What is Shariah Law – the “Way of Islam?”

A group calling itself Defending Religious Freedom published a pamphlet for Western consumption entitled Understanding Shariah:

• Shariah preserves basic human rights in order to maintain harmony in society.
  This necessary protection applies to all members of society, irrespective of their race, religion, or ethnicity. These rights are classified as faith, life, progeny, property, and intellect. These fundamental protections ensure freedom of religion, affirm the sanctity of life, validate the importance of family, guarantee the security of assets, and uphold the power of reasoning. (whyislam.org)

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But is it truthful or just another Islamic attempt to deceive the infidel?

Steven Emerson, director of the award winning documentary Jihad in America, writes:

• If you want to know what’s really happening in the Muslim world, there’s one man to turn to: Raymond Ibrahim… Crucified Again is a stunning and revelatory book that should be in the hands of every congressman ... and every reader who cares about Islamist aggression, human rights, and the survival of Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere.

Ibrahim writes about The Conditions of Omar – and this is almost inseparable from Shariah – in as far as it governs Christian worship under Shariah. “Conquered Christians had to agree to”:

• “Not build a church in our city – nor a monastery, convent, or monk’s cell in the surrounding areas – and not to repair those that fall in ruins or are in Muslim quarters;

• Not to prevent Muslims from lodging in our churches, by day or night, and to keep their doors wide open for [Muslim] passerby and travelers;

• Not to harbor in them [churches and monasteries] or our homes a spy, nor conceal any deceits from Muslims;

• Not to clang on cymbals except lightly and from the innermost recesses of our churches;

• Not to display a cross or [Christian] book in the markets of the Muslims;

• Not to congregate in the open for Easter or Palm Sunday, nor lift our voices for our dead nor show our firelights with them in the market places of the Muslims.” (31-32)

Elsewhere, Ibrahim lists other requirements of The Conditions of Omar:

• “Not to display any signs of polytheism [Jesus as God] nor make our [Christian] religion appealing, nor call or proselytize anyone to it; 

• Not to prevent any of our relatives who wish to enter into Islam;

• Not to speak like them [Muslims], nor adopt their surnames;

• To honor the Muslims, show them the way, rise up from our seats if they wish to sit down;

• None of us shall do business with Muslims unless the Muslim commands it;

• To host every traveling Muslim for three days and feed him adequately;

• We guarantee all this to you … and if we change or contradict these conditions imposed upon ourselves  … we become liable to the same treatment you inflict upon the people who resist and cause sedition [death].” (26-27)

Ibrahim demonstrates that these Conditions strongly reflect the teachings of the Koran and also Ibn Kathir’s interpretation of Surah 9:29:

• Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to honor the dhimmis [the unbelievers who live under Shariah] or elevate them above Muslims, for they are miserable, disgraced, and humiliated. Sahih Muslim [a canonical Hadith collection] recorded from Abu Hurraira that the Prophet said, “Do not initiate the Salam [peace greeting] to the Jews and Christians, and if you meet any of them in the road, force them into the narrowest alley.” This is why the Leader of the Faithful [Omar] … demanded his well-known conditions be met by the Christians, conditions that ensured their continued humiliation, degradation and disgrace. (23) 

Surveys show that the vast majority of Muslims want to impose Shariah, although perhaps not every stipulation of The Conditions. Ibrahim argues that these Conditions are still very much a part of Islamic thinking. He cites the sermon of Saudi Sheikh Salem al-Ghamdi to prove this. Ibrahim also cited the forward to a paper written Sheikh Ismail, written by Saudi Arabia’s former Grand Mufti:

• It is forbidden to build churches in Islamic lands; that it is obligatory to demolish them if they are built; and that building them in the Arabian Peninsula … is the greatest sin and offense. For the Prophet, followed by his Companions, ordered the expulsion of all Jews, Christians, and idolaters from the Arabian Peninsula, and forbade other religions from being practiced. (34)

Ibrahim writes:

• When it comes to churches, Islamic history is a testimony to Islamic doctrine … According to one medieval Muslim historian, over the two-year course of a particularly ruthless Christian persecution campaign, some 30,000 churches were burned or pillaged in Egypt and Syria alone.

How then should we regard the pamphlet, Understanding Shariah, published for Western eyes? The West needs to promptly get acquainted with the doctrine of Taqiyya, which authorizes Muslims to deceive the infidel in order to promote Islam. Ibrahim can be of great help in this regards!