What does shariah mean

In the past year, a group of conservative pundits and analysts have identified Sharia, or Islamic religious law, as a growing threat to the United States. A number of state and national politicians have adopted this interpretation and 13 states are now considering the adoption of legislation forbidding Sharia. A bill in the Tennessee State Senate, for example, would make adherence to Sharia punishable by 15 years in jail. The report, and the broader argument, is plagued by a significant contradiction.

It is totalitarian in character, incompatible with our Constitution and a threat to freedom here and around the world. The initial concession that Muslims interpret Sharia in different ways is accurate and of course contradicts the later assertion that Sharia is totalitarian in nature. But by defining Sharia itself as the problem, and then asserting the authenticity of only the most extreme interpretations of Sharia, the authors are effectively arguing that the internecine struggle within Islam should be ceded to extremists.

They also cast suspicion upon all observant Muslims. It would also target and potentially alienate our best allies in the effort against radicalization: our fellow Americans who are Muslim.

Muslim communities continue to internally debate how to practice Islam in the modern world even as they look to its general precepts as a guide to correct living and religious practice. Most academics studying Islam and Muslim societies give a broad definition of Sharia. This reflects Muslim scholars struggling for centuries over how best to understand and practice their faith.

Any observant Muslim would consider him or herself a Sharia adherent. It is impossible to find a Muslim who practices any ritual and does not believe himself or herself to be complying with Sharia. Defining Sharia as a threat, therefore, is the same thing as saying that all observant Muslims are a threat. The CSP report authors—none of whom has any credentials in the study of Islam— concede this point in several places.

The authors, in attempting to show that Sharia is a threat, construct a static, ahistorical, and unscholarly interpretation of Sharia that is divorced from traditional understandings and commentaries of the source texts. But this argument ignores how believers themselves understand and interpret that text over time. The equivalent would be saying that Jews stone disobedient sons to death Deut.

In a more secular context it is similar to arguing that the use of printed money in America is unconstitutional— ignoring the interpretative process of the Supreme Court. In reality, Sharia is personal religious law and moral guidance for the vast majority of Muslims. Muslim scholars historically agree on certain core values of Sharia, which are theological and ethical and not political.

Moreover, these core values are in harmony with the core values at the heart of America. Greene spreads fabricated tales of a shariah invasion of the U. Understanding the basics of shariah, for both non-Muslims and Muslims, is essential to intelligently evaluating political trends, debunking defamatory anti-Muslim rhetoric, and invalidating the positions of Muslim terrorists.

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