Posted on 08/12/2009 8:37:15 AM PDT by La Lydia
KANO, Nigeria -- As military rule ended in Nigeria a decade ago, an Islamic legal system was swept into place on a wave of popular support...It has turned out in a way few expected. The draconian amputation sentences have mostly not come to pass. But neither has the utopia envisioned by backers of sharia law, who believed politicians' promises that it would end decades of corruption and pillaging by civilian and military rulers. The people are still poor and miserable and politicians are still rich.
How the battles over sharia play out could have effects beyond Nigeria, a nation pivotal stability and viewed by the United States as key to stopping the spread of religious extremism in Africa. "People want sharia. But not this kind of sharia," said Ahmad Al-Khanawy, 41, a filmmaker, adding that the most visible signs of Islamic law are censorship rules banning dancing and singing in movies made in Kannywood, as this city's film industry is known. Sharia-promoting politicians, he said, "want to cover their failure by making noise about fighting immorality. That is it."...
All this has added up to a mishmash that looks little like the progress sharia supporters had envisaged. In their version, the tenets of Islam would guide leaders to care for the downtrodden, use resources wisely and punish criminals both powerful and lowly. But few officials have been convicted of corruption, although critics point to their grand houses as evidence that wealth is not being spread.
"If anybody comes to me and asks for my support on the promise of implementing sharia, I wouldn't even vote for him," said Abba Adam Koki, an imam who served on a government sharia board for two years but said he quit after deciding that officials were committed only to preserving their power...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Surprise, surprise!
Yeah, it’s worked so well everywhere else!
Want to be right on your predictions? Predict that a country that is taking away people’s freedom will get poorer.
Big surprise there. Muslim governments are among the most corrupt and oppressive in the world.
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