Sharia as a Counter-model in the direction of democratic system… (original) (raw)
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The Sharia Problem with Sharia Legislation
2015
A much-cited 2013 Pew poll reported that a strong majority of Muslims around the world favor making sharia the “official law of the land” in their countries. This was alarming news for many, especially when followed by further statistics supporting things like hand amputation and stoning as criminal punishment. But does a Muslim desire for sharia necessarily mean “sharia legislation”? Does public support for sharia have to mean Muslim theocracy? The answer is “yes” if sharia is defined as scripturally derived religious legal doctrine. But that is a very narrow definition of religious law, and it is an especially inappropriate way to understand sharia. In this article, I will explain why a country that “follows sharia” need not — indeed, should not — be one that “legislates sharia.” I will also show how an appreciation of this distinction — among Muslims as well as non-Muslims — will open up new solutions to the apparently intractable and politicized conflicts between Islamism and se...
Review - A Continuity of Sharia
Journal Of Islamic Studies, 2024
Brian Wright's study is the latest to enter the debate over the fate of what is broadly termed Islamic law in the modern world. Against a consensus exemplified best in the works of Wael Hallaq (though including Rudolph Peters, Radhika Singha and others) that the Western-based legal systems successfully superseded the premodern world of sharia, a growing body of work has pushed back, arguing various points such as that codification can be found within the Islamic tradition or that during the nineteenth century the ulema worked with the state rather than against it in the project of developing new codes merging Islamic and Western law, usually French - so sharia, broadly defined, never really went away.
1. Introduction: investigating the role of sharia in national law
Sharia Incorporated
Ideological-religious currents and discourses The moderate-puritan dichotomy and beyond Major discourses about incorporation of sharia 1.6 Towards a realistic history of sharia and national law Selecting turning points and historical periods The millennium of sharia as the living law (c. 800-c. 1800) 1.7 A voyage around the Muslim world Notes Bibliography 1.1 Theme, purpose, and approach What this book is about This collaborative study intends in the first place to explore the incorporation of sharia-based 1 rules in national legal systems. It tries to answer pertinent questions about islamisation of law throughout the Muslim world: Where? When? To what extent? How? Why? The fact that since the 1970s a number of Muslim countries, notably Iran, Pakistan and Sudan, have followed this course has been a cause for concern, both in Muslim countries and in the West. It has suggested a sidelining of modernising groups, weakening of the legal positions of women and religious minorities, and a return to cruel corporal punishments. One can hardly avoid the impression that islamisation of law equals disrespect for the rule of law and human rights. Yet, the discussion about these developments is hardly based on actual facts; rather, it is filled with controversy, speculation and all sorts of prejudices. This book provides a factual and comparative overview of the role and position of sharia-based law in the national legal systems of twelve, representative Muslim countries. Each country study consists of two interrelated parts. The first part of each chapter describes the history of how the present legal systems of Muslim countries have been shaped by socio-political developments. It records major changes in governance and law, tracing in particular the role of Islam and sharia in this process. The second part presents the actual legal situation and shows to what extent national legal systems have or have not distanced themselves from the tenets of 'classical sharia' (see 1.2 below); these sections also address the compatibility of these systems with the rule of law and human rights (see 1.4 below). The country studies focus on those areas of national law, where the introduction of sharia has caused most concern, namely constitutional law, family and inheritance law, and criminal law. Purpose and perspectives This book does not only offer a wealth of data, it also employs a set of conceptual perspectives, or frames, in order to forge the data into a useful body of knowledge. Through our first frame, we look at a particular country and its national legal system, for we can only start to understand the relationship between sharia and national law by looking at countries individually. Therefore this book is in the first place a repository of country-based knowledge. In addition, this frame also serves as a tool to gain insight into the broader picture of 'the Muslim world'. The first frame is
Palatable Sharia: 'Killing Two Birds with One Stone
Al-Jami'ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 2018
Based on observation in the District of Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia shariatization was a form of local re-packaging sharia where the term ‘sharia’ has been replaced with ‘Akhlaq al-Karimah’ (noble character). It then had the effect of not only silencing critical groups but also moderating sharia to become more open and inclusive. More importantly, the local-branded sharia became a common ground for the various Islamist groups to coalesce and, indeed, suppress vigilante action to renounce violent threat, at the very least, and served to lessen the divides between them. In this regard, the so-called sharia was like ‘killing two birds with one stone’ that on one side was a form of moderation to the critical groups but, on the other, was designed to be a common ground for various Islamist groups to coalesce. [Berdasarkan penelitian di Kabupaten Cianjur, Jawa Barat, shariatisasi di Indonesia telah mengambil bentuk lokal dengan mengganti istilah ‘shariah’ dengan ‘akhlaq al-karimah’. Hal...
2006
Sharia, or Islamic law, is a term that evokes strong emotions. For many Westerners and non-Muslims, it denotes a system of medieval times that imposes a harsh code of behaviour sanctioned by draconic punishments. For many – not all! – Muslims, on the other hand, it represents a system that promotes goodness and justice. Does that mean that these Muslims equate goodness and justice with harsh rules and sanctions? Some do, but many don’t. But how, then, must we view such contradicting views and interpretations of Sharia? In order to understand both the emotional value and the facts of Sharia, I suggest to distinguish three meanings.