A Room for Sharia in European Constitutions (original) (raw)
Related papers
European Law Journal, 2006
Abstract: The demand by certain Muslims living in Europe to wear the Islamic headscarf has led to important cases, before the courts of the Member States of the Union as much as before the European Court of Human Rights, above all with regard to public education. The Court of Human Rights and the Member States have taken different positions concerning the licitness of wearing the headscarf. The solutions adopted are, in fact, strongly influenced by the classical concept of relations between Church and State. In schools in Germany, where a relationship of cooperation exists between Church and State, the wearing of the veil is allowed, but only for the pupils, not for their teachers. In France, which has a model of strict separation between Church and State, neither teachers nor pupils are allowed to wear the veil. The tensions linked to wearing of the headscarf are but one example of conflict between sharî'a and the fundamental principles of Europe. These conflicts are not insurmountable. However, they do require efforts from both sides. The EU and the Member States must break with discriminatory practices against Muslims. The Muslims of Europe must construct a ‘European Islam’, re-reading sacred texts in light of the characteristics and the values of the European societies in which they live.
2. Rethinking Islamic law for Europe
Imams in Western Europe, 2018
The fiqh al-aqalliyāt ('Islamic law for Muslim minorities') is based on the problematic concept of living outside the 'Land of Islam'. This chapter offers a brief survey of the criteria for a land to be judged a 'Land of Islam'. It is shown that the basic criteria are the freedom and security for Muslims to practice the basic sha c ā'ir al-islām ('Islamic rules') and to serve al-c adl ('the cause of justice'). Ironically, a general assessment of many Western and Eastern Muslim-minority countries according to these criteria gives them a relatively high score on the 'Land of Islam' scale.
Islam, Muslims and Human Rights in Denmark
Islam and Human Rights in the European Union: Proceedings from European Consortium for Church and State Research, 2022
This topical edited volume contains the national reports of the EU Member States and the Union itself on Islam and Human Rights, written by Members or collaborators of the 'European Consortium for Church and State Research', as well as papers presented in the latter's Annual Meeting, which took place in Thessaloniki, in September 2021. The reports raise questions regarding the social framework and the institutional recognition of the Muslim communities by the state, the application of Sharia (both as state law and / or private international law) and its relationship to fundamental rights and human dignity, and the discrimination of Muslims and by Muslims. Moreover, the reports focus on the exercise of religious freedom by Muslim and the challenges posed by Islam in the traditional understanding and application of democracy and rights in Europe.
Promoting Peace, En‘forcing’ Democracy? The European Court of Human Rights’ Treatment of Islam
Center for Human Rights Studies, 2016
Contemporary Europe is undoubtedly a largely secular region where the notion that secularism and ‘progress’ are intertwined has long held sway. Religion in the public sphere is, for many Europeans, associated with emergent or conservative societies, whereas secularism is equated with modernism and seen as an indispensable component of modern governance. Recently, both domestic and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case-law has highlighted the obvious tensions that arise in the manifestation of religion in the European public sphere. While Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights affords everyone the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (while allowing for certain limitations as imposed by domestic authorities), in matters related to religion, ECtHR has adopted a deferential attitude towards domestic authorities in the determination of the parameters of this right. This is reflected in the fact that it was not until 1993, some thirty-five years after the Court commenced operating, that a violation of Article 9 of the Convention was found. The Court’s jurisprudence on the Article is therefore somewhat troubling and nowhere is this more aptly illustrated than in the jurisprudence relating to the wearing of the Islamic headscarf. Recent case-law in fact suggests that in that the wearing of the headscarf is viewed both as being incompatible with the principle of gender equality and in direct opposition to the principle of secularism. Through the lens of recent Article 9 jurisprudence, this paper will assess the trends emerging in the European Court’s consideration of Islam. Discussion of relevant cases will include Dahlab v. Switzerland, Karaduman v. Turkey, Leyla Şahin v. Turkey, Refah Partisi (The Welfare Party) and Others v. Turkey as well as analysis of cases occurring at the domestic level, most notably the Teacher Headscarf Case of the German Constitutional Court and the English decision of R (on the application of Begum (by her litigation friend, Rahman)) v. Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School. This paper also seeks to challenge the ECtHR reasoning in the area of expression of religion (and particularly where that religion is Islam) by analysing the question of religion in the public sphere in the broader European context. There is in fact increasing evidence to suggest that Europe is undergoing a period of de-secularisation, a reality routinely ignored by the European Court of Human Rights.
Muslim Minorities and Application of Islamic Law in Europe
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2023
This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the findings in current research focusing on the implementation of Islamic law in Europe. It explores the concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyāt (minority jurisprudence) or context-specific jurisprudence and how it is debated and contested in Europe. While shedding light on a normative application of Islamic law, the paper focuses on the role and work of European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and how it has made an important contribution to addressing issues related to Muslim communities by issuing fatwas based on the methodology of fiqh al-aqalliyyāt. Since a wide range of actors both in Europe and the Islamic world currently voice calls in favour of integration of Muslims in Europe as opposed to assimilation and segregation, the paper attempts to understand the specific grammar of this integration talk and how it translates into fiqh discourse produced by the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR).
Muslim Laws, Politics and Society in Modern Nation States
This book identifies Muslims‟ current socio-legal situation and their legal attitudes from different perspectives. The main aim of this study is to analyze the conflict between the assumptions of modern legal systems and plural legal realities. While there is a reconstruction of unofficial Muslim laws in the modern and officially uniform secular legal systems of England and Turkey, in the case of Pakistan, where Islamic laws are recognized to a great extent, legal reform attempts in the areas of Muslim family law by the Islamic Pakistani state have so far not been successful and have led to intense clashes. The study shows that Muslims in these countries react to the modern frameworks of legal systems and do not abandon their locally formulated and interpreted Muslim laws. State formulations and interpretations of Islamic law, as in the case of Pakistan, or its more or less total disregard, as in the cases of Britain and Turkey, lead people to reconstruct their own unofficial Muslim laws.