Sharia, better known as “Islamic Law,” is a detailed system of religious laws developed by Muslim scholars in the first three centuries of Islam and still enforced among fundamentalists today. In order to understand how Sharia plays a role in the Muslim community today one must understand that when the term “Islam” is used, it doesn’t stop at describing a religion, but a way of life. This is a significant point because Islam does not only describes the personal belief of an individual, but with comes an identity; being a Muslim, adherent of Islam, implies a prototypical behavior and indicates personal and communal expectations in the both the physical and spiritual Islamic communities; similar to being a citizen of a government. This way of life and adherence applies to all Muslims throughout the world. However, an often debated topic, what authority does Sharia have in the international communities of our modern world where governments with no religious allegiance? Such governments like our own?
In Islamic states such as Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and others, the primary basis for government is the Islamic religious law - Sharia. Sharia based on the interpretations of the Qur’an means that it is the direct reflection of God’s rules and purpose for his people. Those who are part of the Islamic community are required to embrace and maintain God’s law. As Bernard Lewis asserts, “In the experience of the first Muslims, as preserved and recorded for later generations, religious truth political power were indissolubly associated: the first sanctified the send, the second sustained the first. The Ayatollah Khomeini remarked that ‘Islam is politics or it is nothing.’” (Lewis pg. 6) Furthermore, “most would agree that God is concerned...
... middle of paper ...
... John Kelsay
Journal of Church and State; Winter 2011; 53, 1; ProQuest Direct Complete pg. 5
http://listserv.ccp.edu:2192/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.44
http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=774
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html
Islamic Law and American Courts. Dir. Andrea Elliott. Perf. David Yerushalmi and Abed Awad. THE NEW YORK TIMES. Nytimes.com, 30 July 2011. Web. 08 Feb. 2012.
.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/us/31shariah.html
by ANDREA ELLIOTT
Published: July 30, 2011
"sharia." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 08 February 2012.