Shariah as we know it in the UK : The Suggestion of Archbishop Rowan Williams
-Pakistan: The Lal Masjid Fiasco-Picking the right Smartphone
The idea that Shariat Law be introduced in the UK formally sounds ludacris to many. There have been comments from all kinds of people stating a variety of things, from “British Law should reflect British Culture” to “if you don’t like the law you should leave.” Sadly, there is a certain reaction that most people suffer from when they hear about the implementation of Islam or Shariah, a stigma that has been created, most likely, by the advertising the terrorist crap for Islam generally, and by the Saudi implementation of so-called Shariah for Shariat Law.
Some have talked of letting people choose what law they should be judged by. Yet no one that I know of has ever come out to question Shariat Law. I’m actually a little disappointed in Dr. Williams’ remarks about the introduction of Shariah, and it’s not that he thinks that it should be implemented is the problem. The problem lies in the fact that no one really knows what the hell Shariah is, or how it’s valid, or why we must abide by it. Before tempers start rising and I get threatening emails, let me state that I am a Muslim, and practicing in many ways, and I don’t know what Islam people practice, but the one I do allows me to ask questions, and is open for discussion.
Someone as educated as the Archbishop should question the validity of Shariah as the world knows it, validate what Shariat really is, and then talk about introducing it into a certain country. What I want to get at today is: exactly what value and validity does Shariah hold in Islam. The objective answer is “NONE.” Why? Let’s talk a little about that.
The core sources of Islam for most Muslims are and should be simple and twofold: The Quran and the Hadith/Sunnah. For those of us who are a little more liberal than the advertised Muslim, other sources could include original unedited scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, and the teachings (or sayings and actions) of Moses and Christ. For the liberal or the restrictive Muslim, Shariah fits absolutely nowhere when it comes to the interpretation of Islam.
So what really is Shariah or Shariat Law? Shariah is basically law allegedly derived from the teachings of the Quran, Hadith and Sunnah. What’s important here is who derived the law. Well, it seems like the Muslim Caliphate was responsible for doing this. The caliphate was a political system, so, basically, the derivation of the Quran, Hadith and Sunnah for the political gain shall serve as the law for the Muslim Community, and guess what, today, the King of Saudi Arabia gets to decide it. The Caliphate (a political system), which introduced Shariah, is succeeded by kingdom. Has anyone thought this through? Furthermore, who gave the Caliphate or the king sole discretion to decide exactly what the Quran or Sunnah means? Even if the scholars of Islam decide what it means, how can any Muslim by any sense or drugged state of mind even fathom to think that the decision of a scholar is superior to his/her. Does the Quran instruct that somewhere, or is it that these political leaders have successfully concocted Hadith and Sunnah to support their changes and introduction of the today existent Shariat?
Think about it, folks. If you are a devout Muslim, on the Day of Judgement, God will not ask you if you followed Shariat, or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or listened to the Muslim Umma or widely accepted Scholars. You alone are answerable to God for your actions, not the king, not the caliphate, not the umma, no scholar. If you failed to read and make an effort to understand Islam, if you fail to use the common sense God has given you to decipher invalid from valid, right from wrong, if you failed to think for yourself and subjected yourself to a law that proclaimed itself to be the word of God without their being any reasonable basis for it, than you alone shall be answerable to God for the wrongs you do thereof. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to be anyway.
If you think Shariah is right the way it is. Well, maybe you’re wrong.
That said, Shariat isn’t all bad. But then, political morons aren’t smart enough to make up everything.
Loading ...
February 10th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The media hysteria filled with venom and hatred towards the Islamic Sharia following the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams’ now infamous speech can only leave an impartial observer concluding that Britain is rapidly sliding into a dangerous state of irrational, anti-Islamic fascism or Islamophobia.
Both rightwing broadsheets and tabloids joined forces with politicians, religious leaders and commentators to cast a barrage of criticism towards the Archbishop for his comments stating the advent of some aspects of Sharia was inevitable in the UK legal system.
Even though the Archbishop’s comments were in reference to the growing use of Sharia councils across the UK in Muslim populated areas such as East London that deal with community issues such marital disputes and inheritance, the notion that such councils should hold any level of legal jurisdiction was seized upon by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, among others, to quickly reassert the superiority of secular common law over the Sharia by stating that British law had to reflect British values.
Muslims are well aware that the Archbishop’s comments have been misrepresented and blown out of all proportion as they understand that the Sharia of Allah (swt) goes far beyond the simple settling of marital disputes and family problems. Muslims living in the west and in the Muslim lands understand that as a way of life, Islam’s legal code encompasses every area of personal and societal life including economic, ethical and judicial spheres. Muslims are also aware that the Sharia is a system delivering Divine justice for all people and not simply for Muslims. This is why the vast majority of Muslims in Britain have focussed the call for the return of political Islam and the implementation of the Sharia under the shade of the Khilafah exclusively at the Muslim world and not at the west.
What is also plain for Muslims to see is the blatant and blind hypocrisy of western politicians such as Gordon Brown and David Cameron who talk about British law reflecting British values while they support the imposition of western legal and political systems in Muslims countries by the barrel of a gun! The west invades Muslims countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq for regime change and imposes secular democratic constitutions that have a façade of Sharia. In addition, they also support dictators and despots who imprison and torture those that call peacefully for the comprehensive implementation of the Sharia.
But the hypocrisy doesn’t end there as western politicians have the audacity to state that the west will never allow Muslims to establish Sharia and Khilafah in their own lands. In 2006, the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke stated in a speech he made while visiting the US “…there can be no negotiation about the re-creation of the Caliphate; there can be no negotiation about the imposition of Sharia Law; there can be no negotiation about the suppression of equality of the sexes; there can be no negotiation about the ending of free speech. These values are fundamental to our civilisation and are simply not up for negotiation.” George Bush and Tony Blair have made similar statements. If British laws need to reflect British values, then do not the laws and systems of society in the Muslim world need to reflect the Islamic values held by the vast majority of the people?
It is a hallmark of the fascist mindset that the one holding it does not conceive the supremacist viewpoint. Yet, the secular political elite in the UK is also unable to correlate the declining situation of our society, characterised by spiralling violence, materialism, debt, and alcoholism with the secular values they claim to be so superior to the Sharia. The growing intolerance towards Islam and Sharia in the UK is both dangerous and ugly and is symptomatic of a deep ignorance of Islam and the black propaganda campaign against it that is an integral part of the global war on terror.
Hizb ut Tahrir Britain challenges the advocates of secularism to put an end to divisive politics of Islam-baiting and to engage in a genuine debate about the values and systems of Islam versus those of secularism. Hizb ut Tahrir Britain calls upon the Muslim community to join and support it in working to dispel the myths about Islam, the Sharia and the Khilafah through dialogue and discussion with the wider society.
February 11th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I’m all for dispelling the misconception about Islam. However, I’m not so sure there is much you or I can do to dispel any misconceptions about Sharia or the Khalifa. You see, the primary reason for that is that just like Muslims can simply say that the Old and New Testament is not accurate and has been amended to suit the needs and requirements of western socities, the same can be said of both Shariah and the Khalifah. I think the ultimate argument to dispel any myths or convince anyone lies in, ultimately, a comparison of the values and teachings you can derive out of Islam, and comparing the similarities between the nobility of the Holy Prophet Mohammad and Jesus Christ.
Everything else apparently amounts to argument, war, and unnecessary heartburn for all parties involved.