The Archbishop and Sharia

On 7 February 2008, Dr. Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Anglican Church, spoke of accommodating British Law to Sharia or incorporating elements of Sharia into English Law.

Though the reaction in the media and by politicians has been mostly negative, many people still wonder what are the main aspects related to such a proposition. On this page, we want to collect a number of links to articles that should be helpful to grasp the issues and see the matter clearly.

• The Archbishop's speech by Melanie Phillips
• Barnabas Fund Response to the Archbishop of Canterbury`s recommendation to apply Islamic law in the UK by Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
• The Archbishop and Shari‘a: a Pas de Deux?
• Slouching Toward Sharia by M. Zuhdi Jasser
• The Fallacy of Shared Values

Long before these comments of the Archbishop hit the news, Dr. James Arlandson had written a series of articles on the Muslim goal of introducing Sharia in Europe and North America. The first entry is his overview article and the others are detailed discussions of specific matters:

• Top ten reasons why sharia (Islamic law) is bad for all societies: Does Islam really practice human rights?
• Why Islam today shuts down freedom of religion: Apostasy in the Quran, Traditions, and Islamic Law
• Thieves, give Muhammad a hand!
• Crucifixion and mutilation? — Just say NO to Islamic law!
• Stoning and Flogging — Is there a better way?
• The law of retaliation in the Quran and early Islam
• Muhammad’s critics and their deaths: Why the West must protect freedom of speech
• Muhammad, the Quran, and Prohibition: Islam’s punishments for drinking and gambling
• Sharia sure ain’t gay: Muhammad and the homosexual

The Archbishop speaks of not incorporating hudud (punishments) into English law or of permitting this area in Islamic courts of arbitration. However, sharia impacts women the most negatively, and this part of sharia is not concerned with hudud per se. Here are some articles that explain such laws as inheritance (men get twice the share as women do); courtroom testimony (men's count twice that of women); divorce (easy for men, but not for women); and a strange remarriage law (after a divorce, if the couple wants to reconcile and marry each other again, the ex-wife must marry another man and then get divorced from him),

• The truth about Muslim-Christian marriages
• Women are inferior to men in the Quran
• Polygamy in the Quran
• A strange divorce and remarriage law in the Quran
• Top ten rules in the Quran that oppress and insult women

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