaction, or al-mu'amalat, which includes:
Financial transactions
Endowments
Laws of inheritance
Marriage, divorce, and child care
Foods and drinks (including ritual slaughtering and hunting)
Penal punishments
Warfare and peace
Judicial matters (including witnesses and forms of evidence)
Contemporary Practice of Sharia Law
There is tremendous variance in the interpretation and implementation of Islamic law in Muslim societies today. More recently, liberal movements within Islam have questioned the relevance and applicability of sharia from a variety of perspectives. As a result, several of the countries with the largest Muslim populations, including Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have largely secular constitutions and laws, with only a few Islamic provisions in family law. Turkey has a constitution that is strongly secular.
Most countries of the Middle East and North Africa maintain a dual system of secular courts and religious courts, in which the religious courts mainly regulate marriage and inheritance. Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain religious courts for all aspects of jurisprudence, and religious police assert social compliance. Laws derived from sharia are also applied in Sudan, Libya and Afghanistan. Some states in northern Nigeria have reintroduced Sharia courts. In practice the new Sharia courts in Nigeria have most often meant the re-introduction of relatively harsh punishments without respecting the much tougher rules of evidence and testimony. The punishments include amputation of one/both hand(s) for theft, stoning for adultery, and execution for apostasy.
Many consider the punishments prescribed by Sharia as being barbaric and cruel; Islamic scholars argue that, if implemented properly, the punishments serve as a deterrent to crime. In international media, practices by countries applying Islamic law have fallen under considerable criticism at times. This is particularly the case when the sentence carried out is seen to greatly tilt away from established standards of international human rights. This is true for the application of the death penalty for the crime of adultery, and other such punishments such as amputations for the crime of theft and flogging for fornication or public intoxication. [4]
An unusual secular-state example was the proposal for a Sharia arbitration court to be established in Ontario, Canada. That province's 1991 arbitration court law allows disputes to be settled in alternative courts to avoid congestion and delay in the court system. The court would handle disputes between Muslim complainants. Critics claimed that misogyny which they held to be inherent in Sharia might influence the Canadian justice system, but proponents argued that those who do not wish to go by the court's rulings are not forced to attend it. Moreover, these sharia courts in Canada are only orthodox in a limited way as they respect the priority of Canadian civil law. Anybody not satisfied with a ruling from the sharia court can appeal to a civil court. As such, this sharia court would be only a very pale version of Sharia.
On September 11, 2005, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty stated in a telephone interview that religious arbitration would no longer be allowed. However, the proposed changes to the Ontario Arbitration Act[5] do not specifically mention religious arbitration, but reduce the power of private arbitration in the area of family law, and introduce other changes. Specifically, under the proposed changes family arbitrators will be regulated, participants in family law arbitration cases will not be able to give up their right to appeal an arbitrator's decision to a court, and a pre-nuptial agreement to resolve family law matters, should they arise, through an arbitrator rather than through a court will no longer be binding.
Nevertheless, the proposed changes were condemned by parts of the Muslim and Jewish community, and legal challenges to the new law remain a distinct possibility.
Like Jewish law and Christian canon law, Islamic law is interpreted differently by different people in different times and places.
In the hands of fundamentalists, however, it is legally binding on all people of the faith and even on all people who come under their control. Islamic law to American Muslims in Dearborn, Boston, or Houston is very different than Islamic law to religious Muslims in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, western China, Nigeria[6] or Indonesia. All follow Islamic law, yet their view of the law varies as much as individual Muslims vary.
Laws and Practices Under Sharia
Dietary laws
Main article: Islamic dietary laws
When eating meat, sharia dictates that Muslims may only eat from meat that has been slaughtered in the name of God and meets stringent dietary requirements. Such meat is called halāl or "lawful" (acceptable). Islamic law prohibits a Muslim from eating pork, and meat that has been slaughtered in other than the name of God. Most juridical opinions also hold monkey, dog, cat, carnivores and several other types of animal as being prohibited, or harām. For the meat of an animal to be halāl it must be one of the declared halāl species, it must generally be slaughtered by a Muslim using the correct method, and it may not be killed by excessively cruel or painful means. The traditional means of slaughter is by slicing open the jugular veins at the neck, resulting in quick blood loss; a state of shock and unconsciousness is induced, and death soon follows through cardiac arrest.
