I must applaud my home state of Kansas. It ignored this
nation's lemming-like sprint toward the abyss of political correctness and now prohibits
state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making
decisions.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed that bill, dubbed the
"Sharia bill," into law last week. Good for him!
That makes Kansas one of four states to enact such a law.
The others are Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee. Oklahoma voters approved a
ballot initiative in 2010 that specifically mentioned Sharia law, but both a
federal judge and a federal appeals court blocked it.
That has not stopped 20 other states from considering laws
similar to the Kansas statute, according to the Washington-based National
Conference of State Legislatures.
Obviously, given the attitudes of the current
administration, the federal government has no such pending law so it is up to
individual states to keep the onerous edicts of Sharia Law from attacking our
freedoms and infesting our lives.
Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life,
including religious obligations and financial dealings.
Sharia Law on Display in Pakistan |
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the governor, said
in an e-mail that the bill "makes it
clear that Kansas courts will rely exclusively on the laws of our state and our
nation when deciding cases and will not consider the laws of foreign
jurisdictions."
The new law takes effect July 1 and says courts,
administrative agencies or state tribunals can’t base rulings on any foreign
law or legal system that would not grant the parties the same rights guaranteed
by state and U.S. constitutions.
Muslim groups have condemned the law as discriminatory.
However, any American used to our way of life and the broad freedoms we enjoy
who has actually examined just what Sharia law is should be happy that Kansas
and other states are looking out for them.
Sharia, which means "path" in Arabic, guides all
aspects of Muslim life including daily routines, familial and religious
obligations, and financial dealings. It is comes primarily from the Quran and
the Sunna--the sayings, practices, and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.
Marriage and divorce are the most significant aspects of
sharia, but criminal law is the most controversial, a recent Voice of America
report explained. In sharia, there are categories of offenses: those that are
prescribed a specific punishment in the Quran, known as "hadd"
punishments, those that fall under a judge's discretion, and those resolved
through a tit-for-tat measure (i.e., blood money paid to the family of a murder
victim).
There are five hadd crimes: unlawful sexual intercourse (sex
outside of marriage and adultery), false accusation of unlawful sexual
intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol
drinking), theft, and highway robbery.
Punishments for hadd offenses--flogging, stoning,
amputation, exile, or execution--get a significant amount of media attention
when they occur. These sentences are not often prescribed, however, say Islamic
scholars.
Nevertheless, the U.S. has seen a rise in so-called
"honor killings"--the murder of women by male family members in retaliation
for bringing dishonor on one's family.
The fact is honor killings are a worldwide problem. While
precise statistics are scarce, the UN estimates thousands of women are killed
annually in the name of family honor. In the U.S. these murders have occurred because
of some perceived behavior that is considered blasphemous to the Muslim faith
or an affront to the family's honor. That behavior has included Muslim women dating
and marrying non-Muslim men, dressing in a way considered
"provocative" by a woman's father or brothers, or simply acting
"too American."
Other practices that are woven into the sharia debate, such
as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, and gender-based
inheritance rules, elicit as much controversy.
It is unfortunate that anybody who opposes sharia law in the
U.S. is often labeled a bigot or an "Islam-a-phobe." In fact, the debate as to whether Islam and
democracy can co-exist is a valid one--and that includes sharia law.
In the U.S. it appears that many Muslims who support sharia
law would like to see some kind of dual legal system that would allow Muslims
to adjudicate certain matters outside of state and federal secular law.
According to a recent U.N. report many majority Muslim
countries have such a dual system in which the government is secular but
Muslims can choose to bring familial and financial disputes to sharia courts.
The exact jurisdiction of these courts varies from country to country, but
usually includes marriage, divorce, inheritance, and guardianship. Examples can
be seen in Nigeria and Kenya, which have sharia courts that rule on family law
for Muslims.
The newly-signed Kansas law would appear to stop such duality
in its tracks.
And for good reason. While I don't expect to see sharia law
take hold in the U.S. in my lifetime, in places such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq where it exists life is much different. For
example, in those countries it is forbidden to enact legislation that is
antithetical to Islam.
Saudi Arabia employs one of the strictest
interpretations of sharia. Women are not allowed to drive, are under the
guardianship of male relatives at all times, and must be completely covered in
public.
Traditional Muslims who understand the Quran and the hadith
believe that sharia expresses the highest and best goals for all societies. They
insist it is the will of Allah.
In Kansas, at least,
it is not the will of Allah that rules. It is the law of the state-- Inshallah.
2 comments:
Is this a sarcastic post?
I think in the whole of western Europe it’s still in the early stages to explore social media and once again you Americans, you set the trend. All the U.S. candidates are doing this and I think politicians everywhere, campaigners in the world, they will learn from how the Obama campaign is doing this.
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