One of the most controversial aspects of the Islamic tradition today is the concept of Shariah law, especially when coupled with the much debated and often heated topic of the role and the status of women in Islam. Even to the educated (western) (non) Muslim audience the term Sharia law or Islamic law usually brings to mind barbaric, demeaning, medieval type practices such as stoning to death, cutting off hands, forced marriages, honour killings or the image of Muslim women wearing abayas with Niqabs , chadors , or Hijabs . Some of these images are further reinforced in popular discourses including literature and Hollywood (-like) movies to be found in popular literature or media. These accounts are often written in a compelling fashion in form of biographies evoking in the reader strong emotions of sympathy for the victim (Muslim women) and anger and frustration (directed at the men and institutions which uphold Shariah law) .
With the significant presence of Muslims now permanently residing in liberal democracies in Western Europe , North America , Australia and New Zealand some of these peculiarly ‘Islamic’ practices ,especially the face-veil wearing Muslim women, are at times further entrenched in the minds of an average (non) Muslim (westerner) by their very presence in the streets of many western metropolises. Furthermore, the demands by a minority of western Muslims to incorporate and officially recognise Shariah tribunals in the sphere of family law into the western legal systems, (something that other religious communities such as orthodox Jews and some Christians had the right to enjoy), for those who wish to be governed by them, has raised alarm bells, if not panic, among many non Muslim westerners and some western Muslims too amid the fears that the barbaric, archaic, women demeaning Shariah law is coming to the West and is to stay there for good.
No comments:
Post a Comment