News Archives 2006
Islamic Council of Western Australia, stressed that Islamic law would not replace
Australian law, because Muslims were still in a minority.
An Australian politician's comments about Muslims wanting to live under Islamic law
(shari'a) has focused attention on the push by Muslim minorities in some Western countries
to establish enclaves where Islamic norms and laws hold sway.
Australia's federal Treasurer Peter Costello said Muslim immigrants not willing to embrace
Australian values should leave, and that anyone wanting to live under shari'a might feel
more comfortable living in countries where it is applied, such as Saudi Arabia or Iran,
"not in Australia."
In a meeting last April with the then minister of citizenship and multicultural affairs,
Peter McGauran, mainstream Muslim leaders called for the establishment of a separate
Islamic court, specifically to deal with Muslim divorces.
McGauran declined, saying: "The law in this country is secular. There's a clear
separation between religion and the law and Australia's laws apply equally to all
citizens, regardless of their religion."
One of the Muslim leaders arguing at the time for a shari'a court, Abdul Jalil Ahmad of
the Islamic Council of Western Australia, stressed that Islamic law would not replace
Australian law, because Muslims were still in a minority.
"Only in areas where we are legally allowed to implement our Islamic teaching we
do," he said. However, Muslims elsewhere do not necessarily see minority status in a
country as an impediment.
A book published by the Islamic Council of Europe in 1980, "Muslim Communities in
Non-Muslim States," instructed Muslim minorities how to work towards achieving
domination of European countries through a policy of concentration in geographical areas.
Muslims were told to avoid assimilation by the majority, get together and build mosques,
Islamic schools and community centers, and establish communities based on Islamic
principles.
According to Patrick Sookhdeo of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity,
the instructions appear to have been followed, in some countries at least.
"The Muslim community in France is well on the way to becoming...a state within a
state," he wrote in a recent article. "The only substantive goal still
outstanding is the implementation of Islamic law instead of French law.
"Muslims in France have by and large rejected the concept of the integration of
individuals and are working instead for the integration of communities," Sookhdeo
said. "The same is happening in the U.K."
In several years' time, a number of British cities will have Muslim majorities.
"Islamic enclaves would be defined by Islamic values, education, politics, religious
practice and above all law."
In parts of Britain, "Islamic law is already semi-established, in that a multitude of
shari'a
councils and shari'a courts exist which deal with family issues, effectively creating an
unofficial parallel legal system within the U.K," Sookhdeo said.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born extremist cleric who left Britain last year amid
growing calls for his expulsion, several years earlier set up a body he called the
"U.K. Shari'a Court" and served as its senior judge.
Some British banking institutions are offering "shari'a-compliant" home loans
and finance packages. (Shari'a forbids usury - the collection and payment of interest -
and also prohibits risk trading.)
In an ICM poll of British Muslims, released early this week, 40 percent of respondents
supported having shari'a introduced in predominantly Muslim areas of Britain, while 41
percent were opposed to the idea.
Shari'a is applied to varying degrees in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan,
Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Its most controversial elements include death sentences for apostasy, amputation of limbs
for theft and stoning for adultery.
d by Islamic values, education, politics, religious practice and above all law."
In parts of Britain, "Islamic law is already semi-established, in that a multitude of
shari'a
councils and shari'a courts exist which deal with family issues, effectively creating an
unofficial parallel legal system within the U.K," Sookhdeo said.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born extremist cleric who left Britain last year amid
growing calls for his expulsion, several years earlier set up a body he called the
"U.K. Shari'a Court" and served as its senior judge.
Some British banking institutions are offering "shari'a-compliant" home loans
and finance packages. (Shari'a forbids usury - the collection and payment of interest -
and also prohibits risk trading.)
In an ICM poll of British Muslims, released in early 2006, 40 percent of respondents
supported having shari'a introduced in predominantly Muslim areas of Britain.
Shari'a is applied to varying degrees in countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan,
Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Its most controversial elements include death sentences for apostasy, amputation of limbs
for theft and stoning for adultery.
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