According to the Qur'an, the animal does not have to be slaughtered by a Muslim, but may be slaughtered by a Jew or a Christian (People of the Book) as long as it meets their strict dietary laws (Al-Ma'ida 5: "The food of those who have received the Scripture is lawful for you.") Thus, most Muslims will accept kosher meat as halāl. (Qur'an 2:173, 6:121)
The role of women under Sharia
Main article: women in Islam
Islam does not prohibit women from working, but emphasizes the importance of housekeeping and caring for the families of both parents. In theory, Islamic law allows husbands to divorce their wives at will, by clearly saying talaq ( "I divorce you" ) three times in public. In practice divorce is more involved than this and state proceedings vary. In 2003, for example, a Malaysian court ruled that, under Sharia law, a man may divorce his wife via text messaging as long as the message was clear and unequivocal. [7] Such a divorce, known as the "triple talaq" is not allowed in most Muslim states. Usually, the divorced wife keeps her dowry from when she was married, if there was one, and is given child support until the age of weaning, at which point the child may be returned to its father if it is deemed to be best.
In addition, women are generally not allowed to be clergy or religious scholars. Many interpretations of Islamic law hold that women may not have prominent jobs, and thus are forbidden from working in the government. This has been a mainstream view in many Muslim nations in the last century, despite the example of Muhammad's wife Aisha, who both took part in politics and was a major authority on hadith.
A Muslim may not marry or remain married to an unbeliever of either sex (2:221, 60:10). A Muslim man may marry a woman of the People of the Book (5:5); traditionally, however, Islamic law forbids a Muslim woman from marrying a non-Muslim man unless he converts to Islam.
See also ma malakat aymanukum.
Dress codes
The Qur'an also places a dress code upon its followers. For women, it emphasizes modesty. Allah says in the Qur'an, "And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not to display their adornment (interpreted as the hair and body-shape) except that which ordinarily appears thereof (interpreted as the face and hands) and to draw their headcovers over their chests and not to display their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands fathers, their sons, . . . ." (surat an-Nur verse 31). All those in whose presence a woman is not obliged to practice the dress code are known to be her mahrams. Men have a dress code which is more relaxed: the loins must be covered from knee to waist. The rationale given for these rules is that men and women are not to be viewed as sexual objects.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, has laws against these dress codes in schools and work places. After the declaration of the Republic in 1923, as part of revolutions brought by Ataturk, a modern dress code was encouraged. It is against the law to wear a head scarf while attending public school in Turkey, as well as France, where the recently enacted rule caused huge public controversy.
Some view Islamic women as being oppressed by the men in their communities because of the required dress codes. However, in more moderate nations, where these dress codes are not obligatory, there are still many Muslim women who practice it. Whether they choose to wear such clothes of their own free will because they believe it is the will of Allah, or due to community and social pressures is a controversial question.
One of the garments some women wear is the hijāb (of which the headscarf is one component). The word hijab is derived from the Arabic word hajaba which means 'to hide from sight or view', 'to conceal'. Hijāb means to cover the head as well as the body.
Domestic punishments
According to most interpretations, authorization for the husband to physically beat disobedient wives is given in the Qur'an. First, admonishment is verbal, and secondly a period of refraining from intimate relations. Finally, if the husband deems the situation appropriate, he may hit her:
"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all)." (Qur'an 4:34 English translation: Yusuf Ali)
The medieval jurist ash-Shafi'i, founder of one of the main schools of fiqh, commented on this verse that "hitting is permitted, but not hitting is preferable."
The Arabic verse uses idribu¯hunna (from the root daraba ضرب), whose commonest meaning in Arabic has been rendered as "beat", "hit", "scourge", or "strike". Besides this verse, other meanings for daraba used in the Qur'an (though not with a human direct object) include 'to travel', 'to make a simile', 'to cover', 'to separate', and 'to go abroad', among others. For this reason — particularly in recent years (e.g. Ahmed Ali, Edip Yuksel) — some consider "hit" to be a misinterpretation, and believe it should be translated as "admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and separate from them." Certain modern translations of the Qur'an in the English language accept the commoner translation of "beat" but tone down the wording with bracketed additions. Whatever idribu¯hunna is meant to convey in the Qur'an -- and multiple, complementary meanings are quite common in Islam's holy book -- the verb is directed, not at a single husband, but to the community as a whole.
