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| Britain |
| Sharia spreading throughout UK |
| 2006-11-29 |
| Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain, a report claims. Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain. However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing case that was decided by an unofficial Somali "court" sitting in Woolwich, south-east London. Mr Yusuf said a group of Somali youths were arrested on suspicion of stabbing another Somali teenager. The victim's family told the police it would be settled out of court and the suspects were released on bail. A hearing was convened and elders ordered the assailants to compensate their victim. "All their uncles and their fathers were there," said Mr Yusuf. "So they all put something towards that and apologised for the wrongdoing." Although Scotland Yard had no information about that case yesterday, a spokesman said it was common for the police not to proceed with assault cases if the victims decided not to press charges. However, the spokesman said cases of domestic violence, including rape, might go to trial regardless of the victim's Mr Yusuf told the programme he felt more bound by the traditional law of his birth than by the laws of his adopted country. "Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law," he said. "It's not sharia, it's not religious — it's just a cultural thing." Your culture made your country a hellhole, and now you want to ruin another. Just like Californians moving to Arizona. Sharia's great strength was the effectiveness of its penalties, he said. Those who appeared before religious courts would avoid re-offending so as not to bring shame on their families. Some lawyers welcomed the advance of what has become known as "legal pluralism". Dr Prakash Shah, a senior lecturer in law at Queen Mary University of London, said such tribunals "could be more effective than the formal legal system". In his book Islam in Britain, Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, says there is an "alternative parallel unofficial legal system" that operates in the Muslim community on a voluntary basis. "Sharia courts now operate in most larger cities, with different sectarian and ethnic groups operating their own courts that cater to their specific needs according to their traditions," he says. These are based on sharia councils, set up in Britain to help Muslims solve family and personal problems. Sharia councils may grant divorces under religious law to a woman whose husband refuses to complete a civil divorce by declaring his marriage over. There is evidence that these councils are evolving into courts of arbitration. Faizul Aqtab Siddiqi, a barrister and principal of Hijaz College Islamic University, near Nuneaton, Warwicks, said this type of court had advantages for Muslims. "It operates on a low budget, it operates on very small timescales and the process and the laws of evidence are far more lenient and it's less awesome an environment than the English courts," he said. Mr Siddiqi predicted that there would be a formal network of Muslim courts within a decade. "I was speaking to a police officer who said we no longer have the bobby on the beat who will give somebody a slap on the wrist. So I think there is a case to be made under which the elders sit together and reprimand people, trying to get them to change." |
| Posted by:God |
| #8 You and Alec Baldwin will have to fight it out, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-11-29 20:18 |
| #7 Oh, BTW, I am "God." I know I reset the name when I posted this, but I guess comments take precedence over postings, or something. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-11-29 20:13 |
| #6 Anyone participating in a court outside the writ of the Queen should be summarily hanged. It baffles me that this is not be blindingly obvious. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2006-11-29 16:10 |
| #5 wow! It's spreading so fast they have ONE example! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-11-29 15:22 |
| #4 That rediculous, there cant be two seperate laws in one country, actually slightly recist as well cos im not aloud Somali law, oh no im stuck with British law, so now a bunch of foreigners r making there own rules in our country. Tossers |
| Posted by: Tom 2006-11-29 15:13 |
| #3 I'd get on your case for that snark about Californians moving to Arizona except that I know it's true. We're just as bad as New Yorkers. But, hey, at least we're not Somalis. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2006-11-29 15:09 |
| #2 It's metastasing; jihad is not a strictly military thing, it's a weaponization of an entire civilization (built around an imperialist totalitarian religion), and is fought culturally, religiously, economically, politically, with lawfare, with demography, with occupation of public space,... and when needed, terror, or even open warfare when the odds are good. Key element is the forward drive, IE the relentlessness; even in "peace times", there's an harassement policy, to weaken the ennemy (think of the Meditteranean european shores, once the richest part of that continent, which have became the poorest historically due to a millenium of razzia by the muslims from the southern shores). And when the immunitary system of the host society is gone, like it is the case in Europe, and increasingly in the USA, the infection spreads unopposed. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-29 13:42 |
| #1 Sic transit gloria mundy. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-29 13:31 |