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Sharia (ic Religious Law . The term means "way" or "path to the water source"; it is the legal framework within which the public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Muslim principles of Jurisprudence . ''Sharia'' deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including Politics , Economics , Banking , Business , Contract s, Family , Sexuality , Hygiene , and Social Issues . There is no strictly static codified set of laws of ''sharia''. Sharia is more of a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an (the Religious Text of Islam ), '' Hadith '' (sayings of Muhammad ), Ijma , Qiyas and centuries of debate, interpretation and Precedent . Before the 19th century, legal theory was considered the domain of the traditional legal schools of thought. Most Sunni Muslims follow Hanafi , Hanbali , Maliki or Shafii , while most Shia Muslims follow Twelvers (Hallaq 1997, Brown 1996, Aslan 2006). ETYMOLOGY The term ''sharia'' itself derives from the noun "shara'a" (), which according to Abdul Mannan Omar's "Dictionary of the Holy Qur'an" connects to the idea of "system of divine law; way of belief and practice".1 Legal scholar L. Ali Khan explains that "the concept of sharia has been thoroughly confused in legal and common literature. For some Muslims, sharia consists of the Qur'an And Sunnah . For others, it also includes classical Fiqh . Most encyclopedias define sharia as law based upon the Qur'an, the Sunna, and classical fiqh derived from consensus (ijma) and analogy (qiyas).This definition of sharia inappropriately lumps together the revealed with the unrevealed. This blending of sources has created a muddled assumption that scholarly interpretations are as sacred and beyond revision as are the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The Qur'an and the Sunnah constitute the immutable Basic Code, which should be kept separate from ever-evolving interpretive law (fiqh). This analytical separation between the Basic Code and fiqh is necessary to" dissipate confusion around the term Sharia. The Second Era of Ijtihad , 1 St. Thomas University Law Review 341 GENERAL Mainstream Islam distinguishes between '' Fiqh '' ("understanding of details"), which refers to the inferences drawn by scholars, and ''sharia'', which refers to the principles that lie behind the ''fiqh''. Scholars hope that ''fiqh'' and ''sharia'' are in harmony in any given case, but they cannot be sure.On the Sources of Islamic Law and Practices, The Journal of law and religion {Link without Title} Souaiaia yr:2005 vol:20 iss:1 pg:123 Sharia has certain laws which are regarded as divinely ordained, concrete and timeless for all relevant situations (for example, the ban against drinking liquor as an intoxicant). It also has certain laws which derived from principles established by Islamic lawyers and judges ('' Mujtahid un''). The primary sources of Islamic law are the Qur'an And Sunnah . To this, traditional Sunni Muslims add the unanimity ('' Ijma '') of Muhammad's companions ('' Sahaba '') on certain issues, and drawing analogy from the essence of divine principles ('' Qiyas ''). In situations where no concrete rules exist under the sources, law scholars use ''qiyas'' — various forms of reasoning, including by analogy. The consensus of the community or people, public interest, and others are also accepted as secondary sources where the first four primary sources allow. Shi'a Muslims reject this approach. They strongly reject analogy (''qiyas'') as an easy way to innovations ('' do. They do not view logic as a third source for laws, rather a way to see if the derived work is compatible with the Qur'an And Sunnah . In Imami-Shi'i law, the sources of law (''usul al-fiqh'') are the Qur'an, anecdotes of Muhammad's practices and those of the 12 Imams, and the intellect (''aql''). The practices called ''Sharia'' today, however, also have roots in local customs ('' Al-urf ''). Islamic Jurisprudence is called ''fiqh'' and is divided into two parts:
The comprehensive nature of ''Sharia'' law is due to the belief that the law must provide all that is necessary for a person's spiritual and physical well-being. All possible actions of a Muslim are divided (in principle) into five categories:
Fundamental to the obligations of every Muslim are the Five Pillars Of Islam : HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT The formative period of Islamic jurisprudence stretches back to the time of the early Muslim communities. In this period, jurists were more concerned with pragmatic issues of authority and teaching than with theory.Weiss (2002), pp.3,161 Progress in theory happened with the coming of the early Muslim jurist Ash-Shafi'i , who codified the basic principles of Islamic jurisprudence in his book ''ar-Risālah''. The book details the four roots of law (Qur'an, Sunnah , '' Ijma '', and '' Qiyas '') while specifying that the primary Islamic texts (the Qur'an and the hadith) be understood according to objective rules of interpretation derived from scientific study of the Arabic language.Weiss (2002), p.162 SECTIONS OF SHARIA LAW Sharia law is divided into two main sections:
See ''mu`amalat'' laws according to five major schools of jurisprudence and The Majallah . DIVERGENT DEVELOPMENTS AFTER THE 19TH CENTURY During the 19th century the history of Islamic law took a sharp turn due to new challenges the Muslim world faced: the West had risen to a global power and colonized a large part of the world, including Muslim territories. Societies changed from the agricultural to the industrial stage. New social and political ideas emerged and social models slowly shifted from hierarchical towards egalitarian. The Ottoman Empire and the rest of the Muslim world were in decline, and calls for reform became louder. In Muslim countries, codified state law started replacing the role of scholarly legal opinion. Western countries sometimes inspired, sometimes pressured, and sometimes forced Muslim states to change their laws. Secularist movements pushed for laws deviating from the opinions of the Islamic legal scholars. Islamic legal scholarship remained the sole authority for guidance in matters of rituals, worship, and spirituality, while they lost authority to the state in other areas. The Muslim community became divided into groups reacting differently to the change. This division persists until the present day (Brown 1996, Hallaq 2001, Ramadan 2005, Aslan 2006, Safi 2003).
CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE OF SHARIA LAW There is tremendous variance in the interpretation and implementation of Islamic law in Muslim societies today. Liberal Movements Within Islam have questioned the relevance and applicability of ''sharia'' from a variety of perspectives; Islamic Feminism brings multiple points of view to the discussion. Several of the countries with the largest Muslim populations, including Indonesia , Bangladesh and Pakistan , have largely secular constitutions and laws, with only a few Islamic provisions in family law. Turkey has a constitution that is officially strongly secular. India is the only country in the world which has separate Muslim civil laws, framed by Muslim Personal Law Board , and wholly based on Sharia. However, the criminal laws are uniform. Some controversial sharia laws favour Muslim men, including Polygamy and Rejection Of Alimony . Most countries of the Middle East and North Africa maintain a Dual System of secular courts and religious courts, in which the religious courts mainly regulate marriage and inheritance. Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain religious courts for all aspects of jurisprudence, and Religious Police assert social compliance. Laws derived from ''sharia'' are also applied in Afghanistan , Libya and Sudan . Some states in northern Nigeria have reintroduced ''Sharia'' courts.2 In practice the new Sharia courts in Nigeria have most often meant the re-introduction of harsh punishments without respecting the much tougher rules of evidence and testimony. The punishments include Amputation of one/both hands for theft, Stoning for Adultery and Apostasy . Many (including the European Court Of Human Rights ) consider the punishments prescribed by Sharia as being barbaric and cruel. Islamic scholars argue that, if implemented properly, the punishments serve as a deterrent to crime.3 In international media, practices by countries applying Islamic law have fallen under considerable criticism at times. This is particularly the case when the sentence carried out is seen to greatly tilt away from established standards of international human rights. This is true for the application of the death penalty for the crime of adultery, and other such punishments such as amputations for the crime of theft and Flogging for Fornication or public Intoxication . {Link without Title} Though Islamic law is interpreted differently across times, places and scholars, following Fundamentalist's literal and traditional interpretations, Muslim scholars believe it should legally be binding on all people of the Muslim faith and even on all people who come under their control. LAWS AND PRACTICES UNDER SHARIA Marriage laws See Also: Islamic marital jurisprudence There are two types of marriage mentioned in the Qur'an: '' Nikah '' and '' Nikah Mut'ah ''. The first is more common; it aims to be permanent, but can be terminated by the husband in the '' Talaq '' process or by the wife seeking divorce. In ''nikah'' the couples inherit from each other. A legal contract is signed when entering the marriage. The husband must pay for the wife's expenses. In Sunni jurisprudence, the contract is void if there is a determined divorce date in the ''nikah'', whereas, in Shia jurisprudence, ''nikah'' contracts with determined divorce dates are transformed in ''nikah mut'ah''. For the contract to be valid there must be two witnesses under Sunni jurisprudence. There is no witness requirements for Shia contracts. Nikah mut'ah is considered '' Haraam '' by Sunni Muslims. It means "marriage for pleasure". Under Shia jurisprudence a ''nikah mut'ah'' is the second form of marriage recognized by the Shia. It is a ''fixed term marriage'', which is a marriage with a preset duration, after which the marriage is automatically dissolved. There is controversy about the Islamic legality of this type of marriage, since Sunnis believe it was abrogated by Prophet Muhammad, while Shias believe it was forbidden by Umar and hence that ban may be ignored since Umar had no authority to do so. The Qur'an itself doesn't mention any cancellation of the institution. ''Nikah mut'ah'' sometimes has a preset time period to the marriage, traditionally the couple do not inherit from each other, the man usually is not responsible for the economic welfare of the women, and she usually may leave her home at her own discretion. ''Nikah mut'ah'' also does not count towards a maximum of wives (four according to the Qur'an). The woman still is given her ''mahr'', and the woman must still observe the ''iddah'', a period of four months at the end of the marriage where she is not permitted to remarry in the case she may have become pregnant before the divorce took place. This maintains the proper lineage of children. Requirements for Islamic Marriages:
Divorce laws See Also: Talaq (Nikah)
