Free Republic

Oklahoma's "Save Our State Amendment," which bans state courts from considering Islamic, or Shariah, law when deciding cases, hit a major roadblock today, when a federal judge granted a permanent injunction against the measure. Chief Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma blocked the state from certifying the amendment – approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters through a ballot initiative known as State Question 755 – until an final determination is made on a lawsuit brought against it by the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Miles-LaGrange not only granted...

As reported in the UK Independent (10/14/10), president of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain, Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, has reiterated alarming comments made during a March, 2010 interview, sanctioning marital rape. Sheikh Sayeed was in fact responding to an inchoate effort at modernizing the contracts which govern Muslim marriages in Britain. The good Sheikh, representing Britain’s main Islamic Sharia court, the Islamic Sharia Council, promptly published a rebuttal of the contract, which included a statement on sexual abuse (page 6 here). He opined in the March interview:Clearly there cannot be any “rape” within the marriage. Maybe “aggression”, maybe “indecent...

In Pakistan, a Christian man was sentenced to life in prison after a neighbor with whom he had a business disagreement accused him of desecrating the Quran, and a husband and wife were jailed for 25 years for touching Islam's holy book without washing their hands. The reports came from Compass Direct News, the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement and LogansWarning.com. According to Compass, the life term was imposed on Imran Masih, 22, of Faisalabad after he was convicted under the nortorious Section 295-B of Pakistan's legal code, which bans "blasphemy" against Islam. The conviction was based on...

A female appointee with Obama's ear on matters of faith and society thinks Sahria is just swell in terms of "gender justice." All that awkward stuff about a woman's testimony not equaling a man's is apparently a misunderstanding. On a British TV show, Dalia Mogahed, an appointee to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships made some remarkable statements:

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09020175.htm Friday, February 27, 2009 Charges Filed against Pakistani Kidnappers of Young Sisters Police ignore arrest order, but lawyers hopeful 13-year-old can be returned to parents By Jeremy Reynalds Correspondent for ASSIST News Service ISTANBUL (ANS) -- After months of legal deadlock, lawyers in Pakistan said they have new hope they can restore to her family a 13-year-old Christian girl who was kidnaped and forced to marry a Muslim. According to a story by Compass Direct News, Saba Masih might be returned to her family, the lawyers said, if they can legally maneuver...

February 26, 2009 SNIPPET: "Egypt: Over 20 lawyers attend court hearing for ex-Muslim to endorse his conviction and execution for apostasy Muhammad commanded: "If anyone changes his religion, kill him (Bukhari vol. 9, bk. 84, no. 57)." But they're keeping their grievances current, too: "Memos submitted by opposing lawyers asserted that cases such as El-Gohary’s form part of a U.S. Zionist attack on Islam in Egypt, that Christianity is an inferior religion to Islam and that Copts protect and defend converts from Islam at their own peril." An update on this story. "Egypt - Islamic lawyers urge death sentence for...

'A Labour Muslim minister has warned that Islamic law is too unsophisticated for Britain. Sadiq Khan said women could be ' abused' by sharia courts, which may give unequal bargaining power to the sexes. He said: 'The burden is on those who want to open up these courts to persuade us why they should.' Mr Khan, who was made a community cohesion minister in this month's Government reshuffle, rejected the argument that the courts could operate in the same way as the Jewish Beth Din courts. He said Muslim life in Britain was not advanced enough to run a similar...

In London's historic "Inns of Court", barristers practise law in the shadow of the distinctive medieval Temple Church. But does English law really owe a debt to Muslim law? For some scholars, a historical connection to Islam is a "missing link" that explains why English common law is so different from classical Roman legal systems that hold sway across much of the rest of Europe. It's a controversial idea. Common law has inspired legal systems across the world. What's more, calls for the UK to accommodate Islamic Sharia law have caused public outcry.

The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Georgetown University cmcu.georgetown.edu _________________________________ The Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding will be hosting a conference -- "Is There a Role for Shari'ah in Modern States?" -- at Georgetown University on October 23rd, 2008. The conference will be taking place from 9:30am to 5pm. A tentative schedule can be found below. --- 10:45am --- Panel 1: Rethinking Islam? Myths and Realities of Islamic Law Nathan Brown, "Shari'ah and Constitutional Reform" Sherman Jackson, "Can Shari'ah be Reformed?" Jonathan Brown, "Shari'ah Meets Reality: Giving Fatwas in...

Just four days ago, I reported that the UK had opened its first official Sharia Court . Not it has come out that there are already five of these courts with at least two more to come. These courts have been sanctioned by the government, with the UK police actually working with the Sharia courts on cases of domestic violence. I have plenty of friends from the UK, but I have to be honest. The UK govt is absolutely clueless as to what they are doing (to be fair I do not care for my govt either) and this will...

Lina Joy converted from Islam to Christianity eight years ago and since then has endured extraordinary hurdles in her desire to marry the man in her life. Her name is a household word in this majority Muslim country. But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate. Five years ago she started proceedings in the civil courts to seek the right to marry her Christian fiancé and have children. Because she had renounced her Muslim faith, Joy, 42, argued, Malaysia's Islamic Shariah courts, which control matters like marriage, property and...

The subscription site, STRATFOR or Strategic Forecasting, Inc. - issues almost daily a TERRORISM INTELLIGENCE REPORT with a self described "track record on accurate, insightful global intelligence and analysis earning itself a reputation as the world’s most respected private intelligence company". Strafor's Fred Burton updates the ongoing cartoon controversy (02.21.2006)as follows : "Fatwas and Rewards: An Inflection Point in the Cartoon Controversy" (I have highlighted key points received today via e-mail). "Two minor Shariah courts in India's Uttar Pradesh state have issued fatwas calling for the death of a Danish cartoonist who drew caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The fatwas,...