Sharia Law, soon to be Shazza's Law?

I think the biggest problem Muslim people must have is the outspoken rotten apples that get under everyone's skin, very much like the Bible-basher's that Christianity has.
It's hard to understand their culture because there are so many sides to consider. Reports of sexism, and cruelty to women on one hand will be refuted with another, and then someone else butts in that that's only sometimes the case and it depends where you live.

Australia seems to be getting even more multiculti-friendly though, Halal is everywhere it seems, everyone knows that terrorist doesn't equal Muslim and there's more trustworthy information out there.

This story from the Australian bugs me though.

ISLAMIC preacher Ibrahim Siddiq-Conlon points heavenwards to emphasise his message for the governments of Australia -- there is no God but Allah and only his laws should be obeyed.

"My attack is on the Prime Minister of Australia," he said yesterday. "I hate the parliament in Canberra. I want to go straight for the jugular vein and advise the parliament that they have no right to legislate. They should immediately step down and let the Muslims take over."

"One day Australia will live under sharia; it's inevitable," he said. "If they (Australians) don't accept it, that's not our problem. We hope, and our objective is to have a peaceful transition, but when you look at history that has never been the case. There's always been a fight. It is inevitable that one day there will be a struggle for Islam in Australia."

Siddiq-Conlon shrugs off concerns his campaign will damage the moderate Muslim community. "If it causes a backlash against the Muslims, I can't help that. This is a necessary debate."

LOL what a dick. This is what I believe, who cares if anyone else pays for it? Niiiiice. I would have said something like, if you hate the government so much, why stick around? Go somewhere else. This guy is Australian born so that makes it difficult. Although, you see how he turns it into a 'them' (Australians) VS 'us' (the... uh.. other Australian).
Seriously though, if you hate it so much, improve it or bugger off.

Now, this guy's idea of improving it is introducing the slicing and dicing of hands for crimes, stoning and the destruction of democracy. Which makes it hard for someone like me to say 'well, golly gee, we should totally give this a try.' Even when the other more reasonable voice tells us that Sharia law doesn't have to be hard line blood and guts.

From Adelaide Now:

THE nation's peak Muslim group is using the Gillard government's re-embracing of multiculturalism to push for the introduction of sharia in Australia, but it says it would be a more moderate variety of Islamic law that fits with Australian values.
In the submission, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils acknowledges some Muslims believe Islamic law is immutable, regardless of history, time, culture and location.  The AFIC argues this is not the case and sharia can be applied in a way that fits in to Australia and is not extreme.

A hard line reading of sharia confers unilateral divorce rights on men, while women who initiate divorce are stripped of their property and financial entitlements.

A more moderate interpretation and common practice in Islamic countries is to recognise divorce by mutual consent.

In the interview, Mr Patel said: "I'm saying that instead of letting the extremists within Islam take over the agenda, we are saying there is a path whereby it will work for all the communities in a moderate way.

"It is important for someone who is Muslim or a practising Jew that aspects of our religion which can be incorporated within the greater legal system are introduced.  This is about personal issues about family, and won't affect any other Australian," he said.

See, that's much better. Only who do you believe? Governments can't do anything right anyway, what's to say that later on the reasonable voice here won't be drowned out by Mr. Let's Stone Stuff, Guys!

Australia is famous for multiculturalism but a lot of it's people seem to be getting annoyed with it. Not because of the cultures living inside it, but because in this case we know that this would never happen in Muslim countries. They fight for Islamic schools to be build here, a Catholic one would never get past the paperwork there. They can wear what they like over here, chances are you're going to have to burqa up if you go for a social call there. Some Nando's and butchers in the local area won't sell bacon, and they won't sell it over there no matter what religion you are.

Why is that? We have to respect their culture without getting anything in return? Which is the key issue. Why on earth should we allow some violent nut job to walk in and declare that the government is crap, only Muslim law should be obeyed, and that they'll fight us for it? If someone tried to over throw Sharia law in a Muslim country.. well, you can imagine that wouldn't go down too well.

Daily Telegraph:

In calling for religious freedom to be respected, the Pope appealed for reciprocity - full rights for Christians in Islamic states where laws ban them from practising their faith openly. Such a call does not sound unreasonable. No Christian state bans the practising of Islam, but the 3.5 million Christians of all denominations who live in the Gulf Arab region, the birthplace of Islam, are barely tolerated and any form of non-Muslim worship takes place in private.

Afghanistan is not alone. Islamic nations which regularly issue calls for the West to respect Islam and show tolerance for its traditions, rarely practise what they preach.

A 200-page study of religious freedom reveals that Christianity is under siege in the Islamic world and that the dwindling number of Christians still living in Islamic nations remain among the most oppressed.

