SHARIA IN THE UK
BY Sadaf Meehan
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=8757
Do British Muslims really want to see Islamic law?
With a recent survey suggesting that 40 per cent of British Muslims would like Sharia Law introduced into their communities, The Voice asks: Is this what British Muslims really want? Is the poll a reflection of the actual desires of Muslims?
Sir Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality generated controversy last month when he said that British Muslims who wanted to see Sharia Law in the UK should: “accept the way we do it… or live somewhere else".
ELSEWHERE
He was speaking on the Jonathan Dimbleby TV programme in response to the international Danish cartoon protests and the findings of a Sunday Telegraph poll which found that 40 per cent of Muslims would like Sharia Law imposed in parts of the UK.
Phillips said: “We have one set of laws. They are decided on by one group of people, members of Parliament, and that’s the end of the story. Anybody who lives here has to accept that’s the way we do it. If you want to have laws decided in another way, you have to live somewhere else."
The poll has created controversy within both the British Muslim community and society at large and has provided fuel for both Muslim extremists and Islamophobes.
Racists have jumped on the poll as proof that UK?Muslims want to ‘take over’ Britain and force society to run along their lines.
The poll results have also given encouragement to right-wing elements of the Muslim community who want to spread the perception that there is strong support within the Muslim community for their views.
But what both sides miss is something far more important that the poll reveals – that the British Muslim community is hugely divided.
In reality, the poll, which had a sample size of 500, found that 41 per cent of Muslims questioned were also against the introduction of Sharia law.
The almost 50:50 split in the response to the poll shows that Muslim communities are far from united on this issue.
Rather, the findings show a split between those who see religion as something that should be practiced in the privacy of the home, and those who see it as a socio-political force that should be used to shape public life.
SPLIT
Sharia, meaning simply ‘Law of Allah’ stirs up medieval images of beheadings, stonings and amputations, for ‘crimes’ such as adultery and homosexuality.
And there are many horror stories of harsh sentences in Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
In one recent case, six young Nigerian girls, one as young as 12, were sentenced to 90 strokes of the cane following accusations of lesbianism. The girls were found guilty by a local vigilance group in Nigeria’s Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta.
Defenders argue that Sharia Law is a wide body of behaviour covering banking, business or contract law, and other social issues. They say that there are moderate interpretations of the law which would not allow for the harsher Sharia penalties to be imposed.
CONTEXT
One supporter of the fundamental principles of Sharia Law is Taji Mustafa, of controversial Muslim group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. He said: “I make no apology for standing by Sharia Law. It is not the Sharia which is at fault, it is the way it is taken out of context and practiced by some countries."
He said that “corrupt” rulers have misinterpreted the laws and used them in the wrong ways, which has led to the impression of Sharia as draconian.
Despite his faith in Sharia, Mustafa adds that it can only work in a “truly Islamic state” and therefore cannot be practiced in a country like the UK where Muslims co-exist with other groups.
He said: “My challenge to The Telegraph is that they bring forward any groups or any examples of specific marches demanding Sharia Law.
“Of course lots of Muslims would like to live their lives by the Sharia, meaning in a more Islamic way, and to have access to things like Islamic bank accounts or halal meat while they’re in hospital. But this in no way means that they want Sharia Law as a legal system to be introduced in the UK."
Inayat Banglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) agrees. He said: “We believe the 40 per cent figure reflects the fact that a large body of Muslim opinion believes that they want to live their lives according to an Islamic code of ethics.
“We do not however accept the conclusion that The Telegraph drew from it that somehow Muslims are campaigning for a parallel legal system to be brought into the UK. There’s no evidence of that."
But other Muslims warn that the findings of the poll need to be taken seriously. Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting, said that the findings were “alarming”. Speaking to The Telegraph last week, Khan, a member of the government taskforce set up following the 7/7 attacks, warned that: “Vast numbers of Muslims feel disengaged and alienated from mainstream British society. For all our efforts made since last July, things do not appear to have got better.”
LIBERALS
Khawar Mann, of Progressive British Muslims, a Muslim group representing liberal Muslims, was also alarmed by the findings. He said: “Frankly I’m staggered by this poll. Most of the Muslims I know do not at all want this kind of Sharia Law in this country and I wonder if they spoke to a very small cross section of the Muslim population.”
Comment:
All praise is to Allah, even Muslims living in the west want to see Allahs law as opposed to the law of man ( Democracy ).I wonder what the figures will be for the Islamic lands maybe 85% or even higher?