Islamic Law’s Influence in America a Growing Concern

More news stories on Islam in America

David Lewkowict, FOXNews, March 29, 2009

As America’s Muslim population grows, so too does the influence of Islamic law, or Shariah, in daily life in the U.S.

“Shariah Law is the totality of the Muslim’s obligation,” said Abdullahi An-Na’im, a professor of law at Emory University in Atlanta. According to An-Na’im, {snip}

“As a citizen, I am a subject of the United States,” An-Na’im said. “I owe allegiance to the United States, to the Constitution of the United States. That is not inconsistent with observing a religious code in terms of my own personal behavior.”

{snip} Shariah’s critics point to cases such as the airport in Minneapolis, where some Shariah-adherent taxi drivers made headlines in 2006 for refusing to pick up passengers they suspected of carrying liquor. {snip}

Last year, a Tyson Foods plant in Shelbyville, Tenn. replaced its traditional Labor Day holiday with paid time off on Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival—marking the end of fasting during Ramadan. A labor union had requested the change on behalf of hundreds of Muslim employees—many of them were immigrants from Somalia.

But public outcry over the decision to dismiss Labor Day quickly prompted the company and union to negotiate a new contract that makes accommodations for both holidays.

In 2007, the University of Michigan installed ritual foot baths to accommodate Islamic tradition. “These things are beginning to percolate up as Shariah-adherent Muslims insist that their preferences and practices be accommodated by the rest of the population,” said Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy—a Washington think tank.

{snip}

But Professor An-Na’im believes it will be different in America. “The variety of American secularism—which is much more receptive of public displays of religion and a public role for religion—is, in fact, more conducive for Muslims to be citizens and to be comfortable with their religious values and citizenship than European countries,” An-Na’im said.

Original article

(Posted on March 31, 2009)

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Comments

1 — Question Diversity wrote at 6:08 PM on March 31:

Except that England is secular and Canada is secular, even more so than the U.S., but this does not preclude some Muslims for wanting to pursue Sharia Law as a legal code among themselves.

2 — SKIP wrote at 6:41 PM on March 31:

Further proof of what I have been saying about the muslim threat to America’s way of life. And these foolish black muslims here in the U.S. keep mixing up Sharia law with Muslim, IT IS NOT a muslim thing, IT IS AN ARAB thing. Accomodating the sharia is simply surrendering to a group of people who want to oppress women.

3 — flyingtiger wrote at 12:03 AM on April 1:

I will not obey the Sharia Law.

4 — Anonymous wrote at 1:14 PM on April 1:

“Except that England is secular and Canada is secular, even more so than the U.S.”
Posted by Question Diversity

No. Only the US is completely and explicitly secular, and always has been. England still has a state religion, and bishops sit automatically in the House of Lords. The monarch is the head of the Church of England. The US has no such thing.

Can’t say about Canada, or the Queen’s position there regarding religion. I do know that until a while ago they had two school systems in Montreal: Catholic or Protestant, that’s all, nothing else. If you were of a different faith, or secular, you had a choice of one or the other. (I understand that’s no longer so.)

5 — SKIP wrote at 11:11 PM on April 1:

England still has a state religion, and bishops sit automatically in the House of Lords.

And that religion will soon be MUSLIM, as Obamaster is appearing to want to make the U.S. state religion MUSLIM! He is a sneaky muslim.

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