Several Hadith urge strongly against beating one's wife, such as: "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then embrace (sleep with) her? (Al-Bukhari, English Translation, vol. 8, Hadith 68, pp. 42-43), "I went to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked him: What do you say (command) about our wives? He replied: Give them food what you have for yourself, and clothe them by which you clothe yourself, and do not beat them, and do not revile them. (Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 11, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Number 2139)". However, some suggest that these Hadith were later abrogated, noting that in the Farewell Pilgrimage, he said:
Fear Allah concerning women! Verily you have taken them on the security of Allah, and intercourse with them has been made lawful unto you by words of Allah. You too have right over them, and that they should not allow anyone to sit on your bed whom you do not like. But if they do that, you can chastise them but not severely. Their rights upon you are that you should provide them with food and clothing in a fitting manner. (Narrated in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Jabir.) [8]
According to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research:
"If the husband senses that feelings of disobedience and rebelliousness are rising against him in his wife, he should try his best to rectify her attitude by kind words, gentle persuasion and reasoning with her. If this is not helpful, he should sleep apart from her, trying to awaken her agreeable feminine nature so that serenity may be restored, and she may respond to him in a harmonious fashion. If this approach fails, it is permissible for him to beat her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive parts. In no case should he resort to using a stick or any other instrument that might cause pain and injury. Rather, this 'beating' should be of the kind the Prophet (peace be on him) once mentioned to a disobedient maid-servant, when he said 'If it were not for the fear of retaliation on the Day of Resurrection, I would have beaten you with this miswak (tooth-cleaning twig)' [as reported by Ibn Majah, by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and by Ibn Sa`d in his Tabaqat].[9] [10]
However, punishments are authorized by other passages in the Quran and Hadiths for certain crimes (e.g., extramarital sex, adultery), and are employed by some as rational for extra-legal punative action while others disagree (quotations provided by Syed Kamran Mirza):
Quran-24:2 "The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication—flog each of them with hundred stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the last day."
Quran-17:32 "Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils)."
Sahi Muslim No. 4206: "A woman came to the prophet and asked for purification by seeking punishment. He told her to go away and seek God's forgiveness. She persisted four times and admitted she was pregnant. He told her to wait until she had given birth. Then he said that the Muslim community should wait until she had weaned her child. When the day arrived for the child to take solid food, Muhammad handed the child over to the community. And when he had given command over her and she was put in a hole up to her breast, he ordered the people to stone her. Khalid b. al-Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on her face he cursed her."
Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 2. pg 1009; and Sahih Muslim Vol 2. pg 65: Hadhrat Abdullah ibne Abbaas (Radiallahu Anhu) narrates the lecture that Hadhrat Umar (Radiallaahu Anhu) delivered whilst sitting on the pulpit of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Hadhrat Umar (Radiallahu Anhu) said, "Verily, Allah sent Muhammad (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) with the truth, and revealed the Quran upon him. The verse regarding the stoning of the adulterer/ess was from amongst the verse revealed (in the Quraan). We read it, secured it and understood it. Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) stoned and we stoned after him. I fear that with the passage of time a person might say, ‘We do not find mention of stoning in the Book of Allah and thereby go astray by leaving out an obligation revealed by Allah. Verily, the stoning of an adulterer/ress is found in the Quraan and is the truth, if the witnesses are met or there is a pregnancy or confession."
Critics of Islamic law have often pointed to "honor killing" as an illustration
to the barbarity of Shariah law. While the practice of honor killing is common
in many Muslim countries, some Islamic leaders and scholars condemn the practice
of honor killing, and argue the practice is not based on religious doctrine.
[11].
For a more detailed examination of the Islamic view of adultery, see Zina.
For a more detailed examination of "honor killing", see the Wikipedia entry.
Circumcision
Male circumcision involves the removal of the foreskin and is customary in most Muslim communities. It is performed at different ages in different cultures.
Female circumcision is not part of mainstream Islam. It is not practiced in Maghreb countries and most of Asia, but is performed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike across East Africa and the Nile Valley, as well as parts of the Arabian peninsula and Southeast Asia. In both areas, the custom predates Islam. Many African Muslims believe that female circumcision is required by Islam, but a large number of Muslims believe this practice has no basis in Islam. Nevertheless it is justified on religious grounds both by Muslims and Christians who practice it, mostly in parts of Africa.
