Saving our State or Destroying our Democracy?

Reflection on Sharia Law Debate in America

by Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Former President

In the recent general election, the voters in Oklahoma passed a new and strange constitutional amendment, called Oklahoma International Law or “Save our State” Amendment. The measure would require that courts rely on federal or state laws when handing down decisions concerning cases and would prohibit them from using or considering international law or Sharia law when making rulings.

The title of the amendment implies that International or Shaira laws are threats to the welfare of the state of Oklahoma and that eliminating these laws from consideration or deliberation would somehow “save” that state. It also implies that Muslims are trying to subvert our laws and that Islam is a threat to our nation.

Representative Rex Duncan, who was the chief author of the bill, stated that Sharia law was a "cancer" in the United Kingdom because those courts enforced Sharia. He said that the Oklahoma amendment “will constitute a pre-emptive strike against Sharia law coming to Oklahoma." Duncan also added, "While Oklahoma is still able to defend itself against this sort of hideous invasion, we should do so."

Absent from the debate about the dangers of Sharia are the facts that the roots of Sharia and many of our laws are the same, and that the purpose of Sharia, like our laws, is the same.

The idea that Sharia is something alien or threatening is a big lie that was invented and promoted by special interest groups and some opportunistic politicians who chose to ride on the angry and scared public sentiment fueled by economic downturn, uncertain future and irresponsible demonizing of the "others" by some media outlets. The "others" in this case being the Muslims and the immigrants. 

The idea that Oklahoma courts use or could use Sharia is ridiculous, and the measure implies Oklahoma’s Muslims are all extremists trying to subvert U.S. laws. Let’s not marginalize the state’s Muslim population.

Islam encourages Muslims to be active in their communities and to be civically engaged. Ritualistic worships like prayer, fasting, Zakat and pilgrimage are not meant to be mere rituals, but to change the faithful so they can participate in public life and change their surroundings for the better. There is a strong dose of social justice in the Quran and teachings of the prophet. The Holy Quran speaks often of the responsibility of Muslim citizens of commanding good and abhorring evil, wherever and whenever they lived.  In a famous Hadith the prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, asks the believers to work to change his community for the better by all means possible.

Sharia means "path" in Arabic, Sharia guides all aspects of Muslim life including daily routines, familial and religious obligations, business and financial dealings and community and international relations.

Contrary to the common perception, the sources of Sharia are not only the Quran and teachings of the prophet, but they are much more diverse and include sources which are the foundation of the American constitution and our current laws.  These other sources include reasoning based on precedents and analogy, consensus building (Ijmaa), common good (Masaleh Mursalah), avoiding harmful ends by prohibiting apparently neutral or useful means (Sad Al-Tharaei), social conventions or customs (Al-Orf) and laws of other religious or other groups that do not contradict with the essence of Islam (Shar’a man Qablana).

Most scholars agree that the vibrant Islamic tradition of exploring the foundations of law has reached its peak with Andalusian Imam Al-Shatebi who concluded that the main purpose of Islamic jurisprudence, or Sharia, is to protect the five priorities: faith and the free expression if it, life, intellect, property and progeny, the last two are called in the Quran the happiness of life. He further emphasized that the purpose of every Sharia law is to bring benefit to the society and individuals and to avoid harm, or what is called Maslaha.  What a strange Un-American concept!

Other scholars further explained that avoiding harm is more preferable than bringing benefit, and when choosing between different choices one needs to apply the least harmful. Sounds very American, right?

For any intelligent or neutral person, even those who have no knowledge of laws or sources of laws, the essence, the sources and the purpose of Islamic laws overlap, intermix and quite resemble the essence, the sources and the purpose of our state and federal laws, and to be more scary, the Declaration of Independence and our constitution are 100% compliant with Sharia law. It will be shocking for the authors of the Oklahoma “Save our State” amendment to know that Life, Liberty and Pursuit of happiness are Islamic ideas consistent with the essence of Sharia, and saving their state may imply destroying its link to the foundation documents of our nation.

It is unfortunate that scare tactics and hate messages used by some public officials and interest groups have succeeded in convincing a majority of uninformed voters in Oklahoma, for now, that Muslims and Sharia law are threats to our democracy or to our laws. Many informed citizens are worried that the unintended, or maybe the intended, outcome of the Oklahoma law and similar laws, now being considered, is to marginalize our Muslim citizens and prevent their full participation in the marketplace of ideas, suppress their voice in the public sphere and limit their roles in shaping policies.

If this dangerous trend continues uncontested, the real victim of these proposed laws will not only be Muslims but Democracy itself, as they deprive our political system from the full participation of all of its citizens.