Sharron Angle, the Tea Party Republican Senate nominee running against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, has been roundly criticized by the mainstream press for raising concerns about the imposition of Sharia (Islamic) law in some United States communities. "It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States," Ms. Angle said.
The press got all over Angle for expressing such concern and for the examples that she used to support her point. It appears that one of the examples she cited, Frankford, Texas, has not existed since 1975. Her other example was Dearborn, Michigan, which does have a large Muslim population but, as its mayor has assured us, is in no danger of succumbing to the rule of Sharia law anytime soon.
Yet, while Sharron Angle's examples were off the mark, her central concern about the potential for the spread of Sharia law in the United States is a valid one.
By way of clarification, I am not talking about the extreme versions of Sharia law found in Iran and Saudi Arabia, where stoning of adulterers, amputations and beheadings are sanctioned. Those are red herrings that Angle's mockers say - correctly, we can assume - will not be making their way to our shores in the foreseeable future.
Rather, what I am talking about are the core tenets of mainstream Sharia law - the body of Islamic laws rooted in the Koran, the holy book of Islam; the Sunna and Hadith, the religious actions, customs and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad; and the interpretations of the classic Muslim legal schools that were largely frozen in place by the twelfth century. Under Sharia law, women are inferior to men, 'infidels' are inferior to Muslims, criticism of Islamic law or the prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemy, and a Muslim’s conversion to a non-Islam religion is a capital crime.
Islamists are creating such communities with the blessing of the IRS!
Sharron Angle was right in saying that there are indeed communities being established within the United States by Islamic groups with the avowed purpose of using Sharia as the supreme law within those communities, irrespective of any conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or the laws passed by duly elected federal or state legislators. And the Islamists are creating such communities with the blessing of the IRS!
A case in point is the Gwynn Oak Community Development Corporation in Maryland, which received tax exempt status in February 2005. It was described, in a listing of nonprofit, tax-exempt groups, as a "multipurpose human service charitable organization" under the leadership of John Yahya Cason.
It turns out that John Yahya Cason was also the director of the Islamic Education and Community Development Initiative. Cason explained that his tax-exempt "multipurpose" community organization had only one real purpose. It was to develop Gwynn Oak as a Baltimore neighborhood for Muslims with defined geographical boundaries and a clear set of moral norms and values based on Islamic law.
The reason for the community, Cason said, was that "Muslim communities are ruled by Western societal tenets, many of which clash with Islamic norms.” Thus, there is a need for communities with “the totality of the essential components of Muslim social, economic, and political structure.”
As Sharron Angle herself said, we are not talking about “a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address."
The liberal press may have a field day mocking Ms. Angle, but she is correct. We need to address the phenomenon of Sharia law becoming the basis for governing any community within the United States - even just one or a few to start - because mainstream Sharia law is inherently incompatible with the United States Constitution.
Sharia law at its core does not regard non-Muslims as equal citizens, but rather as dhimmis
First, Sharia law at its core does not regard non-Muslims as equal citizens, but rather as dhimmis who are to be tolerated and protected under Islamic rule so long as they play by Islamic rules. Thus, Islamic law grants many privileges only to Muslims, and discriminates against non-believers.
Indeed, the Koran commands Muslims to “[F]ight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Christians and Jews], until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
Sharia also subjects women to male domination.
In other words, Islamic law contradicts the fundamental notion underlying our Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution that all human beings are entitled to be treated with equal dignity and are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Islamic law does not recognize the separation of mosque and state
Second, Islamic law does not recognize the separation of mosque and state. All laws governing man in every sphere of life come from Allah, not by man using reason to govern himself.
Our Founding Fathers believed precisely the opposite. The United States was founded upon a set of “self-evident truths” set forth in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Government, our Founding Fathers believed, is set up “to secure these rights” and derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The U.S. Constitution is man-made and is the supreme law of our land. It does not defer to the religious code of any faith, much less a religious-based ideology professing to be superior to all others.
Under Sharia law it is a crime to "defame" Islam or its prophet Muhammad
Third, under Sharia law it is a crime to "defame" Islam or its prophet Muhammad.
The
Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, adopted by the 56 nation Organization of Islamic Conference in 1990, subjected all of its protections to the requirements of Islamic law. In Article 22 (a), the
Cairo Declaration says “Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari’ah.”
In the United States, we have a different vision. Our inalienable right of free expression must never become subservient to Sharia law or any other freedom-denying ideology.
In sum, I think that Sharron Angle was on to something. The danger of Sharia law widely affecting communities across America today is still remote, but enough is already happening in communities like Gwynn Oak, Maryland to issue an early wake-up call.
Bruce Bawer wrote a disturbing book a number of years ago entitled
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within. We do not want his sequel to be While America Slept.