Hudud See Also: Hudud The penalty for theft In accordance with the Qur'an and several hadith, theft is punished by imprisonment or amputation of hands or feet, depending on the number of times it was committed and depending on the item of theft. However, before the punishment is executed two eyewitnesses under oath must say that they saw the person stealing. If these witnesses cannot be produced then the punishment cannot be executed. Witnesses must be either two men, or, if only one man can be found, one man and two women. Several requirements are in place for the amputation of hands, so the actual instances of this are relatively few; they are:
All of these must be met under the scrutiny of judicial authority. 4 Islamic Law: Myths and Realities , by Denis J. Wiechman, Jerry D. Kendall, and Mohammad K. Azarian, muslim-Canada.org Reading the cited verse, there is no explicit prohibition on amputation if the thief repents. The verse merely says that Allah will forgive him. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Further, if the zealots chop off the hand, and the "thief" afterward repents, what then? The penalty for adultery See Also: Rajm In accordance with hadith, Stoning to death is the penalty for married men and women who commit adultery. In addition, there are several conditions related to the person who commits it that must be met. One of the difficult ones is that the punishment cannot be enforced unless there is a confession of the person, or four male eyewitnesses who each saw the act being committed. All of these must be met under the scrutiny of judicial authority, For unmarried men and women, the punishment prescribed in the Qur'an and hadith is 100 lashes.5, Similarly, under Sharia a woman who is accused of adultery cannot be punished unless there are four male eyewitnesses (or eight female ones, since two females equal one male witness) to prove she did commit adultery. The "four witness" standard comes from the Qur'an itself, a revelation Muhammad announced in response to accusations of adultery leveled at his wife, Aisha: "Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they produce not witnesses, they verily are liars in the sight of Allah."6 Domestic punishments See Also: Islam and domestic violence The word in the Quran used for "beat" is ''idreb''.7 It is a conjugate of the word ''daraba'' which primarily means "to beat, strike, to hit" Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, page 538 . The Arabic word ''idreb'' is used in two primarily ways. 1) to strike up a poem, and 2) to physically "beat", or "strike" someone. Some consider "hit" to be a misinterpretation, and believe it should be translated as "admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and separate from them." Certain modern translations of the Qur'an in the English Language accept the commoner translation of "beat" but tone down the wording with bracketed additions. Whatever ''idribu¯hunna'' is meant to convey in the Qur'an -- and ambiguities are common in Islam's holy book -- the verb is directed, not at a single husband, but to the community as a whole. The word "idrib" is used 12 times in the Quran. Eight times it is used in the physical action of striking, and three times it is used in the context of speaking or applying a proverb. Clearly then, the most frequent use of the word is in physically striking. Here is a Quranic verse in which "idreb" is used: 8 Several '', Book 11, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Number 2139)". Others hadiths do indicate that husbands have a right to discipline their wives in a civilized manner to a certain extent: According to Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi , head of the European Council For Fatwa And Research : Punishments are authorized by other passages in the Quran and ''hadiths'' for certain crimes (e.g., extra-marital sex, adultery), and are employed by some as rationale for extra-legal punitive action while others disagree (quotations provided by Syed Kamran Mirza ): ''9'' ''10'' The role of women under Sharia See Also: women in Islam In terms of religious obligations, such as the daily prayers, payment of ''zakat'', observance of the Ramadan fast and pilgrimage, women are treated no differently from men. There are, however, some exceptions made in the case of prayers and fasting. Women are not obliged to fast during menstruation, pregnancy, for forty days after childbirth or while nursing if there could be any threat to her health or her babies. Much has been said about slavery and Islam, and it is pertinent to know that Islam has prescribed five ways to free slaves, has severely chastised those who enslave free persons and has thus regulated the slave trade. The source of slaves was restricted to war in preference to killing whole tribes, en masse, as was the tradition at the time. Islam in fact limited combat operations to combatants and forbade its followers to attack men, women, children, the elderly, clergy, artisans, and other workers not engaged in war. The Qur'an stresses upon 'freeing the slave' and there is not a single verse in the Qur'an that encourages the taking of slaves. Islam has no clergy, but women may become religious scholars. In practice, it is much more common for men to be scholars than women. Early Muslim scholars such as Abu-Hanifa and Al-Tabary held that there is nothing wrong with women holding a