United Kingdom--After being beaten repeatedly by her husband – who had also threatened to kill her – Jameela turned to her local Sharia council in a desperate bid for a way out of her marriage. Today she discovers the verdict. Playing nervously with her hands, the young mother-of-three listens as the panel of judges discuss whether they should grant her a divorce.
The council meets once a month at the Birmingham Central Mosque. Many of the cases relate to divorce and involve the husbands and wives entering the room separately to make their appeals.
In an airless room in the bowels of the mosque, Jameela is asked to explain why she wants a divorce. She replies that her husband spends most of his time with his second wife – Islamic law allows men to have up to four wives – but complains he is abusive whenever he returns to her home.
Across the desk, Dr Mohammed Naseem, chair of the mosque’s Sharia council, sits alongside Talha Bokhari, a white-robed imam, and Amra Bone, the only woman sitting on an Islamic court in this country.
While a husband is not required to go through official channels to gain a divorce – being able to achieve this merely by uttering the word “talaq” – Islamic law requires that the wife must persuade the judges to grant her a dissolution.
Although the judges appear sympathetic, they are concerned about the rights of the father, as Islamic law says he is still responsible for his children’s education. “For the sake of the children, you must keep up the façade of cordial relations,” says Dr Naseem. “The worst thing that can happen to a child is to see the father and mother quarrelling.”
Jameela is one of hundreds of Muslims applying to Islamic courts every week for a ruling on family and financial issues. While these courts may be the cornerstone of many of Britain’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, there are growing concerns that they are creating a parallel legal system – and one that is developing completely unchecked.
Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester who was born in Pakistan, was accused of scaremongering after he said, in this newspaper three years ago, that parts of the country were being turned into “no-go” areas for non-Muslims. “To understand the impact of Sharia law you have to look at other countries,” he says. “At its heart it has basic inequalities between Muslims and non-Muslims, and between men and women.”
Last month, Islamic extremists put up posters in the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Newham, warning residents that they were entering a “Sharia-controlled zone” where Islamic rules were enforced and gambling, alcohol and music was banned. The posters were later removed by police.
Alan Craig, a former Newham councillor who has lived in the area for 30 years, says: “I can no longer walk to my local shops and find anywhere to buy conventional, non-halal meat. Posters at bus stops of swimwear models are spray-painted over with a burka. The pavements are crowded with women wearing not just the face-veil, but black gloves to hide their hands.”
He recalls that last September, staff at a local primary school assured Muslim parents that they would ensure their children observed Ramadan by refusing them food and drink, even though Britain was in the middle of a heatwave. “I was stunned. This is where we’ve got ourselves to. Secular authorities policing Ramadan for Muslim parents.” (Read more.)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sharia Gaining Ground . . . in Great Britain
It seems that Muslims in the U.K. have been setting up a parallel legal system, governed by Sharia. Of course, only a racist bigot would think that Muslims are attempting to establish Sharia in the U.K. After all, Anders Behring Breivik wasn't a Muslim.
13 comments:
I tried to send something like this earlier and blogger logged me out and I lost my comment… so sorry David if you’re getting something like this twice.
OK I get that this is an example that David is using to show us more evidence of "creeping Sharia". I am not in any way disputing that, nor am I in any way endorsing Sharia courts.
So after reading this article, it seems to me though like this “liberal” Sharia Court in Birmingham is merely Sharia In Name Only (or SINO... geddit?) And I’ll prove it.
1.) They have a woman serving on their Sharia Court in Birmingham. How dare they?
"Amra Bone, the first woman in Britain to serve at a Sharia court, is playing a small role in attempting to counteract (that) image." ‘That Image' being: “Sharia courts are utterly opposed to equal rights and they discriminate against women,”
The article goes on to say, "Yet many Muslims would find her presence on the council of Birmingham’s central mosque unacceptable. In the vast majority of mosques in Britain, women are not allowed to step foot within their walls, let alone make rulings based on Islamic law."
So is this example in fact a Sharia court or is it merely a SINO court? Could it be speculated that this mosque has a more "liberal interpretation" of Sharia Law and wants to promote the equality of women? Could it be speculated that Amra’s presence on the council is merely a way to give women a false sense of being equally represented and by extension, giving the “liberal progressive multiculturalists (blah bibbeldy blah)” a way to point a shaky finger at David and say, “see you racist/Nazi/bigot? There is no relationship between Sharia Courts in the UK and Islam!” I’ll bet it’s the latter!
