BBC: Sharia - The Clear Path

The BBC has seen fit to post an excellent overview of the Islamic shari'ah by Sidi Faraz Rabbani of Seeker's Digest and SunniPath fame.

Sharia: The Clear Path
What is the the Philosophy of the Shariah?
By Faraz Rabbani
BBC Religion & Ethics - February 13th, 2008

While on the subject of the shari'ah, and in light of the recent remarks by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, I'll mention that there is some interesting discussions ([1][2]) going on which point out that separate Jewish religious courts already exist in the UK. However, this article, although from an oft-Islamophobic source, argues that Muslims are going further in their demands for official recognition of their religious courts than British Jews ever have...but Allahu 'alim on that.

I'll say that I was disappointed by the sensationalist—if not outright incorrect—title on the Pixelisation blog which claims "British Jews Support Dhimmitude" since nothing in the posting, nor in any statement that I've heard coming from a Jewish spokesperson in Britain, seems to support such a claim. Perhaps it would have been better if the author explained what type or interpretation of "Dhimmitude" that Jews (and was he making a sweeping and generalized statement about all of them?) in Britain allegedly "support".

As usual, Sidi Abdal Hakim Murad had some wise and level-headed thoughts to offer on the subject of Islamic shari'ah courts in Britain and the Archbishop of Canterbury's statement...so please read them here.

The BBC Religion & Ethics entry on Sharia actually contains four ([1][2][3][4]) parts, and I'm relieved that they didn't call it "Sharia Law" since that sounds rather redundant to me.

Deen on...