post as responsible as that of judge. Many interpretations of Islamic law hold that women may not have prominent jobs, and thus are forbidden from working in the government. This has been a mainstream view in many Muslim nations in the last century, despite the example of Muhammad 's wife Aisha , who both took part in politics and was a major authority on '' Hadith ''. Islam does not prohibit women from working, as it says "Treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers."the last sermon of Muhammad Married women may seek employment although it is often thought in patriarchal societies that the woman's role as a wife and mother should have first priority. Islam unequivocally allows both single and married women to own property in their own right. Islam restored to women the right to inherit property, in contrast with some cultures where women themselves are considered chattels that can be inherited. (See Widow Inheritance .) A woman's share of inheritance is completely hers and no one, including her father or husband, can make any claim on it. However rich a woman may be, her male relatives in order of closeness are required to financially support her. It is her prerogative to forgive the male relatives their obligations of support. According to Islamic law, adult women cannot be forced to marry anyone without their consent. Besides all other provisions for her protection at the time of marriage, it was specifically decreed that a woman has the full right to her ''mahr'', a marriage gift, which is presented to her by her husband and is included in the nuptial contract. Like the man, however, the woman can divorce her husband without resorting to the courts, if the nuptial contract allows that. A Muslim may not marry or remain married to an unbeliever of either sex 1112. Islamic jurists have traditionally held that Muslim women may only enter into marriage with Muslim men, although some contemporary jurists question the basis of this restriction. Imam Khaleel Mohammed's defense of inter-faith marriage Asharq Al-Awsat Interviews Sudanese Islamist leader Dr. Hassan Turabi On the other hand, the Qur'an explicitly allows Muslim men to marry any woman of the People Of The Book , a term which includes Jews , Sabians , and Christians . Qur'an , On Christian Men marrying Muslim Women However, fiqh law has held that it is mukrah (reprehensible) for a Muslim man to marry a non-Muslim woman in a non-Muslim country. In theory, Sunni Islamic law allows husbands to from when she was married, and is given child support and until the age of weaning, at which point the child may be returned to its father if it is deemed to be in its interests. The wife also receives spousal support as long as she remains single, and the sum of this is usually designated in the marriage contract, but can be varied by the courts according to need. See also '' Ma Malakat Aymanukum ''. Dress codes See Also: Hijab Sartorial hijab The '' (temptation or discord). Turkey , a secular Muslim-majority country, has controversial laws against these dress codes in schools and work places. After the declaration of the Republic in 1923 , as part of revolutions brought by Atatürk , a modern dress code was encouraged. It is against the law to wear a Hijab while attending public school in Turkey, 15 as well as France , where the recently enacted rule caused huge public controversy.16 Some view Islamic Women as being oppressed by the men in their communities because of the required dress codes. However, in more moderate nations, where these dress codes are not obligatory, there are still many Muslim women who practice it. Some choose to wear such clothes of their own free will because they believe it empowers women and discourages being viewed as sexual objects. Others argue that this manifestation of free will actually stems from a "walled garden" stance on the social order. One of the garments women wear is the '' Hijāb '' (of which the headscarf is one component). The word ''hijab'' is derived from the Arabic word ''hajaba'' which means 'to hide from sight or view', 'to conceal'. ''Hijāb'' means to cover the head as well as the body. Customs and behavioral laws ''See also Islamic Hygienical Jurisprudence '' Practitioners of Islam are generally taught to follow some specific customs in their daily lives. Most of these customs can be traced back to (practices of Muhammad as part of the religion) by the Ummah (Muslim nation). It includes customs like:
Festivals See Also: Eid Eid ul-Fitr Eid ul-Adha There are two festivals that are considered Sunnah . Sunan Abu Da'ud 1134 Rituals associated with these festivals are:
Dietary laws See Also: Halal Islamic law does not present a comprehensive list of pure foods and drinks. However, it sanctions:Ghamidi(2001), The dietary laws
