Islam 101 - ask sgttomas about Islam

[runamokmonk]

Hi, I've got a question.

Does the proper practice of Islam require the implementation of Sharia law in all lands?

[edited my post to simplify. This is the basic question I had]

[Metacrock]

here's a question. I can't imagine you support honor killing Tom. Where does that stand in Islamic law?

[sgttomas]

Hi, I've got a question.

Does the proper practice of Islam require the implementation of Sharia law in all lands?

[edited my post to simplify. This is the basic question I had]

Hi! =)

Holy moly, that's a very complex question because of the nuances of the law. There are many circumstances where it is inappropriate to have non-Muslims judged by the same standards as Muslims, and many circumstances where it is inappropriate for the Muslims to assert their "authority" to rule. For instance, right now, there isn't really a strong enough argument that there is a collective, righteous Islamic movement capable of implementing sharia with the full justice and equality it entails. Therefore, by whatever means is proposed to even implement an Islamic state (and it's not acceptable to just start killing innocent people because they are disbelievers) there isn't a legitimacy that stands behind this assertion. Because order and stability is favoured over disruption and dischord. So unless the Muslims can really, honestly and wisely offer something better, we don't have a right to rule. And under "sharia", Christians would be judged by their own set of moral standards, by their own judges (for instance...the Roman Catholics).

But then there is also the eschatological mandate to have Islam be the one world religion, so in that sense yes Islam requires sharia to be the law in all lands....but I don't think that's really the sense that you were thinking of.

Also, because of the vast ignorance of the religion, what most people call sharia is anything but the sort.

Sharia law is epitomized in this: an elderly Jewish man was seen begging by the Islamic ruler who was out walking about. He asked why he was begging and found out it was in order to pay the "non-Muslim tax" (which I stated in an earlier post existed because non-Muslims were exempt from being obligated to serve in the military and other state functions - though they were not disallowed). This was recognized by the ruler to be a contradiction of the law, which is in place to serve the citizens and this man was not being served by the tax. So not only was he made exempt from the tax but he was paid a pension out of the Muslim's treasury.

This was how the sharia was implemented in the "best generations" (those of the time of the Prophet and the generations that followed). And it held this character for a long time. The onset of modernity has changed things as much in Islam as the rest of the world. It's a real challenge to traditional knowledge and it deligitemized the past. But when people became dissatisfied with modernity, they found themselves disconnected in terms of knowledge, manners, and ettiquette from the foundation of the religion.


And this isn't me just being an apologist, this is what is historically accurate as far as I know.

....so that's a rather long winded answer, but it's a comprehensive question/subject!

Peace,
-sgttomas

[sgttomas]

here's a question. I can't imagine you support honor killing Tom. Where does that stand in Islamic law?

Problably not, but what do you mean by an honor killing, can you give examples? (and by probably I mean that I wrote a post saying that no, I don't support it at all nor does Islam...but there are conditions were the death penalty is called for in Islam, and I just thought it better to respond to a particular circumstance than to try and respond generally and then make all these qualifying statements about how the death penalty is called for some times)

Peace,
-sgttomas

[Metacrock]

here's a question. I can't imagine you support honor killing Tom. Where does that stand in Islamic law?

Problably not, but what do you mean by an honor killing, can you give examples? (and by probably I mean that I wrote a post saying that no, I don't support it at all nor does Islam...but there are conditions were the death penalty is called for in Islam, and I just thought it better to respond to a particular circumstance than to try and respond generally and then make all these qualifying statements about how the death penalty is called for some times)

Peace,
-sgttomas

I understand the term to refer to a father killing his daughter because she wouldn't marry whom he picked out for her, or she had sex without being married or soemthing of that nature. I can give examples it happens a lot and is well documented, but in Dallas last year there was a case of a Jordanian guy living here whose daughters were getting too westernized so he took them and shot them each in the head.

Now I'm betting that sort of thing is a folk way (although more serious than a folk way but a folk practice and not part of the Koran--I hope).