In the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the Taliban have reported they have a renewed commitment to the rights of women. Of course, that commitment is based on women’s adherence to “Sharia Law.” Sharia is the process of how women can legally live as Muslims.
Most Americans don’t know what Sharia Law is. We in 2017 published this translation of the fundamental parts of Sharia. With everything happening now in Afghanistan it’s important for all to understand:
Key Tenets of Sharia Law
The following are some of the most important—and, particularly for Western non-Muslims, deeply problematic—tenets of sharia, arranged in alphabetical order. The citations for these findings are drawn from the Koran, schools of Islam and other recognized sources are offered as illustrative examples of the basis for such practices under sharia.
1. Abrogation (‘Al-mansukh wa al-nasikh’ in Arabic—the abrogated and the abrogating): Verses that come later in the Koran, chronologically, supersede, or abrogate, the earlier ones. In effect, this results in the more moderate verses of the Meccan period being abrogated by the later, violent, Medinan period.
2. Adultery (‘Zina’ in Arabic): Unlawful intercourse is a capital crime under sharia, punishable by lashing and stoning to death.
3. Apostasy (‘Irtidad’ or ‘Ridda’ in Arabic): The established ruling of sharia is that apostates are to be killed wherever they may be found.
4. Democracy & Islam: Any system of man-made law is considered illicit under Islamic law, for whose adherents Allah already has provided the only law permitted, sharia. Islam and democracy can never co-exist in harmony.
5. Female Genital Mutilation.
6. Gender Inequality: Sharia explicitly relegates women to a status inferior to men.
• Testimony of a woman before a judge is worth half that of a man.
• Women are to receive just one half the inheritance of a male.
• Muslim men are given permission by Allah in the Koran to beat their wives.
• Muslim men are given permission by Allah to commit marital rape, as they please.
• Muslim men are permitted to marry up to four wives and to keep concubines in any number.
• Muslim women may marry only one Muslim man and are forbidden from marrying a non-Muslim.
• A woman may not travel outside the home without the permission of her male guardian and must be accompanied by a male family member if she does so.
• Under sharia, to bring a claim of rape, a Muslim woman must present four male Muslim witnesses in good standing. Islam thus places the burden of avoiding illicit sexual encounters entirely on the woman. In effect, under sharia, women who bring a claim of rape without being able to produce the requisite four male Muslim witnesses are admitting to having had illicit sex. If she or the man is married, this amounts to an admission of adultery.
Rape is a felony under U.S. law, but under Sharia Law it is not. It is akin to damaging something (the woman’s virginity), so the penalty is the usual cost of what was damaged – typically, $400 and up. There would be no jail time for rape, unless the man didn’t pay for the damages.
• A Muslim woman who divorces and remarries loses custody of children from a prior marriage.
7. ‘Honor’ Killing (a.k.a. Muslim family executions): A Muslim parent faces no legal penalty under Islamic law for killing his child or grandchild.
8. Hudud Punishments: The plural of hadd, is “a fixed penalty prescribed as a right of Allah. Because hudud penalties belong to Allah, Islamic law does not permit them to be waived or commuted.”
• “Sharia stipulates these punishments and methods of execution such as amputation, crucifixion, flogging, and stoning, for offenses such as adultery, homosexuality, killing without right, theft, and ‘spreading mischief in the land’ because these punishments were mandated by the Qur’an or Sunnah.” (Islamic Hudood Laws in Pakistan, Edn 1996, 5.)
9. Islamic Supremacism: belief that Islam is superior to every other culture, faith, government, and society and that it is ordained by Allah to conquer and dominate them.
10. Jew Hatred: Anti-Semitism is intrinsic to sharia and is based on the genocidal behavior of Mohammed himself in wiping out the entire Jewish population of the Arabian Peninsula.
11. Jihad: Jihad is warfare to spread Islam.
12. Lying/Taqiyya: It is permissible for a Muslim to lie, especially to non-Muslims, to safeguard himself personally or to protect Islam.
13. Slander/Blasphemy: In sharia, slander means anything that might offend a Muslim.
14. Underage Marriage: Islamic doctrine permits the marriage of pre-pubescent girls. There is no minimum age for a marriage contract and consummation may take place when the girl is age eight or nine.
15. Zakat: the obligation for Muslims to pay zakat arises out of Koran Verse 9:60 and is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Zakat may be given only to Muslims, never to non-Muslims. What amounts to a mandatory tax is required to be given to those engaged in jihad which is among the authorized recipients.
• According to sharia, there are eight categories of recipients for Zakat: The poor; Those short of money; Zakat workers (those whose job it is to collect the zakat); Those whose hearts are to be reconciled; Those purchasing their freedom; Those in debt; Those fighting for Allah (Jihad); Travelers needing money (‘Umdat al-Salik, h8.7-h8.18)
• “It is not permissible to give Zakat to a non-Muslim.” (‘Umdat al-Salik, h8.24)
Following is a very small sample of Sharia Law teachings dictating “how Muslim men deal with their spouses”?
“Good women are obedient….As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” — Qur’an 4:34″
Circumcision is obligatory “The Reliance of the Traveller, a respected manual of Shafi’i jurisprudence, states “Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the clitoris” – ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3
“If a husband calls his wife to his bed [i.e. to have sexual relation] and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning.” — Sahih Bukhari 4.54.46
“By him in Whose Hand lies my life, a woman can not carry out the right of her Lord, till she carries out the right of her husband. And if he asks her to surrender herself [to him for sexual intercourse] she should not refuse him even if she is on a camel’s saddle.” — Ibn Majah 1854
