Sharia Law

The following is a chapter of Islam 101:

Unlike many religions, Islam includes a mandatory and highly specific legal and political plan for society called Sharia, which translates approximately as "way" or "path."

The precepts of Sharia are derived from the commandments of the Quran and the Sunnah (the teachings and precedents of Muhammad as found in the reliable hadiths and the Sira). Together, the Quran and the Sunnah establish the dictates of Sharia, which is the blueprint for the good Islamic society.

Because Sharia originates with the Quran and the Sunnah, it is not optional. Sharia is the legal code ordained by Allah for all mankind. To violate Sharia or not to accept its authority is to commit rebellion against Allah, which Allah's faithful are required to combat.

There is no separation between the religious and the political in Islam; rather Islam and Sharia constitute a comprehensive means of ordering society at every level. While it is in theory possible for an Islamic society to have different outward forms — an elective system of government, a hereditary monarchy, etc. — whatever the outward structure of the government, Sharia is the prescribed content. It is this fact that puts Sharia into conflict with forms of government based on anything other than the Quran and the Sunnah.

The precepts of Sharia may be divided into two parts:

1. Acts of worship (al-ibadat), which include:

Ritual Purification (Wudu)
Prayers (Salah)
Fasts (Sawm and Ramadan)
Charity (Zakat)
Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

2. Human interaction (al-muamalat), which include:

Financial transactions
Endowments
Laws of inheritance
Marriage, divorce, and child care
Food and drink (including ritual slaughtering and hunting)
Penal punishments
War and peace
Judicial matters (including witnesses and forms of evidence)

As one may see, there are few aspects of life that Sharia does not specifically govern. Everything from washing one's hands to child-rearing to taxation to military policy fall under its dictates.

Because Sharia is derivate of the Quran and the Sunnah, it affords some room for interpretation.

But upon examination of the Islamic sources, it is apparent that any meaningful application of Sharia is going to look very different from anything resembling a free or open society in the Western sense. The stoning of adulterers, execution of apostates and blasphemers, repression of other religions, and a mandatory hostility toward non-Islamic nations punctuated by regular warfare will be the norm.

It seems fair then to classify Islam and its Sharia code as a form of totalitarianism.

[ return to the Table of Contents of Islam 101 ]

See a Glossary Of Islamic Terms for definitions.

Islam 101 was written by Gregory M. Davis, author of Religion of Peace?: Islam's War Against the World, and the producer/director of Islam: What the West Needs to Know.

Read more about Sharia Law here:
Islamic Sharia Law in Brief
A Short Overview of Sharia

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Confronting the Islamic State

Ramachandra B. Abhyankar makes an excellent point in a recently published letter in the Tribune Star:

The Islamic State has become the number one enemy of the United States. Sun Tzu, the military general, strategist and philosopher of ancient China said: “Know thy enemy.”

Caliph Ibrahim of the Islamic State has a doctorate in Islam. To understand the leadership of the Islamic Caliphate, future military and political leaders of the United States ought to be trained in the Jihad and Sharia doctrines of Islam. These political doctrines should be taught in political science departments in universities across the United States. Currently Islam is taught in only the religious studies departments of universities; this must change.

The Center for the Study of Political Islam in Nashville, Tenn., has published several books that can support courses in Jihad and Sharia in university political science departments.

— Ramachandra B. Abhyankar, Terre Haute

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Bill Maher Talks With Charlie Rose About Islam

In a six-minute excerpt of Maher's interview, Rose says things that will sound very familiar to you (if you've been talking to your friends and family about Islam). Follow the link below and watch the video. Watch it many times, and notice how Maher answers Rose. He does a good job stating the facts about Islam. He has obviously learned his subject well.

I also appreciated Maher's criticism of most peoples' willingness to give Islam a pass. He makes some very good points and makes them well. For example, Saudi Arabia beheads people and you hear hardly a peep about it, but if they were beheading people in Vatican City — which could be seen as the equivalent to Mecca as the primary center of a religion — don't you think there would be a bigger outcry about it?

I suggest we all watch the video several times and absorb Maher's practiced competence at responding to typical objections. We need more people to understand the disturbing nature of Islam, which means we need to keep improving our ability to get through to people. We can learn from Maher. Thank you to Andy Miller for alerting us to this interview excerpt.

Watch the video here: Maher: ‘Naive’ and Wrong to Say Islam Isn’t More Violent Than Other Religions.

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Talk To Your Friends About Mohammad

When you're talking to your friends about orthodox Islam, for the most part, they probably won't want to hear it. The topic is scary, political, and they'll think you're bashing an "ethnic group." But if you can make your conversation interesting and surprising, that can often help them overcome their reluctance to listen. (If you're not talking to your friends about it, please read this: What Possible Good Does It Do?) 

The best way I've found to make introductory information interesting and surprising is to talk about Mohammad.

Most people think the founder of any religion must necessarily have been a peaceful, spiritual, loving person who tried to do good in the world, healed the sick, taught peace, etc. Since Mohammad was the founder of Islam, they assume he must be like that too.

Most people may understand that religious organizations can go bad, or individual believers can go rogue, but only by twisting and distorting the original teachings of the founder.

But as you probably know, Islam is different. And Islam's founder is so different from expectations, talking about him makes an introduction to Islam captivating.

Here's the kind of thing I say to people when I'm talking one-on-one:

I have found out some amazing things about Islam — things I would never have thought possible. It's not like other religions. First of all, the founder of Islam, the Prophet Mohammad, led raids on caravans, stealing their goods and often killing or enslaving the people captured in the raid.

He was a political leader and the head of an army, and he ordered assassinations of his political opponents.

He personally ordered and supervised the beheading of over 600 people at one time. That may be the most amazing fact of all. I mean, nobody can imagine Buddha or Jesus doing anything like that!

Mohammad also ordered a rabbi to be tortured to find out where a Jewish tribe had hidden their valuable objects (Mohammad wanted those goods). On Mohammad's order, his men built a fire on the rabbi's chest, burning him badly, and then the rabbi's eyes were put out.

It's amazing and surprising. At first I couldn't believe it.

And I haven't even told you the worst thing. It says 91 times in the Qur'an, in their most holy of books — the book they believe is the direct word of Allah — it says Muslims should follow Mohammad's example. In the Islamic religion, Mohammad is held as the ideal man; the one they should emulate.

Most people find all this very surprising. They find it so surprising, I usually follow it up by saying these historical facts are not slanderous libel by Muslim-haters, but historical facts from the books of Muslim believers. Mohammad was born in 570 and died in 632. He was a famous figure in his own day, and it wasn't that long ago, so historical facts about him are well-known, well-preserved, and not at all shrouded in mystery.

In other words, these are facts about Mohammad that most Muslims know (and accept as true).

After saying all this, you may have frightened your listeners. But you've also opened their minds to something they may not have wanted to hear: Islam is not like other religions in important ways. Your listeners might not be so quick to silence someone speaking ill of Islam in the future.

And then what might happen? What good does it do to speak ill of Islam? That's a great question, and the topic of another article: What Possible Good Does It Do To Say Anything Negative About Islam, Even If It's True?

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