The Egyptian-born president of the 'European Council on Fatwa and Research', Yusuf al-Qaradawi, emphasises that this is not a religious obligation, but expresses his personal preference for removal of the prepuce of the clitoris, called clitoridotomy (Fatwa on islamonline.net.) The use of the term 'circumcision' is highly confusing, as the practice ranges from a mild superficial act that does not reduce any physiological function (the 'real' circumcision) to various forms of partial or even complete removal of female genital organs. In certain countries, this is accompanied by reducing the genital opening. These forms are, because of their brutal nature, also referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM). This term is most often used in official publications of the United Nations and World Health Organization.
Muslim apostates
Main article: Apostasy in Islam
In most interpretations of Shariah, conversion by Muslims to other religions is forbidden and is termed apostasy. Muslim theology equates apostasy to treason, and in most interpretations of shariah, the penalty for apostasy is death.
Illegal sexual relations: Adultery, Fornication and Homosexuality
In most interpretations of Shariah, the death penalty is applied as penalty for homosexual acts. According to the opinions of scholars, acceptable means of performing the execution included burning, throwing from tall buildings, and stoning. [12]
Death by stoning is also the penalty for adultery where one or two married individual are involved, while lashing with 100 strips is usually the penalty legally applied for fornication when the guilty party is not married.
Freedom of Speech
Sharia does not allow freedom of speech on such matters as criticism of the prophet Muhammad.
The Qur'an says that Allah curses the one who harms the Prophet in this world and He connected harm of Himself to harm of the Prophet. There is no dispute that anyone who curses Allah is killed and that his curse demands that he be categorized as an unbeliever. The judgement of the unbeliever is that he is killed. [...] There is a difference between ... harming Allah and His Messenger and harming the believers. Injuring the believers, short of murder, incurs beating and exemplary punishment. The judgement against those who harm Allah and His Prophet is more severe -- the death penalty. ("The proof of the necessity of killing anyone who curses the Prophet or finds fault with him" [13])
In Egypt, public authorities annulled, without his consent, the marriage of Prof. Nasr Abu Zayd when he got in conflict with an orthodox Islamic cleric from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The cleric had condemned Abu Zayd's reading of the Qur'an as being against the orthodox interpretation and labelled him an apostate (seen as a non-believer and consequently not permitted to marry or stay married to a Muslim woman). Abu Zayd fled to the Netherlands, where he is now a professor at the university of Leiden.
This was demonstrated recently in the cartoon row with the West.
See also
Islamic Rulings - A list of the most controversial rulings in Islam
Islam in Turkey - the only secular state of Muslim world
Hudud - Severe crimes (sometimes considered "crimes against God")
Tazir - Less severe crimes (thus, "crimes against society", not God)
Qisas - retaliatory crimes
Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
References
Daniel W. Brown (1996). Rethinking traditions in modern Islamic thought. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN 0521653940
Wael B. Hallaq (2001). Authority, Continuity and Change in Islamic Law. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521803314
Wael B. Hallaq (1997). History of Islamic Legal Theories: An Introduction to Sunni Usul Al-Fiqh. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521590272
Tariq Ramadan (2005). Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0195183568
Reza Aslan (2006). No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 0812971892
Cemal Kafadar (1996). Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State. University of California Press. ISBN 0520206002
Omid Safi (2003). Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 185168316X
Mumisa, Michael (2002) Islamic Law: Theory & Interpretation. Amana Publications. ISBN 1590080106
External links
Muslim websites
Sunni websites
Basic principle: The penal law of Islam
Islamic Law: Myths and Realities
Reformist websites
Islamic Law: An Ever-Evolving Science Under The Light of Divine Revelation and Human Reason
Seeking justice for Muslim women
By Zainah Anwar
April 7, 2006
MALAYSIA once had the most progressive family law in the Muslim world. But now
countries like Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia are way ahead of us.
The regressive trend began in the 1990s with the slow chiselling away of the
rights women gained through the 1984 Islamic Family Law.
While other Muslim countries are now finding ways to ensure that their laws
begin to reflect contemporary realities, the discriminatory amendments
continually made to the Islamic Family Law in Malaysia seeks to preserve a world
that no longer exists.
It continues to insist on a legal framework where men will always be superior to
women, men will always be leaders, protectors and providers; never mind if this
flies in the face of reality.
It is ironical that as we plunge into the 21st century, our legal drafters and
lawmakers of the 1980s seemed better able to understand that historical legal
practice and understanding must continually shift to keep pace with changing
values and circumstances.
