What Is Shariah Law, and What Does It Mean for Afghan Women under the Taliban?

A Taliban fighter walking past a beauty salon in Kabul on Wednesday. Credit...Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Taliban have pledged that women in Afghanistan will have rights “within the bounds of Islamic law,” or Shariah, under their newly established rule. But it is not clear what that will mean.

Shariah leaves considerable room for interpretation. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the past, they imposed a strict one, barring women from working outside the home or leaving the house without a male guardian, eliminating schooling for girls, and publicly flogging people who violated the group’s morality code.

The insurgents have not yet said how they intend to apply it now. But millions of Afghan women fear a return to the past ways.

Here are the basics of what to know about Shariah and how it could factor into the Taliban’s treatment of women. » | Daniel Victor | Published: Thursday, August 19, 2021; Updated: Friday, August 20, 2021

As I walk around Kabul, the streets are empty of women »

Mosque Debate Shines Spotlight on Sharia Law
FOX NEWS: Closer look sacred law advocated by imam behind Ground Zero Islamic center

New Dark Age Alert! Saudi Judge 'Asks Hospital to Paralyse Man as Punishment'
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals to paralyse a man by damaging his spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man, the brother of the victim said on Thursday.

Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralysed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago.

He asked a judge in north-western Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press.

He claimed one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it was possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialised facility.

Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, apparently on ethical grounds, saying it could not inflict such harm.

Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the sharia court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend beginning on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Newt Gingrich: Ban Sharia - It Is "Totally Abhorrent to the Western World"

Islamische Gerichte sind in England legal
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Wer an Scharia hört, denkt an die Steinigung von Ehebrecherinnen. Tatsächlich steht die Scharia in manchen Teilen im Widerspruch zu den Menschenrechten. Trotzdem gibt es in Grossbritannien seit Jahrzehnten legale Schariah-Gerichte. Doch auch Muslime kritisieren diese religiöse Sondergerichte.

British Muslims Demand Sharia Law

Elena Kagan: Will She Tolerate Shariah?

Geert Wilders to Spread Anti-Muslim Movement to UK
THE TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders, the controversial anti-Muslim Dutch MP, has said he is forming an international alliance to spread his message to Britain and across the West in a bid to ban immigration from Islamic countries.

Mr Wilders will launch the movement late this year, initially in five countries: the US, Canada, Britain, France and Germany.

"The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom,' is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world," Mr Wilders said at the Dutch parliament.

Among the group's aims will be outlawing immigration from Islamic countries to the West and a ban on Islamic law.

Starting as a grass-roots movement, he hopes it eventually will produce its own lawmakers or influence other legislators.

Ayhan Tonca, a prominent spokesman for Dutch Muslims, said he feared Mr Wilders' message would fall on fertile ground in much of Europe, where anti-Islam sentiment has been swelling for years.

"So long as things are going badly with the economy, a lot of people always need a scapegoat," Mr Tonca said. "At the moment, that is the Muslims in Western Europe." >>> | Friday, July 16, 2010

What Isn't Wrong With Sharia Law?
THE GUARDIAN: To safeguard our rights there must be one law for all and no religious courts

Gita Sahgal says there is active support for sharia laws because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. Photograph: The Guardian
The recent global day against the imminent stoning of Sakine Mohammadi-Ashtiani in Iran for adultery is an example of the outrage sparked by the brutality associated with sharia law's penal code.

What of its civil code though – which the Muslim Council of Britain's Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra describes as "small aspects" that concern "marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children"? According to human rights campaigner Gita Sahgal, "there is active support for sharia laws precisely because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. No hands are being cut off, so there can't be a problem …"

Now a report, Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights, reveals the adverse effect of sharia courts on family law. Under sharia's civil code, a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's. A man can divorce his wife by repudiation, whereas a woman must give justifications, some of which are difficult to prove. Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age; women who remarry lose custody of their children even before then; and sons inherit twice the share of daughters.

There has been much controversy about Muslim arbitration tribunals, which have attracted attention because they operate as tribunals under the Arbitration Act, making their rulings binding in UK law.

But sharia councils, which are charities, are equally harmful since their mediation differs little from arbitration. Sharia councils will frequently ask people to sign an agreement to abide by their decisions. Councils call themselves courts and the presiding imams are judges. There is neither control over the appointment of these judges nor an independent monitoring mechanism. People often do not have access to legal advice and representation. Proceedings are not recorded, nor are there any searchable legal judgements. Nor is there any real right to appeal.

There is also danger to those at risk of domestic violence. In one study, four out of 10 women attending sharia courts were party to civil injunctions against their husbands. Continue reading and comment >>> Maryam Namazie* | Monday, July 05, 2010

*Maryam Namazie is a rights activist, commentator and broadcaster and spokesperson of Iran Solidarity and One Law for All

Indonesian Militants 'Planned to Kill Barack Obama'
THE TELEGRAPH: Indonesian militants plotted to kill Barack Obama during a state visit, kill their own president and launch a series of Mumbai-style attacks on foreigners, according to officials.

The group hatched an intricate plot to trigger a swathe of high profile attacks in Jakarta on August 17th, Indonesia's independence day, assassinate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and declare an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law on the same day in a jihadi coup.

Police sources also state that the group – suspected to be a splinter group from the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) organisation – also planned to assassinate Mr Obama when he visits Indonesia next month, although this was not officially announced. >>> Barney Henderson in Kuala Lumpur | Friday, May 14, 2010

Emirati Court Clears Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan of Torture
TIMES ONLINE: An Emirati court on Sunday today cleared the president’s brother of charges of torturing an Afghan despite video footage of the incident.

