Shariah is Neither Islamic nor British
Taj Hashmi
Honolulu, Hawaii
It is indeed lamentable that some people in Britain are considering the introduction of the regressive and misogynous Shariah law. What on the surface appears to be non-discriminatory and "pro-Muslim" , for the promotion of multiculturalism, is actually a big step in the opposite direction.
Shockingly enough, while advocating the introduction of the Shariah for British Muslims over the BBC Radio 4's "World at One" on February 7, 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said: "It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law, so it is not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system". Dr Williams believes the introduction of Shariah law to Britain will help maintain "cohesion because some Muslims do not relate to the British legal system"; and that "its introduction would mean Muslims would no longer have to choose between the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty". He further stipulated that his proposal would only work if Shariah law was "properly understood, rather than seen through the eyes of biased media reports" [Guardian, February 7, 2008].
What is even more distressing is the ambivalence in the Prime Minister's official stand on the issue. Gordon Brown's spokesman insisted that while British law would remain pre-eminent, concessions to Shariah could be made on a "case-by-case basis". One wonders if Shariah and British Common Law are compatible, especially with regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance rights for women.
We do not find the Archbishop's following assertion comforting either: "It would be quite wrong to say that we could ever license a system of law for some community which gave people no right of appeal, no way of exercising the rights that are guaranteed to them as citizens in general. But there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we understand them. In some cultural and religious settings they would seem more appropriate. "
One is not sure if once accepted on par with British law, it would be ever possible to modify the Shariah to make it look more civil, modern and humane. There is more evil in the Shariah code than, to paraphrase the Archbishop, "seen through the eyes of biased media reports".
While liberal Muslims (including this writer) have been striving hard for quite sometime to modify the Shariah, by scrapping many draconian codes sold as divine commandments, this silly concession to the obscurantist mullahs (and their non-mullah adherents in Britain) is going to be more divisive, counter-productive and most importantly, discriminatory against Muslim women.
This "concession" would eventually embolden the proponents of Shariah in Muslim majority countries and in countries with substantial Muslim populations, such as France , Germany and Spain , Canada and the US to demand this draconian code to regulate Muslim personal law in the name of Islam. On the one hand, it would further segregate and marginalize Muslims and on the other, by sharply polarizing the adherents and opponents of Shariah it would incite intra- and inter-racial conflicts and terrorism within and outside Britain . In sum, Britain 's adopting the Shariah may legitimize the excesses of the code committed elsewhere in the Muslim World.
Problematically, both the adherents and opponents of Shariah believe that the code was derived from the Quran and is as old as Islam itself. Ordinary Muslims also consider it as divine law. Contrary to these assumptions, Shariah is hardly Quranic in origin as the Quran contains 80-odd verses, which are prescriptive or regulative. The main sources of Shariah are thousands of spurious hadises or "sayings" of Prophet Muhammad, collected haphazardly more than 200 years after his death. Muslim jurists' legal opinions collected during the 8th and 12th centuries based on their understanding of the Quran, traditions of the Prophet, local customs and above all, common sense, are collectively known as the Shariah.
Once we consider the following facts, we come closer to resolving the Shariah debate:
1) Shariah is authoritative, not infallible;
2) The Sunni Shariah code went through major transformation and changes, but only up to the 16th century;
3) Shiite Shariah is still subject to changes and modifications; and,
4) The moral principles of the Quran outweigh its legal principles (for example, while slavery, concubinage and polygamy are tolerated in Islam for a specific historical era, the Quran does not promote or encourage these practices).
It is quite puzzling that secular Britain should toy with the idea of incorporating Shariah into its legal system while several Muslim countries are gradually replacing it with secular codes and some have already done away with it. Britain should be even more cautious about implementing Shariah, as there are very few Islamic scholars in the country, qualified enough to interpret the Quran and the teachings of Islam. And again, whose Shariah are we talking about? There are at least four Sunni and scores of Shiite sects, each with its own Shariah. While the Wahhabi and other Muslim sects sanction female genital mutilation in the name of Islam and Shariah, the official Iranian Shiism endorses temporary marriage (mutah or segha) between a man and a woman for a day, week, month or year.
Some Muslims, on the basis of wrong interpretations of the Quran, justify polygamy and even consider wife beating permissible in Islam. Are the British willing to allow the implementation of these varying versions of Shariah in their country? Once they allow it to meddle with the conjugal problems of Muslim couples, the government would simply fail to protect half-educated, uninformed and dependent Muslim women from being abused in the name of Islam.
All concerned should learn that what the Quran has given to women, Shariah has taken away from them. Examples abound. While men and women are equally held responsible for adultery in the Quran, which prescribes 100 lashes for the offenders each, the Shariah is particularly harsh on the sinners, prescribing the death penalty for both the offenders. Again, as it appears in the Quran (Chapter 4), only immediate family members of Muslim couples may arbitrate in matters relating to divorce and custody, there is no room for outsiders to arbitrate.
Since Shariah is not infallible and is subject to change and modifications, there is no need to rush for its implementation anywhere, let alone Britain , until the emergence of a Muslim Martin Luther. Unless Islam goes through its Reformation and the Muslim World undergoes a total transformation to adapt to modern, liberal democratic, secular and urban cultures of enlightenment and tolerance, no one should advocate the cause of Shariah anywhere in the world.
However, the Government alone cannot stop the introduction of Shariah in Britain ; civil society in general and liberal Muslims in particular should come forward to stop this vice, which is neither Islamic nor British in character and spirit.
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Taj Hashmi writes from Canada
taj_hashmi@hotmail.com
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