The purpose was not to ensure that Muslim men’s privileged status must always be
protected by law, but to ensure that the pursuit of justice remains central to
the legal practice of Islam.
In 1984, the newly adopted Islamic Family Law extended to women several grounds
to begin divorce to counterbalance a man’s right to divorce his wife at will. It
made divorce and polygamy outside the court illegal. A woman was entitled to a
share of the matrimonial assets even though she did not financially contribute
to the acquisition. Her contribution as wife and mother was recognised.
A man wanting to practise polygamy must satisfy the court on his ability to
fulfil five strict conditions.
Other Muslim countries looked at Malaysia's law as a model. But by the 1990s,
this reputation began to change.
The global forces of the Islamic revivalism movement engulfed Malaysia and the
subsequent exploitation of faith for political purposes led to a steady
regression in the legal status of Muslim women in this country. Suddenly, the
gentler, kinder, inclusive Islam of our parents and forefathers was no longer
authentic. It was deemed Jahilliyah (Age of Ignorance before the coming of
Islam) Islam. We must adopt the "authentic" Islam of patriarchy and tribal
culture.
Amendments to the Islamic Family Law have made the Muslim family institution
today far more unstable. Divorce and polygamy conducted without the court’s
permission could be registered as legal.
The fifth condition for polygamy — no drop in standard of living of the existing
family — was removed. Only the biological mother is held responsible for the
maintenance of an illegitimate child. The biological father has no
responsibility.
These amendments led to the proliferation of thousands of cases of men divorcing
their wives at a whim — in a car, by the roadside, in a fit of temper during a
fight, by telephone and now even by SMS.
Is it any wonder that the divorce rate for Muslims is at least three times that
of non-Muslims.
All because our legal drafters and lawmakers saw it fit to believe that a man’s
desire to divorce or to take on multiple sexual partners must not be hindered or
delayed in any way. Never mind if it leads to injustice and family decay.
It was not just the Islamic Family Law that came under review.
Amendments were made in 1996 to the Insurance Act and in 2000 to the EPF,
through a fatwa from the National Fatwa Council. Both monies are now regarded as
part of the deceased’s estate to be divided according to faraid, the Islamic law
of inheritance where wives and daughters get half of what the men get.
Thus a husband who names his wife to be the beneficiary of his insurance policy
and his EPF will find that the wife is regarded merely as the administrator of
the funds. If she has children, she is entitled to only 1/8th share; if she has
no children, she is entitled to only ¼ share. The rest goes to her husband’s
family or to Baitulmal should there be no other valid heirs.
Malaysia seems to be the only Muslim country in the world to make insurance and
EPF monies a part of the deceased’s estate, rather than as a safety net for the
benefit of his immediate dependants.
And then came this latest set of amendments to the Islamic Family Law which
introduced gender neutral language to an already gender biased legal framework,
thus further discriminating against Muslim women.
No reciprocal effort was made to use gender neutral language to extend rights
traditionally enjoyed by men to women. Somehow that is deemed unIslamic because
the great ulama of the medieval period had perfected the doctrinal understanding
of the status of Muslim women.
For some of us these series of amendments made since the 1990s are mind-boggling
in their impunity and contempt for justice and fair play. Its impact is to
grossly undermine the stability of the family among Muslims. And it seems to
thumb a nose at the huge strides and contributions women have made in this
society by telling them that "hey, no matter what you are, you are still under
our control".
For Muslim women, it is all the more painful that it is Islam that is used to
deny change. Is it any wonder then that many are beginning to describe Malaysia
as a country that practises religious apartheid as it formally establishes one
set of rights for non-Muslims granting equality and justice between men and
women, and a separate set of rights for Muslims, moving toward more inequality
and injustice for Muslim women. As it was under apartheid rule in South Africa,
separate can never be equal.
Through a series of law reform, the Government since the 1970s, has moved
towards recognising justice and equality between non-Muslim men and women.
Amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, to the Distribution Act
and the Guardianship Act enable women of other faiths to enjoy equal rights to
marriage and divorce, a ban on polygamy, equal rights to guardianship and equal
rights to inheritance. If a husband chooses to name his wife as his beneficiary
to his insurance policy and his EPF funds, no one can take that right away from
him.
No less than the Prime Minister himself has committed the Government to ending
all laws that discriminate against women. It is responsive to public outcries of
injustice. It is committed to appointing qualified women to top positions.