The court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acquitted Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahayan "after establishing he was not responsible" for the torture of the Afghan merchant in 2004, lawyer Habib al-Mulla said.

Five co-defendants, including two Americans, were found guilty, his lawyer said.

“The court accepted our defence that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs (medicine) that left him unaware of his actions,” he said.

Allegations against the sheikh emerged after US network ABC aired the video in April that appears to show him beating a man with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with protruding nails.

Assisted by others, Sheikh Issa is seen to pour salt in the man’s wounds and run over him with a sports utility vehicle.

The victim needed months of hospital care following the incident. He was reportedly an Afghan trader who lost a consignment of grain worth $5,000.

The lawyer told the court that one of the sheikh’s co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa’s medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him.

The court in the oasis city of Al-Ain ordered two co-defendants to pay a interim compensation of 10,000 dirhams ($2,724) to the victim, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation.

The two US defendants of Lebanese origin, brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each in absentia for having drugged the sheikh. >>> Times Online | Sunday, January 10, 2010

Calipers On The Genitals - Princely Style


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UAE Detains ‘Torture Tape’ Sheikh >>> | Monday, May 18, 2009

Anjem Choudary on March for Shariah as a Solution for UK’s Problems

New Dark Age Alert! Pictured: Islamic Militants Stone Man to Death for Adultery in Somalia as Villagers Are Forced to Watch
MAIL ONLINE: This barbaric scene belongs in the Dark Ages, but pictures emerged today of a group of Islamic militants who forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery.

Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, a 48-year-old, was buried in a hole up to his chest and pelted with rocks until he died.

The group responsible, Hizbul Islam, also shot dead a man they claimed was a murderer.

But the verdict was so shocking that it prompted a gun battle between rivals within the group that left three militants dead, witnesses said.

The executions took place yesterday in Afgoye, some 20 miles south-west of the capital of Mogadishu.

Hizbul Islam fighters ordered hundreds of residents to a field, where a rebel judge announced that the two men had confessed to murder and adultery.

A woman who had confessed to fornication had been sentenced to 100 lashes, he added.

'This is their day of justice,' the judge, Osman Siidow Hasan, told the crowd. 'We investigated and they confessed.' >>> Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, December 15, 2009

England’s Extremists
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Islam is Tearing the World Apart

Catastrophe - How Shariah Law Has Taken Over The West

Frank Gaffney on Shariah Law
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Stop Sharia Law in Britain

The Church Should Have the Guts to Sack the Archbishop…and Pick a Man Who Truly Treasures British Values
Photo of the Archbishop of Canterbury courtesy of the Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is fighting for his professional life after saying that the application of Islamic Sharia law in this country was "unavoidable" and that it was not an "alien and rival system" to English law.

The unprecedented outpouring of fury at his observations has caused people to question his fitness for office, with at least two members of the Synod already calling upon him to resign.

In his defence, his supporters claim the entire row has been got up by the "tabloid press".

This old chestnut ignores the fact that people went ballistic straight after they heard Dr Williams say on the radio that the principle of one law for everybody was "a bit of a danger" - well before any newspapers even wrote their stories.

And now this lame self-justification has been blown out of the water by devastating criticism from his predecessor Lord Carey, who said Dr Williams had "overstated the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes" within British law, a move which would be "disastrous".

This followed equally lethal criticism by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who said sharia was "in tension" with fundamental principles of English law.

So much for the ludicrous claim that Sharia was not a "rival and alien system".

What such critics understand only too well is the threat posed to this country by a brand of radicalised Islam, or Islamism, that wants to take it over.

As Lord Carey said, Dr Williams's comments will embolden those Muslims in their attempt to turn Britain into a country ruled by Islamic law which contravenes human rights.

The only proper response to this threat is to say that not one inch of leeway will be given to it.

But, instead, the Archbishop has gone down on his knees to welcome it.

Astoundingly, he does not seem to understand that this country is being targeted by a pincer movement of terrorism and cultural takeover.

He does not seem to understand Sharia. And he does not seem to understand the role of his own religion in underpinning British laws, culture and society. The church should have the guts to sack the Archbishop...and pick a man who TRULY treasures British values >>> By Melanie Phillips

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Rowan Williams Has Shown Us One Thing – Why Multiculturalism Must Be Abandoned
The Archbishop has unwittingly pointed us towards a vision of a better Britain

THE INDEPENDENT: For five days now, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been chorusing: how do you solve a problem like Sharia? Ever since he suggested it is "unavoidable" – and desirable – for Britain to have Islamic courts ruling on Muslim family affairs, bashing the bishop has become a national sport. But this row shouldn't be just about the pitiful contortions of the head of a dying Church. Rowan Williams has shown us why the doctrine of multiculturalism needs to abandoned.

If you really believe that Britain is comprised of a smorgasbord of "cultures" that need to be preserved, promoted and respected as an end in itself, then this proposal is perfectly logical. Different cultures should have different courts, and rules, and schools.

We don't need to speculate about what these British sharia courts would look like. They already exist in some mosques across Britain, as voluntary enterprises. Last month, a plain, unsensationalist documentary called Divorce: Sharia Style looked at the judgements they hand down.

If a man wants a divorce, he simply has to say to his wife, "I divorce you" three times over three months. The wife has no right of appeal, and no right to ask for a reason. If a woman wants a divorce, by contrast, she has to humbly ask her husband. If he refuses, she must turn to a sharia court, and convince three Mullahs that her husband has behaved "unreasonably" – according to the rules laid out in a pre-modern text that recommends domestic violence if your wife gets uppity. Irum Shazad, a 26-year-old British woman … >>> By Johann Hari

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)