Run! Sharia is coming!

Much has been written about the recent Center for Security Policy report, headed by neocon loony Frank Gaffney, about the plot to impose Sharia on America. It fits the current mood of hysteria perfectly, and just shows one other element of the carefully crafted campaign of Islamophobia taking place at the moment. But I particularly liked this response by Joshua Micah Marshall of TPM:

In our investigation into the growth of Sharia Law in the USA we came across some surprising findings. Numerous American cities now have one or more Muslim 'religious courts' in operation where believers go to adjudicate family law disputes, real estate transactions and various other matters according to Sharia Law by binding arbitration. These religious court verdicts can then be enforced by civilian American courts. Various states have also passed laws to codify Muslim dietary laws, though a few of these laws have been struck down. And numerous national corporations now process foods to suit Muslim dietary standards. Finally, one jurisdiction in New York has been settled entirely by devout Muslims; no candidates run for office except those approved by the local imam; road signs in the town are all printed in both English and Arabic; and various local practices have been brought into line with Sharia.

Actually, there's one detail I didn't mention. The law here isn't Sharia; it's Halakhah, Jewish religious law. And all the above are true if you change 'Muslim' to 'Jewish' and 'Arabic' to 'Hebrew'. (Actually, Yiddish written in the Hebrew script, to be specific.)

Marshall goes on to say, who cares if this is happening? Personally, I care: I don't think any religious law should be implemented or honored in the US (or for that matter elsewhere.) But that's a separate debate.

Do read TPM's investigative piece on the origins of Sharia-scare in Amreeka.

Comments

[Prestwick]

It is unfair for these people to simply focus on "sharia courts" because both unofficial Jewish and Christian "courts" have been running for the devout since as long as I can remember in the UK.

That doesn't alter your main point however that NONE of these courts should exist. I am not very keen on state institutions with religious ties. One of the reasons why Northern Ireland has such deep sectarian divisions is because of the fact that you grow up in a catholic/protestant family in a catholic/protestant enclave, go to a catholic/protestant primary school and then a catholic/protestant secondary school before finally getting a job in a catholic/protestant business. The two communities are virtually cocooned from each other and recently the rate of inter-sectarian marriages have collapsed further fracturing Ulster's cohesive society.

This alone is an example of why there shouldn't be religious courts OR schools.

[David]

What's so wrong with shariah?

I mean, we already have Jewish shariah courts in the United States. These are called battei din (singular, beis din) — religious courts which Orthodox Jews use instead or in conjunction with secular courts for mediation, divorces, etc. And for those who are worried about the establishment of a religious state under shariah, well, we Jews were early adopters: it’s called Israel, and we have quite the domestic apparatus for defending and enlarging it.

You call it shariah. We call it halakha.

[shthw]

Yes Jewish taxi drivers shoudlnt be forced to drive on the Sabbath as prohibited by Jewish Biblical law. And more importantly, foreign intelligence groups , weapons contractors, and russian israeli criminals shoulnt be in the demonixation propaganda business in the USA unless they are registered as foreign lobbyists, which I dont believe Frank Gaffney has done yet, making him and his foreign supporters, non compliant with the law regarding such activities. an enemy within.

http://shariahtheway.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/csp-gaffney-pushing-tessec-intell-mercenaries-into-sea/

[EricD]

As Marshall also said:

"I don't pretend that this is a perfect apples to apples comparison. The population of Jews in the US will almost certainly continue to decline in relative terms whereas the population of Muslims in the US seems certain to rise. And the fullbore extremist version of Sharia practiced in Saudi Arabia (though virtually nowhere else in the Islamic world) is ... well, pretty screwed up and a lot more threatening than not being able to shave your sideburns or eat pork. And let's be frank, even though it's true that only a minuscule fraction of American Muslims have any sympathy with terrorist attacks in US, there doesn't seem to be any record of any American Jews planning any local terrorist attacks (though the JDL did some in the 1970s.)"

These distinctions make the analogy meaningless in practical terms. Which phenomenon has and will continue to have the larger footprint?

[shtheway]

Eric D is correct than Muslim population is rising in relative terms in the West, and that Seinfeld types dont rig up firecrackers and propane in timesquare parked cars (clearly a product of pychosis and/or mental deficicncy). Every other terrorist plot Ive looked at inside the US where charges were brought had an FBI undercover agent directing and funding the operation (agent provacateur), and each one had similar pyschotic or deficient individuals. The case in Florida was thrown out when the defendants were found to be mentally retarded and paid to act like terrorists while they were being filmed by the FBI agent. But still, it could happen, even though the large majority of American Muslims love American freddom and once prosperity and hate the dictatorships back home supported by US foreign policy and arms.

But counterproductive, psychotic violence is only one form of political action by the frustrated, as is direct action of the Tea Party type movements,. Elite financial manipulation has far more profound effects and efficacy. In this regard, radical zionism wields through AIPAC and legal corruption of the government enourmous power to do violence, in Israel, or through the use of US military forces directed by . In this regard, atheistic nationalistic Juaism (zionism) is far more violent than religious orthodox Judaism or secular or religious Islam. The death toll of zionism is this century must be ten fold the Naxi Holocaust.

And though I regret the use of anti-semetic terms employed by Frank Gaffney's associate, David Yerushalmi, in his article "Jew Hatred", he comes close to a generally perceived truth, that American Judaism through perversions like radical zionism have caused great harm to the west and the world as a whole in a parasitic manner of implementation, a far greater historical risk and future threat, than radical Islam.

http://shariahtheway.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/gaffney-writer-jews-destroy-their-host-nations-like-a-fatal-parasite/