The British government has announced an investigation into Islamic law, or Shariah, to examine its compatibility with the nation’s laws.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the review will be conducted by a panel that includes several Islamic scholars and comes as part of the government’s counter-extremism strategy.
“The terms of reference set out the reviews’ intention to explore whether, and to what extent, the application of Shariah law may be incompatible with the law in England and Wales. It will examine the ways in which Shariah may be being misused, or exploited, in a way that may discriminate against certain groups, undermine shared values and cause social harms,” her announcement said.
May noted a number of women “have reportedly been victims of what appear to be discriminatory decisions taken by Shariah councils, and that is a significant concern.”
“There is only one rule of law in our country, which provides rights and security for every citizen,” she said.
Mona Siddiqui, described as an expert in Islamic and inter-religious studies, was appointed to lead the investigation. She said the review will look at “what actually happens in Shariah councils.”
She teaches at the University of Edinburgh.
Others on the panel include family law experts Sam Momtaz and Anne Marie Hutchinson, and retired judge Mark Hedley.
May’s announcement said many people benefit from the religious codes they follow.
“However, there is evidence some Shariah councils may be working in a discriminatory and unacceptable way, seeking to legitimize forced marriage and issue divorces that are unfair to women, contrary to the teachings of Islam.”
The Christian Institute, which frequently has highlighted problems with Shariah councils, said the review is expected to conclude in 2017.
“Persistent concerns have been raised that women are suffering because of Shariah law in this country, and Baroness Caroline Cox speaking out repeatedly about the issue,” the institute said.
Cox, a patron of the institute, sparked a debate in the House of Lords last year about Shariah, proposing an Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill that addressed the oppression of Muslim women in Shariah councils.
WND has reported that the application of Islamic religious law in free societies has created problems.
For example, the London Sunday Times said Shariah courts “ignore marital rape.”
Cox appeared in a video charging Shariah is undermining the 800 years of freedom that have existed since the signing of the Magna Carta.
See her comments:
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“I believe passionately in the freedom of religion and belief. But in Britain there is now a system of Shariah councils or courts, which inherently discriminate against women and girls, and causing a great deal of suffering,” she explains.
She cites the Islamic provision for men to divorce their wives by saying “I divorce you” three times.
And women often have to “pay or fulfill other conditions that may be very difficult,” she says.
Women also are subjected to polygamy, Cox notes.
“Shariah law allows polygamy. A man can have up to four wives. And one of my Muslim friends who’s doing research into the plight of Muslim women in West Midlands told me how women sometimes marry into polygamous marriages without even realizing there already was another wife.”
Cox says returning to the concept of “one law for all” is needed now more than ever.
“We must not get caught in a labyrinth of inaction because we’re afraid of upsetting cultural sensitivities or political correctness,” she says.
The institute noted that the Equal and Free website had been set up to collect stories of inequitable treatment under Shariah.
The British government previously discussed its problem with “no-go” zones that effectively are off-limits to non-Muslims.
WND reported the U.K. has more than 100 “Muslim enclaves” that are “de facto off limits to non-Muslims due to a number of factors, including the lawlessness, insecurity or religious intimidation that often pervades these areas.”
Under Shariah practices in the U.K., two male judges can interrogate a woman alone in a room about her “sexual activities.” And another judge can “laugh” at a woman who complained her husband was physically abusing her.
Matchteld Zee of Leiden University in the Netherlands issued the report after obtaining access to the secretive religious courts and listening to two days of hearings at the Islamic Shariah Council in east London and at Birmingham Central Mosque Shariah.
The issue also got attention during this year’s presidential election campaign in the United States, when then-GOP candidate Ben Carson warned that Muslims who claim to be faithful to the U.S. Constitution and Shariah law are “schizophrenic.”
A guest on the “Breitbart News Daily” radio program on SiriusXM, he was asked whether devout Muslims can credibly claim they are loyal to America’s founding principles.
“Only if they’re schizophrenic,” the retired neurosurgeon replied. “I don’t see how they could do it otherwise, because you have two different philosophies warring at you. … So, no. That would be very difficult. That’s why Teddy Roosevelt said what he said. He said you’re welcome to come here from any place and [practice] any religion as long as you accept our ways and want to be an American. If you don’t, then stay where you are.”
Carson was then asked to comment on former President George W. Bush’s claim after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that “Islam a religion of peace.”
“If you accept all the components of Islam, including Shariah, it is not a religion of peace. It is a religion of domination,” said Carson.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, Muslim political organizer Ibrahim Algahim was caught on video giving a chilling warning: “Now we show the Polish and everybody else, that,” he said, as cheers drowned out the rest of his words. (See video below.)
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from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/britain-announces-investigation-of-islamic-law/
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