Re: Nadeem F. Paracha spews more hatred for Islam
Nice discussion...prompted me to join you guys.
The PURPOSE of law is to provide justice.
No code of law can be perfect for all times because justice changes with circumstances and therefore, laws which uphold justice have to keep up with circumstances. I shall provide an example here - Intellectual Propety rights were a very minor issue before printing press; now with laser copiers, digital media and fast telecom, it is a very bug issue and so we need a very detailed advanced set of IP laws to provide justice.
The big difference between sharia and any 'secular' law seems to me is that the latter either has mechanisms built in to make such needed adjustments whereas the former is held set in stone and unable to adjust.
Two other poinst I'd like to make:
when there is no need for two religions to co-exisit, then the dominant one can prevail as law; but we have multiple religions in this global village that have to co-exist; that is why we need a law that is above all religions (eg the Constitution) to uphold justice
the muslim community should also learn to understand that there are differences betweem values, principles, religion and law. Your values can remain stable for much longer durations than principle. In turn religion that upholds certain principles will remain stable for a bit less than the principles themselves but longer than laws to implement.
This has been the law of nature and humanity. Evolution, Creation, Big Bang all follow this system of scaled magnitude. Entities that do not adopt perish - whether law, religion, principle or value.