Catastrophe - Dick Morris [120]
Alex Alexiev says that the main political objective of Shariah-compliant financing is “to legitimize Shariah in the West,”467 to isolate Muslim communities from mainstream society, and to “create Islamic enclaves controlled by Shariah in the middle of Western society.”468
And in the United Kingdom, at least, the Islamic fundamentalists are closing in on their goal. British prime minister Gordon Brown recently announced his ambition to make London the Islamic finance capital of the world. Part of the effort to make London Shariah-friendly was a decision by the most senior judge in the United Kingdom that declared that the Muslim community could establish its own legal framework and use Shariah law to settle marital arguments and regulate finance. Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips said, “Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.”469 According to Phillips’s decision, Muslims in the United Kingdom could use “Islamic legal principles as long as the punishments and divorce rulings comply with English Law.”470
Even the archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, seemed to be promoting Shariah rule when he suggested in a BBC interview that the adoption of Shariah law in Britain “seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of Shariah are already recognized in our society and under our law, so it is not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system.”471 Incredibly, Muslims in the United Kingdom are now eligible to receive extra benefits if they have more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Britain.472
The columnist Cal Thomas, a vigilant defender of our democratic values, explains the implications of applying Shariah law to divorce proceedings:
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WOMEN UNDER SHARIAH
Muslim women are prohibited to marry without their parents’ consent—a rule that can only worsen the problem of forced marriage.
A wedding can be held without the bride even being present, as long as her guardian consents—opening the door to widespread underage marriage.
Muslim women are allowed to marry only men of the Muslim faith.
A Muslim man can divorce his wife simply by repudiating her and suffers no obligation to support her or their children thereafter.
A Muslim woman is prohibited from divorcing her husband without his consent.
Abuse cannot be presented as grounds for a woman to divorce her husband.
Sons are entitled to inherit twice as much as daughters.
Divorced women must not remarry, at risk of losing custody of their children.473
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Gaffney warns that the Islamists want to go even further. They are calling for “Shariah-compliant schools (they already have them in Britain); a push in Canada for separate Shariah courts for all matters within the Muslim community; Shariah tolerance for honor killings of women in Germany; destruction of non Shariah-compliant businesses in dedicated ‘Muslim enclaves’ in France; and in various countries, Shariah approved assassinations of critics of Islam and anyone leaving Islam worldwide.”474
Where Shariah law is applied, the nightmares suggested by these draconian regulations become reality.
LIFE UNDER SHARIAH
Those living under Shariah law, especially women, are subjected to harsh penalties—even death—even when they are already victims. Consider these examples:
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SHARIAH JUSTICE
In December 2007, a British teacher in Sudan was sentenced to forty lashes and a year in jail for allowing students to name their teddy bears Mohammad. When word spread, Islamic mobs rallied and called for her death.
In November 2007, a teenage Saudi gang-rape victim received a sentence of two hundred lashes under Shariah law “for riding in the car with her rapists.