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Dear Leonard,
We’re often asked, “are there Muslims who oppose sharia law and jihad, and if so, where are they?”
One of the more outspoken and courageous reformist Muslims in America
is Dr. Tawfik Hamid. Dr. Hamid, once a member of a terrorist
organization and author of Inside Jihad, brings unique insights to the issue of radical Islam—as evidenced by his recent opinion column below.
This
is why we added Dr. Hamid’s perspective, and his compelling journey
from terrorism to reformer, to this year’s National Conference &
Legislative Briefing.
Fighting Sharia Law MUST be a Strategic Objective for the US
By Tawfik Hamid www.tawfikhamid.com
Some
see Sharia Law (Islamic Law) as a threat to human rights,
discriminating specifically against women, gays, and non-Muslims. This
limited understanding of Sharia may lead to a half-hearted response
rather than a serious fight for the US's strategic interests. It is,
however, difficult for an honest person to deny the fact that Sharia Law
is a threat to human rights for the real threat of Sharia goes far
beyond infringements of human rights.
Sharia Law was the main topic for discussion in several debates in the US and other western countries.
Careful observation of our modern history reveals that the US has had major troubles from all Muslim countries or systems that have implemented Sharia Law.
The following is a list of Islamic countries and societies that have implemented Sharia Law as the main law of the land:
1-Saudi Arabia
2-Iran
3-Afghanistan under the Taliban regime
4-Sudan
5-Somalia
Without a single exception, the US has suffered major troubles from all of these countries.
For example, Saudi Arabia
produced Bin Laden who led Al-Qaeda and attacked the US on September
11 2001 which dragged the US into very costly confrontations. These
confrontations have cost the US economy trillions of dollars and
thousands of lives. In fact, 15 of the 19 hijackers of the planes that
attacked the twin towers on September 11 were Saudis. Moreover,
petrodollars coming out of Sharia-ruled Saudi Arabia have been used to
support Islamists in Egypt and other Islamic countries thus promoting
more Islamic-based hatred and animosity toward the US.
Another example of the outworking of Sharia is the Iranian Islamic regime
that has shown aggression toward the US and currently aims at creating a
nuclear bomb that threatens world stability and security. The
relationship between the US and Iran declined dramatically after the
Iran regime adopted Sharia Law following the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Afghanistan under Sharia Law
created a system extremely hostile toward the West, including the US.
The Sharia-ruled Taliban adopted Al-Qaeda fighters and caused - and is
still causing -major troubles for the US. In fact, the Islamist threat
that originated in Afghanistan has also affected nearby countries such
as Pakistan. The honeymoon that existed temporarily between the US and
the Taliban during the confrontation with the Russians has ended and
the true nature of the Taliban as an anti-American regimen has been
exposed.
Furthermore, the relations between Sudan and the US have significantly declined after the implementation of Sharia in the country.
Somalia has shown animosity toward the US and has become a breeding ground for terrorists since it became controlled by the Al-Shabbab
Islamic movement that implemented Sharia Law in the land. Several US
Muslim citizens also became radicalized in Somalia after Sharia
dominated it.
If we compare the above countries to Islamic
countries that did not make Sharia Law the main law of the land - such
as Turkey, Qatar, UAE, Tunisia, Malaysia, and Indonesia - we notice
that the former countries did not cause as much trouble for the US as
the Sharia-ruled countries did. This is unlikely to be just a
coincidence.
Sharia causes animosity toward the US (as a
symbol of the highest power of western civilization) in several ways as
we see below:
1- Sharia Law creates hatred toward
the values of freedom and equality that are the founding principles of
the US. For example, Sharia allows beating women, polygamy, and
paedophilia. Additionally, it promotes killing apostates, gays, and
adulteries. Islamists who adopt these Sharia values cannot have
anything but hatred toward the countries that promotes freedom and
liberty.
2- Sharia induces a notion of the
supremacy of Islam above all non-Muslims. Several Quranic verses have
been used to promote this principle of supremacy of Muslims and Islam
(See: Quran [i] 48:28). Also, Sharia rules necessitate that Non-Muslims
in Muslim society MUST pay a special form of Tax of humiliation
'Jizia' to the Muslim rulers. Non-Muslims-according to Sharia- MUST by
disgraced [ii] during paying such taxes. The psychological
contradiction in the mind of Islamists between their sense of the
supremacy of Islam, and the reality of their weakness and inferiority,
creates frustrations that lead to a desire to destroy or erase the
world power (i.e. the US and other western countries) that 'deprives'
them of their superiority.
3- Sharia principles teach the
values of Jihad to spread the religion and subjugate non-Muslims to
Islamic laws. With no single exception, all schools of Islamic Jurisprudence (Shafeii, Hanbali, Maleki, and Hanafi)-until today-promote that Muslims MUST declare war on and fight Non-Muslims until they subjugate to Islam. The
integration of the previous 3 factors can explain to some extent the
observed positive correlation between implementing Sharia and creating
hostility toward the US and other western countries.
To
conclude; The trouble that has faced the US from countries that
adopted Sharia Law in the last few decades, and the enormous costs that
were paid by the US in these confrontations, should make the US
consider Sharia not only an infringement to Human Rights but, more
importantly, a serious threat to its national security and strategic
interests.
[i] Quran 48:28 It is He Who has sent
His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it
over (superior to) all religion: and enough is Allah for a Witness.
[ii]
Quran 9:29 Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor
hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His
Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (Islam) of the People
of the Book (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizya with
willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
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