2.) "They (Sharia Courts) are becoming popular with non-Muslims, too." What? Someone please explain this to me? It was my understanding that:
a.) A non-Muslim could never be a witness against a Muslim in a Sharia court.
b.) I have no idea whether or not a non-Muslim can even file a civil or criminal complaint against a Muslim in a Sharia court, but if they could, would they then have to find strictly Muslim witnesses to plea on their behalf? According to Sharia law as I understand it they do since non-Muslims can’t bear witness against Muslims.
c.) Would any Muslims bear witness against another Muslim on the behalf of a non-Muslim? I’m sure there are many suras that could be pointed to that would say they shouldn’t.
This article points out that non-Muslim cases in Sharia courts, "...have made up around 15 per cent of their cases so far this year... People see that they’re efficient, cheap and informal and we get to a decision in a much more stress-free manner.”
And then they point out that the Sharia court found in favor of the non-Muslim(s) in some of these cases?? Well… at least 2 anyway. We’re not clued in to exactly how many cases involving non-Muslims went in favor of the non-Muslims. Again I say SINO. There’s no way this can be a true Sharia court. See David??? (Pointing finger at you) It’s all YOUR FAULT for spreading such a negative message about Islam!
OK all kidding aside I understand the adage of “give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile.” That if you give into a little Sharia now it will lead to a lot of Sharia later. And I really seriously do find it curious that there is a woman on the Sharia panel, and the non-Muslims are taking their grievances there.
i'll become Christian if you can prove Islam is false.
Kim said: "i'll become Christian if you can prove Islam is false."
Deal. But first, please give us some idea of what you would consider proof against Islam. I find that, for many Muslims, no amount of evidence would ever convince them that Islam is false.
Are you looking for scientific errors in the Qur'an? Moral failures from Muhammad? Corruption of the Muslim text? Irresolvable inconsistencies and contradictions? Blasphemies against God?
Let us know, and I'll see what I can come up with.
I see science as something insignificant at the moment because from what I've seen so far it all depends on interpretation, and I'm not going to trust that.
I'm looking for things like false prophecies, or anything you can come up with that is reasonable, that hasn't been refuted already, and can actually convince me. The Prophet Muhammad's character and prophecies are a big thing for me. Science not so important. But I would like to know the best argument AGAinst Islam. Sometimes I see what you guys claim but then late refuted by other Muslim websites. Is there really any good argument against Islam?
I'd appreciate it, thank you.
David, watch this video on the subject (by Russia Today):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN6CHtGGo4g
Thanks Kim. I have one more quick question before getting started. You refer to arguments which haven't been refuted. What do you consider to be a "refutation"? I notice that some Muslims regard any response, no matter how weak, as a full refutation of any argument against Islam.
I assume you're asking for arguments to which no good and well-evidenced response has been given?
Kim said...
" i'll become Christian if you can prove Islam is false "
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SWEET AND EASY CHALLENGE
Quote:
i'll become Christian if you can prove Islam is false.
end
Kim,
Whatever you do, make up your own mind. That will require you to do something peculiarly un-Islamic-- you will have to think for yourself, consult your own counsel.
But if you do it, even once, you'll find that you'll want to keep doing so.
In our eyes, the individual determines for himself or herself---- absolutely alone.
The British concern about a "parallel legal system" comes 20 years too late!
To dislodge Sharia, the courts, staff and Muslim "jurists" will all have to be shut down and the proceedings criminalized as treason-- a direct threat to the integrity of the British state.
This should have started in the 1960s.
Because of the British secular hesitancy, more drastic measures will be necessary, if Sharia is to be something other than a MEANS OF CONQUEST!
"I assume you're asking for arguments to which no good and well-evidenced response has been given?"
Yes precisely =).
Kim says "i'll become Christian if you can prove Islam is false."
Kim, I admire your integrity, however you should only leave Islam, if to you it is proven wrong.
Please decide to become a Christian if and when you learn and accept the love that God our father has shown us through the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord.
For even in his great commission Jesus asked his apostles to make diciples, not converts of all people.
I know Dr. Wood will help you through this transition.
Congratulations in advance.
Is there really any good argument against Islam?
"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, `Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27 And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 But he said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
Luke 16:19-31
Otto,
Exactly.
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