Yet, even when the Cabinet has ordered the Attorney-General to review the
discriminatory Islamic Family Law amendments, there remains those within
Government who cannot bring themselves to support this move.
When misogyny, injustice and political mission hide behind the cloak of
religion, too many people in too many high places choose silence or acquiescence
— out of fear, out of ignorance, out of personal belief, out of political
ideology, or out of expediency for short-term political gains.
March 13, 2007
The Fairfax Digital
Muslim leaders have warned that hardline clerics are encouraging their followers to cheat the tax system because they consider paying income tax contrary to Sharia law.
Sydney-based Islamic leader Fadi Rahman says extremist Muslim clerics who were preaching messages against paying income taxes were also staunchly opposed to western ideologies, The Australian reports.
Mr Rahman said he had heard Friday sermons delivered by hardline clerics in Sydney which highlighted the importance of cheating the tax system.
"I mean, just like how you've got clerics (with) extreme views who are telling the Muslims in the western world to declare war against the very country that they live in and the very country that is paying for their day to day life, you'll find that these are the clerics that are telling them to dodge the tax system," Mr Rahman told News Limited.
The youth leader and president of the Independent Centre for Research Australia said tax itself was not allowed in Islam.
"So they (clerics) encourage them that if there's any way that you can dodge paying the tax, then you should do it."
Clerics pushing for the tax evasion espoused a fundamentalist form of Islam called Wahabbism, News Ltd reported.
Prominent Islamic cleric Khalil Shami said he had heard of imams encouraging tax evasion.
The fundamentalist Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association, which is headed by cleric Mohammed Omran, rejected suggestions that his imams were calling on followers to cheat on their taxes.
"Of course we pay taxes and we go as far as collecting money from our Muslim communities and donating it to organisations (such as the Royal Children's Hospital) to help," the Wahabbi organisation's spokesman Abu Yusuf said.
Blood money in Islamic Law
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
Gulfnews.com
July 20, 2007
Dubai: With so many nationalities living here with their different ethnic backgrounds, religions and traditions, it is important for everyone to know about Sharia or the Islamic Law, as it is the law of this Islamic nation.
Ignorance of the law is not a justification in the eyes of the courts.
The legal system in Dubai is however, a combination of Sharia, civil and criminal laws, while in other emirates only Sharia is implemented.
According to the Sharia, if one causes the death or injury of another person accidentally or intentionally, he or she has to pay blood money or diya. The blood money is to be paid to the victim's family as compensation and the amount is given in accordance with Sharia.
The diya is also a punishment and a means of protecting the rights of the parents of the victim and is given automatically. The parents do not have to sue for the money.
The compensation will be granted by a judge who is in charge of criminal proceedings and he will award the diya when pronouncing the sentence on the accused.
The blood money will only be payable if the person who caused the death of another person is found guilty under criminal procedure or legally responsible for committing a wrongful act, offence or crime.
According to Sharia, the life of a Muslim is evaluated for a larger amount of blood money than people of other religions, faiths or ethnic groups. But in the UAE the blood money is Dh200,000 for all males residing the country, whatever their religion or nationality.
In defence
The Sharia grants the family of a female, half the amount for a male, which is Dh 100,000. However, it is left to the judge who is in charge of the case to decide the amount of the blood money.
Blood money is not paid if a person kills another while trying to defend himself, his family, his property or other individuals and their property from harm.
According to UAE law, a person who is keeping an animal, whether he or she is the owners or not, must control that animal and will be legally responsible and have to pay blood money if that animal causes the death of another person.
Also the owner of a building or the manager in a company, factory or any person in charge will be legally responsible for the death of person or persons if the building collapses or of anyone in their charge dies due to negligence on their part.
If a person who owns equipment or machinery will be liable to charges and payment of diya if the equipment or the machinery causes the death of another person.
In case the crime was committed by more than one person, each person should pay blood money in accordance to their share of the crime. However, the court may order all persons found legally responsible to pay for the damages equally.
An 8 year
old child
caught stealing bread in a market of Iran
is punished in a public place,
in the name of Islam!!!
His arm was crushed and he lost its use permanently.
A religion of peace and love, they say?
How can anyone believe them
when
they commit such
inhuman acts?
MUSLIM SHARIAH LAW IS THE PRACTICE OF BARBARIANISM