The prohibition of dead meat is not applicable to literature prohibits beasts having sharp canine teeth, birds having claws and tentacles in their feet, Sahih Muslim 1934 ''Jallalah'' (animals whose meat carries a stink in it because they feed on filth), Nisai 4447 tamed donkeys, Sahih Bukhari 4199 and any piece cut from a living animal. Sunan Abu Da'ud 2858 Muslim apostates See Also: Apostasy in Islam In most interpretations of Sharia, Conversion by Muslims to other religions, is strictly forbidden and is termed Apostasy . Muslim theology equates apostasy to Treason , and in most interpretations of sharia, the penalty for apostasy is Death . In many Muslim countries, the accusation of apostasy is even used against non-conventional interpretations of the Quran. The severe persecution of the famous expert in Arabic literature, Prof. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd , is an example of this. In some countries, Sunni and Shia Muslims often accuse each other of apostasy. The current civil strife in Iraq is explained by many in terms of the extremely harsh religious opposition between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. Illegal sexual relations : ''adultery, fornication, and homosexuality'' See Also: Zina (sex) Adultery is a crime and, except in the case of rape, both the man and the woman are equally guilty. Thus it is said in Surah An-Noor 20 There are many references in the Qur'an which have been cited as referring to gay and lesbian behavior. Some obviously deal with effeminate men and "masculine women." 21 Unmarried sex is permitted with slaves and captives of war,22 only if the captive women consents to marriage if the Muslim man wishes to marry her. Some translations of the Qur'an call for the long-term or permanent house arrest of women guilty of adultery -- they are to be confined to "houses of death." An accurate translation is that their husband (or their parent or guardian) is to keep them -- not abandon them. Also, if they repent of their sin, God will accept their repentance. A woman can only be found guilty if four witnesses testify against her. Verse 21 seems to call for physical punishment for men who engage in same-sex activity, followed by their release if they abandon the practice. 23 calls for a man or woman guilty of adultery or fornication to be flogged 100 times. Homosexuality, moreover, is considered a grave sin. In Hadith, Muhammad clarifies the gravity of this by saying: "Allah curses the one who does the actions (homosexual practices) of the people of Lut," repeating it three times; saying in another Hadith: "If a man comes upon a man then they are both adulterers." Here, he considered homosexuality tantamount to adultery in relation to the Shari’ah punishments because it is an abomination on the one hand, and the definition of adultery applies to it on the other hand.....As for lesbians, Muhammad said about them: "If a woman comes upon a woman, they are both adulteresses." The homosexual receives the same punishment as an adulterer. This means, that if the homosexual is married, he/she is stoned to death, while if single, he/she is whipped 100 times. International controversy came about when two gay teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari And Ayaz Marhoni , were publicly executed (following lashings in prison) in Iran, 19 July 2005, for homosexual relations. The youths were hanged in Edalat Square in the city of Mashhad, in north east Iran. The youths were believed to have been 16 years old at the time they had relations. Under the Iranian penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be hanged. Three other boys have gone into hiding due to the incident24. Gay men have been publicly executed in Saudi Arabia, where beheading is the primary method, and in Taliban Afghanistan, where men were crushed with large boulders. It's debated how many gay men have been executed in Saudi Arabia, with some estimates placing the number of executions in the thousands in the last 15 years, while other estimates are much smaller. Critics have noted that, in countries where it is punishable by death to be homosexual, men are accused of homosexuality for political reasons. This accusation has been made regarding Nigeria. It has also been suggested that there is dissonance between the capital illegality of homosexuality in many Muslim nations and the frequency of homosexual sex and desire for it, and that arrests and executions are done primarily for political reasons. The Iranian teens argued that they didn't deserve to die because, being culturally denied interactions with women, homosexual sex was common among the boys they know and they didn't know it was illegal. Freedom of speech See Also: Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy See Also: Blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran Blasphemy laws of Pakistan Sharia does not allow freedom of speech on such matters as criticism of Muhammad. Such criticism is considered blasphemy against Muhammad. Many Muslims believe that if there is no freedom of speech, or if freedom of speech is very limited then people will learn to control what comes out of their mouths. In Egypt, public authorities annulled, without his consent, the marriage of Prof. Nasr Abu Zayd when he got in conflict with an orthodox Islamic cleric from the Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The cleric had condemned Abu Zayd's reading of the Qur'an as being against the orthodox