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Saturday, November 20, 2010

TEXAS FAITH: Was Oklahoma out of line with Sharia amendment?

TEXAS FAITH: Was Oklahoma out of line with Sharia amendment? 
Nov 16, 2010  | Dallas Morning News
Sam Hodges

Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly passed an amendment to their state constitution prohibiting state courts from considering international or Islamic law, also known as Sharia, when deciding cases.

But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining preventing the state's election board from certifying the results of the vote.

According to the Associated Press, the measure's sponsor, Rep. Rex Duncan, said the amendment was not an attack on Muslims but an effort to prevent activist judges from relying on international law or Islamic law in deciding cases.

 But Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma and filer of the lawsuit before Miles-LaGrange, said the measure transforms the state constitution into "an enduring condemnation" of Islam.

About 20,000 to 30,000 Muslims live in the state, according to the AP.

Is Oklahoma out of line with such an amendment or is the federal judge erring by delaying, for now, its implementation? And, briefly, why?

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

The Oklahoma referendum on Sharia is simply gratuitous and one of the best examples of politicians duping the public.

Getting the public to be riled up against something that ain't there is the ploy the politicians have been using. Many a times they succeed and the responsibility falls on our shoulders to wake the public up to such abuses.

The reason the Oklahoma law is gratuitous is because Muslims in America value the laws of our nation. They strongly feel that the American laws serve the very justice they seek, and they do not seek or ask for sharia law in America. Even if a few ask for it, statistically they are insignificant.

1 comment:

  1. Bill Matthews stated his point very well, " The enforcement of Sharia law is an internal matter among Muslims. No state court has any business helping a religion to police its own and may interfere only when there is an obvious violation of civil rights.
    It also seems to me that several bloggers have completely obscured this point in their efforts to prove that the U.S. is or is not a Christian country. "

    Years ago a friend shared an example of such an act; he said, whenever his spouse takes a strong position on issues that are irrelevant, he would go ballistic, “Honey, I am not going to listen to them, no matter how many times they call me to go in the space shuttle, I will not go, I will reject them, and I will refuse them”. He said, “My wife never questioned me, “did they invite you?” because she understood how gratuitous her argument was.

    Sharia law (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/sharia-law-not-in-america_b_653250.html) has two parts – the personal Sharia guides one’s relationship with the creator in terms of the prayers, fasting, repentance, alms, charity etc, whereas the Public Sharia deals with one’s relationship with fellow beings. The intent of the law is to maintain justice but the implementations are flawed at times, just like the civil laws of any nation. Within the Public Sharia the concerns are about divorce, adultery and apostasy. The number of wrongful deaths under Sharia Laws must be checked with the number of deaths from misapplicaiton of our laws.

    I was just in India for two weeks, and was amazed about the Plurality of laws - Separate sets of "Personal Laws" are in effect for inheritance, marriage, divorce and a few other issues for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and Jains... where as criminal laws are uniform. These laws have been in existence for nearly a 1000 years and have been working just fine... a few misapplication of the laws occur, perhaps in every system.

    The Muslims in America are not looking for Sharia Laws to serve justice to them, they are pleased with the American system of laws to meet the justice needs of them. Oklahoma's gratutious act is nothing more than politics of duping the public.

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