In Afghanistan, courts apply Islamic Sharia law to the interpretation and judging of individual cases concerning, for example, blasphemy or apostasy - crimes which are not covered by the penal code.

Under Islamic law, the death penalty applies for these crimes.The same applies in Bangladesh, where Christians and Hindus suffer extreme violence and persecution.

Even if arrested on the basis of accusations from only one witness, the unfortunate person risks violence and torture inflicted by the police. Under pressure from crowds incited by local mullahs, a number of judges have imposed the death sentence even in the absence of any evidence against the accused.

The report says the penal law, based on the Koran, punishes with floggings and stoning all behaviour incompatible with Islamic law, such as adultery, gambling or drinking alcohol. This law on blasphemy provides an example of one of the most sectarian and extremist forms of legislation, in addition to paving the way for a radical Islam- isation of the country.

The problem with Sharia law is that it can be interpreted, much like any other religious ruling. These interpreters are human and are therefore likely to err. It doesn't have a good track record either.

Adelaide Now:

TWO police officers were jailed today for gang raping a young woman in custody in Indonesia.
Mohammed Nazir, 29, and Feri Agus, 28, were found guilty of raping a 20-year-old student in a police station in January after she was arrested with her boyfriend under local laws designed to enforce Islamic morals.

Indonesia's Muslims are mostly moderate, but Aceh has special autonomy, and one of the ways it differentiates itself is through implementation of sharia law, enforced by special Islamic police.

Rights activists called for the Islamic force to be disbanded after the incident, saying it did nothing but harass women about their clothes and humiliate young unmarried couples.

They also said the sharia police were not empowered to detain anyone, and could only issue warnings.

Also from Adelaide Now:

A MUSLIM cleric has been arrested in Bangladesh following the death of a woman who was publicly caned for adultery, police have said.

Sufia Begum, thought to have been in her forties, was accused of having an affair with her 36-year-old stepson and was sentenced to 40 lashes last month by an Islamist court that included the imam of the local mosque, Afsar Ali.

The Bangladesh High Court outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict, or fatwa, in July, but Begum’s death, in the Rajshahi district of northwestern Bangladesh, suggests that such brutal punishments are still handed down in religiously conservative rural areas of the country.

In one of the most notorious cases, a 16-year-old girl who was raped was given 101 lashes in January for conceiving during the assault.

The girl’s father was also fined and was told that the family would be branded outcasts from their village if he did not pay. The 20-year-old rapist was pardoned.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has vowed to eradicate Islamic militancy, has warned of “zero tolerance” for Sharia punishments.


See, to me this just sounds like vigilante 'justice' and kangaroo courts. Punishments like caning and stoning apparently outlawed but still ongoing? While I do wish for more severe punishments for our criminals (say, a repeat rapist should get his organs cut off - and enough time in jail to think about it) I don't think that bloodthirsty repercussions like public whippings and crowds that are encouraged to throw stones and KILL someone would be any good. That's just a dangerous slippery slope.

There have been so many cases of Amnesty International appealing for women about to be stoned to be saved and the saddest thing about these cases is that in many, they've already been punished or lashed and that whether or not they are actually guilty of anything is so ambiguous.
It seems like no matter what these women do, they're screwed. Just like a Salem witch hunt. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I don't want anything like this to come into our country. It should have been stamped out years ago, decades, centuries ago! The Crusades are soo yesterday guys, pay attention! Is is so hard to understand that driving into another society like a battering ram filled with anger and forceful religion is kind of a bad idea?
No one should be forced into religion. Except at Christmas. Okay, if you want presents and a holiday to celebrate, ho-ho-hop to it and convert. No one likes a sad little athiest crossing out 'Merry Christmas' and scrawling 'Happy Generic Holiday' underneath so they can join the party. Seriously, you don't believe in it? It's too commercial? Then stop it. Please. I would like my Christmas a little less insane.

Yes, that was a joke. Honestly though, it is a little silly to celebrate another religion's occasions when you spend all your time telling us how stupid we are. Hahaha.
Society makes you join in though, right? Right?


Adelaide Now:

Liberal Victorian senator Mitch Fifield yesterday also said immigrants needed to integrate with the community.

"Australians revel in diversity and embrace different cultures," he said, "but they expect people who come to Australia to sign up to mainstream values. You have to muck in with the rest of the community and not develop a sort of separate society.

"We need to heed the lessons of the UK where you have whole suburbs which are basically separate entities to the rest of the community.

"There are some interpretations of Islam which aren't healthy and aren't compatible with Australian values, such as sharia law."

That basically sums it up. I don't see the need for Sharia law in Australia. One law for all of us should be fine, and hopefully it'll be a law that won't let democracy die or let religion be forced on us. Sharia for the most part seems to be confusing and conflicting and it would only get ten times worse in the government's hands.

Fix the problems in your own backyard first before tackling your neighbour's garden.