http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6274387/Obama-adviser-says-Sharia-Law-is-misunderstood.html


Barack Obama adviser says Sharia Law is misunderstood


Miss Mogahed, appointed to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, said the Western view of Sharia was "oversimplified" and the majority of women around the world associate it with "gender justice".

The White House adviser made the remarks on a London-based TV discussion programme hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party.


Miss Mogahed appeared alongside Hizb ut Tahrir's national women's officer, Nazreen Nawaz.

During the 45-minute discussion, on the Islam Channel programme Muslimah Dilemma earlier this week, the two members of the group made repeated attacks on secular "man-made law" and the West's "lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism".

They called for Sharia Law to be "the source of legislation" and said that women should not be "permitted to hold a position of leadership in government".

Miss Mogahed made no challenge to these demands and said that "promiscuity" and the "breakdown of traditional values" were what Muslims admired least about the West.

She said: "I think the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media.

"The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance.

"The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases."

Sharia in its broadest sense is a religious code for living, which decrees such matters as fasting and dressing modestly. However, it has also been interpreted as requiring the separation of men and women.

It also includes the controversial "Hadd offences", crimes with specific penalties set by the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Mohammed. These include death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality and the removal of a hand for theft.

Miss Mogahed admitted that even many Muslims associated Sharia with "maximum criminal punishments" and "laws that... to many people seem unequal to women," but added: "Part of the reason that there is this perception of Sharia is because Sharia is not well understood and Islam as a faith is not well understood."

The video of the broadcast has now been prominently posted on the front page of Hizb ut Tahrir's website.

Miss Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and moved to America at the age of five, is the first veiled Muslim woman to serve in the White House. Her appointment was seen as a sign of the Obama administration's determination to reach out to the Muslim world.

She is also the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a project which aims to scientifically sample public opinion in the Muslim world.

During this week's broadcast, she described her White House role as "to convey... to the President and other public officials what it is Muslims want."

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said Miss Mogahed was “downplaying” Sharia Law.

“There is a reason sharia has got a bad name and it is how it has been exercised. Regrettably in the US there have been acts of injustice perpetrated against women that are driven by the Sharia-type mindset that women are objects not human beings,” she said.

She cited the example of Muzzammil Hassan, a Buffalo man who ran a cable channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes and was charged earlier this year with beheading his wife after she filed for divorce.

“Americans understand by example, it’s not as if we are an ignorant mass of people. Just as we don’t broad brush all Muslims, so should Dalia not downplay the serious nature of sharia law.”

Sharia law has no place in the United States. The day we start recognizing this as the norm, we had better watch out and they had better expect some form of uprising.

What a bunch of crock! We had better wake up.

I have heard this before from Muslim women. I don't agree but they have the right to their opinion.

well most of the world do think the usa is a whore house and no matter what there religion they party when there here .
but under that legal system it well be a lot easier to see the criminals . they cut off there arm after conviction . so that everyone knows they have to eat with the same hand that they wipe there butt with ..

this article is correct. I've yet to see one American be able to explain what sharia law really is...all i see and read is asinine assumptions or bring up Saudi Arabia. Reality is, there isn't one muslim country that enforces true Sharia, and i've lived in most of them. Sadly, if you want to see true Sharia, just read the Old Testament.

Sharia Law is very conservative. Abortion isnt legal. No gay rights. No gun control. Torture is legal. God is taught in the classrooms I think a lot of conservatives should support this

I'm no expert on this law to even comment what it really is or anything

its conservative

one day I'll research it. just haven't felt up to it lately

This has nothing to do with Christian conservatives values.Get a clue!Do some reasearch!


Any abandonment of the Muslim faith is itself a serious crime (apostasy) with severe punishment.

Sharia law has a stringent evidentiary requirement for eye witnesses, preferably from men. Convictions for crimes cannot be based on circumstantial evidence alone.

Vagrancy can carry tough penalties such as jail and caning.

Generally, a person alleged to have violated Sharia laws in the states governed by them would not be pursued, or apprehended, in states not governed by Sharia laws.

Many states which implement Sharia law have blasphemy statutes which punishes by prison or death any person who such as preaching Christianity or the distribution of Christian items.

Adherents of Sharia law believe it to be divinely inspired; as the word of God (Allah).

Muslims or adherents of the Muslim faith, often resent the portrayal of Sharia as medieval. If a statement of law is set out their great book, the Koran, that, to them, is a full response.

Muslims point to “social problems” they say are endemic to countries with other systems of law (such as tolerance of non-traditional sexual orientation, personal crime and divorce rates) and add that the invasive and deterrent features of Sharia law are merited as this arrests those "problems" and thus frees the people and society to attain their true potential, as God aspires.

As with most theocracies, Sharia law is difficult if not impossible to reconcile with the fundamental principles of democracy. One of the features of Sharia is that, in theory, it is invariable and stable. Democratic principles such as political pluralism and the constant tug towards expanding individual freedoms are incompatible with Sharia.

Some other common features of Sharia law, some taken from the Koran, some from subsequent legal texts:

While in public, women must cover their faces with a Hijab.

Men can have up to four wives and can divorce (called talaq) at their option. If they do not divorce their first wife but just abandon her, she is obliged to carry on as a married woman and cannot seek out another spouse without risking the traditional punishment for adultery:

stoning. Stoning is done in public by first wrapping a person in a blanket and burying them in a deep hole exposing their head and the population gathered around is invited to throw large stones at the adulterer, the size of which Sharia law prescribes, and a sentence always fatal.

The penalty after a fourth conviction of a homosexual act is death.

Adoption is not allowed. Adults can become guardians of the children of others but not the legal parents through adoption.

Sharia law prohibits dating and marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim and it is practically impossible for a Muslim (even a recent convert) to renounce the Muslim faith.

But all we have to do is change the name from "Sharia" to "Christian Conservative Values" and the problem is solved

I see some similarities to Christianity in the list.

Some of it is funny to me. They allow you three homosexual acts first huh? LOL By then you could leave town I guess.

The fanaticism is very similar to old fashioned Christianity. No wonder they were at odds. Two alikes always fight....lol

That is by far the stupist reply I have ever read in this or any other forums.Please tell me some 9 year old down the street typed that last statement.

As I understand it, Sharia law forbids usury. This would be a welcome change in the US, as it would put moral restraint on the State. I don't know enough about it to speak about it intelligently, tho.

Reality is....your living in another world.Sharia law is alive in well not only all over the middle east but rearing it's ugly head into Canada and the UK.Your statement is unbelievable even by the most uneducated people on these issues.

(((( Dragoness))))

OOps

i really really really really believe in separation of church and state!!