[Vision2020] The big scare about Shariah law

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (April 30, 2015) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks to Nick Gier.

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His View: The big scare about Shariah law
Nick Gier
Idaho state Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll joined eight other legislators in rejecting a bill that would bring Idaho into compliance with the Hague Convention on Child Support. At risk is $16 million in federal funding for Idaho's child welfare system and millions of dollars in child support for Idaho's single mothers.
Nuxoll claimed that Idaho would have to abide by decisions made by Shariah (also spelled Shari'ah or Sharia or Shari'a) law courts in the Muslim countries who signed this international agreement. Her informants neglected to tell her that Albania and Bosnia - two Muslim nations who signed the Hague Convention - follow secular, not religious law.
Shahram Hadian, a Christian convert from Islam, is one of those advising Idaho Republicans. At a Bonner County GOP meeting in Sandpoint on April 21, Hadian warned that the Obama administration was planning on settling 2,000 Muslim refugees in Southern Idaho and that the enforcement of Shariah law would soon follow.
One person who attended the meeting said that she learned that Shariah law was "part of the Constitution of Islam, and that is why it can't be separated out." The only document that can be called an Islamic Constitution is the Charter of Medina, which was promulgated in A.D. 626 to settle differences among Jews, pagans, and Muslims in Saudi Arabia.
The Charter of Medina guaranteed freedom of religion and political and cultural autonomy for all parties to the agreement. It also contained the "right not to be found guilty because of the deeds of an ally," a decisive break from ancient laws, such as those in the Bible (Deuteronomy 5:9), that made the sins of others your own.
Many of those who suffer from Islamophobia assume that Shariah law is all about the amputation of thieves' limbs and the stoning of adulteresses, but these "hudud" offenses apply in only nine Muslim countries and are rarely enforced.
Stoning as a form of execution is not found in the Quran but is sanctioned by the Bible. Stoning in Muslim countries was not introduced until the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the 20th century. Only the Taliban and other tribal authorities continue to carry out this gruesome punishment.
In 26 Muslim countries secular law, not religious law, is enforced. In 20 other countries, only civic matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody follow Islamic customs.
The U.S. government allows Jews to administer their own family law. Orthodox Jews have very negative views about women's rights, just as bad as some Muslim views, so this cannot be used, without showing bias, as a reason for denying the use of Muslim family law.
Some years ago Newt Gingrich cited the case of a New Jersey judge who ruled in favor of a Muslim husband who claimed that his wife's consent was not necessary for sexual relations with her. Gingrich neglected to mention that the decision was overturned "as seriously flawed" by a state appeals court, where the judges ruled the state's rape laws trump religious laws and practices.
In a blog article titled "Who's Afraid of Shariah?" Sumbul Ali-Karamali lays out the six principles of Islamic law: (1) the right to life; (2) the right to the protection of family; (3) the right to education; (4) the right of religious freedom; (5) the right to the protection of property and access to resources; and (6) the right to the protection of human dignity.
As Ali-Karamali declares: "Well, bless me, as a pledge-of-allegiance-reciting, California-raised Muslim girl, these six principles sound a lot like those espoused in my very own Constitution of the United States."
Ali-Karamali gets the last word: "Focusing only on the nutcases who advocate a return to medieval times is ignoring the vast majority of modern Muslims."
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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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