.... what I find disturbing is not just this identification of sharia solely with what happens in Saudi Arabia, for instance, but the sense that these commenters actively wish that to be the only available version.
Given the popularity of Islamist parties, some of which have already won freely fought elections, such as the AKP in Turkey and Hamas in Palestine, and the fact that more would be sure to do so if some of the Middle Eastern autocracies loosened their grip, these commenters must foresee very bleak times ahead.
[COMMENT] "...focusing on the most extreme forms of sharia..." Fine, not every Muslim country actually permits amputation, stoning to death for adultery, killing apostates, but even in the more "enlightened" ones I really wouldn't want to be gay, a woman, a religious convert or have teddy bears named after prophets. [New Statesman] Read more
The Statesman and Sharia II Sholto Byrnes of the New Statesman defends his accommodative views on sharia from his critics, including me. He's not convincing. He accuses me of engaging in ad hominem attacks, though he doesn't say what these are, doubtless because they exist only in his imagination. And on the evidence of the post I've linked to, his case has now dwindled to the unexceptionable proposition that sharia exists, so it "ought to be a legitimate subject for discussion" - which I wasn't aware I'd disputed. [Times Online] Read more
Rethinking Islamism II - Misconceptions and fears about sharia One of the first, and foremost, fears about Islamism is that its aim is the imposition of sharia law. That in itself is open to question, and I will come to that in a later post. But the very concept of sharia has been so oversimplified by scaremongers that, in the popular imagination, it is inextricably linked with the punishments of beheading, flogging and amputation for crimes such as theft and adultery, and for which Saudi Arabia has long been notorious.
[COMMENT 1] What "misconceptions about sharia"? What is the point of this article? Is it a case of being so open minded that your brains fall out. I would rather die than live in a world where sharia law was any part of it. "Rethinking isalm" what a great title for an article, perhaps the author needs to get out more or visit a mental health clinic. I have just stopped buying the new statesman.
[COMMENT 2] Surely the main problem with sharia law is that the propositions on which it is based - that the Koran is the perfect word of god, and Mohammed's life is the perfect model for human behaviour - are untrue. Not just possibly untrue, or probably untrue, but head-slappingly obviously untrue. [New Statesman] Read more
Submission, abject Just a little more about Sholto. It doesn’t seem to have gone very well for him – the comments at the New Statesman are scathing, and Google blogsearch turns up only more scathe, no pleased cries of “At last somebody talking sense about sharia.” He must be feeling sadly disappointed in the multicultural broadmindedness and flexibility of – of – well of everybody but himself, I guess. There’s one comment at the NS that looks favorable at first blush, but when you read on it becomes obvious that it’s a parody. So Sholto is 0 for 0 with the “let’s look at the good side of sharia” enterprise. [Butterflies and Wheels] Read more
The New Statesman Defends Islamism .... Again, a total confusion between what ordinary Muslims want and what Islamists are calling for. The author began and ended his piece by defending Islamists yet all the examples he uses are of non-Islamist regimes and individuals.
This is yet another example of liberal lefties in the UK having a soft spot for clerical fascists, viewing them as noble anti-imperialist campaigners with social justice in mind. It reminds one of the Iranian regime making common cause with the BNP in the 1980s. [Harry’s Place] Read more
The Statesman and Sharia A couple of years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a lecture that elicited, from my colleague Ruth Gledhill, a post entitled "Has the Archbishop gone bonkers?" This was not a Great Historical Question to Which the Answer was No.
Rowan Williams had floated the idea of the adoption of Sharia in some parts of the UK. But it turns out that he was a visionary, for the New Statesman - seriously - has just published a commentary by Sholto Byrnes entitled "Rethinking Islamism II". He argues: [Times Online] Read more