interpretation and labeled him an apostate (seen as a non-believer and consequently not permitted to marry or stay married to a Muslim woman). Abu Zayd fled to the Netherlands , where he is now a professor at the University Of Leiden . Treatment of non-Muslims Under Sharia law non-Muslims may be subjected to Sharia Laws however it codifies the treatment of '' Dhimmi s'' in relation to the Muslim state and in cases of over-lapping jurisdiction. Dhimmis are distinctly second-class citizens in that they cannot serve in public office, cannot testify in court and must follow certain rules meant for living on Muslim land and under Muslim protection (such as paying the Jizya ). The jizya or tax is enforced on those who broke a treaty or attacked Muslim with no right (as a punishment) or required from those who ask for protection without enrolling in the army. The rules include privilege to practice their own religion, except for public demonstration of non-Muslim religious practices and the right to convert Muslims. The core component of treatment is the jizya, or tax specifically upon non-Muslims. The jizya originates in the Qur'an which says 25 The "Book" refers to the People of the Book, Jews and Christians, who don't follow their religion righteously, but the jizya was extended to all conquered non-Muslims. The jizya ultimately is less than the Zakah (money given to the poor and needy) and Sadaqah (charity) that Muslims give. In practice, this was rarely the case. SHARIA, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS Many democrats, and several official institutions in democratic countries (as the European Court For Human Rights ) are convinced that Sharia is incompatible with a democratic state. These incompatibilities have been clarified in several legal disputes. In 1998 the Turkish Constitutional Court banned and dissolved . It was determined that it would "do away with the State's role as the guarantor of individual rights and freedoms" and "infringe the principle of non-discrimination between individuals as regards their enjoyment of public freedoms, which is one of the fundamental principles of democracy". It was further ruled that On the other side, legal scholar L. Ali Khan concludes "that constitutional orders founded on the principles of Sharia are fully compatible with democracy, provided that religious minorities are protected and the incumbent Islamic leadership remains committed to the right to recall". WILL THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PUSH TURKEY TOWARD ISLAMIC REVOLUTION? by Professor Ali Khan L. Ali Khan, ''A Theory of Universal Democracy: Beyond the End of History'', The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 2003, ISBN 90-411-2003-3 However, Christian Pippan argues, that this contradicts the political reality in most Islamic states. "While constitutional arrangements to ensure that political authority is exercised within the boundaries of Sharia vary greatly among those nations",Nathan Brown, ''Islamic Constitutionalism in Theory and Practice'' in Cotran, Eugene and Adel Omar Sherif (eds.), Democracy, the Rule of Law and Islam, London, Kluwer Law International, 1999 most existing models of political Islam have so far grossly failed to accept any meaningful political competition of the kind that Khan himself has identified as essential for even a limited conception of democracy. Khan, writes Pippan, dismisses verdicts as from the European Court of Human Rights or the Turkish Constitutional Court "as an expression of purely national or regional preferences." Bookreview of Khan's "A Theory of Universal Democracy: Beyond the End of History" by Christian Pippan for "The European Journal of International Law" Several major, predominantly Muslim countries criticized the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (UDHR) for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non- Western countries. Iran claimed that the UDHR was a "a Secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law. Therefore the Organization Of The Islamic Conference adopted the Cairo Declaration On Human Rights In Islam , which diverges from the UDHR substantially, affirming Sharia as the sole source of human rights. This Declaration was severely criticized by the International Commission Of Jurists for allegedly gravely threatening the inter-cultural consensus, introducing intolerable discrimination against non-Muslims and women, restricting fundamental rights and freedoms, and attacking the integrity and dignity of the human being. THE TEACHING OF SHARIA LAWS Algeria In Algeria , "Islamic education" starts in the first year of primary school with moral values. In junior high school, punishments and laws are introduced (the penalty for theft, the rules of marriage, etc.). In high school the subject is re-named "Islamic sharia" and deals with subjects such as stoning and Zina . The Algerian Matric includes the "Islamic sharia" subject in its exams for all disciplines (humanities, mathematics, etc.) even if the student is not Muslim. NEWS ARTICLES A , 2006 NOTES REFERENCES
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