What is Sharia?

Sharia law is Islamic law. Sharia is the basis for every demand that Muslims make on our society. When schools are asked to give up a room for Islamic prayer, that is asking us to implement Sharia law. When a Muslim wears a head scarf, that is in obedience to Sharia law. When our newspapers would not publish the Danish Mohammed cartoons, our newspapers were submitting to the demands of Sharia law. When demands are made for our hospitals to treat Muslim women in special ways, that is Sharia. When our textbooks have to be vetted by Muslim organizations before they are used in our schools, that is in accordance with Sharia law.

The attack on the World Trade Center was done in adherence to the rules of war, jihad, found in Sharia law. Sharia law is the basis for the religious, political and cultural life of all Muslims.

Sharia law is being implemented more and more in America and yet there is no knowledge about what Sharia actually is since public, private or religious schools do not teach it.

THE GOOD NEWS

The easiest way to learn about Islam is through Sharia law. Through learning about Sharia you are introduced to the Koran and Mohammed in a practical manner. It is easy to learn when you can see the direct application and examples.

When you know Sharia, Islam suddenly makes sense, it all fits together. Most people think Islam is complicated or even impossible to understand, but when you understand its principles, Islam is very, very logical. It is based on different views of humanity, logic, knowledge, and ethics. Once you understand the principles and logic, you not only can explain what and why something is happening, but you will be able to predict the next step in the process.

UNDERSTANDING THE REFERENCE NUMBERS

Before you can understand Sharia, you have to learn about three books that are the basis of Sharia.
Each ruling or law in Sharia is based on a reference in the Koran or the Sunna, the perfect example of Mohammed (found in two texts-Hadith and Sira). Each and every law in Islam must come from the Koran and the Sunna.

We know the Sunna by knowing about the personal details of Mohammed’s life. We know how he cleaned his teeth and which shoe he put on first. We know the Sunna because we have the Sira and the Hadith.

You probably think that the Koran is the bible of Islam. Not true. The bible of Islam is the Koran, the Sira and the Hadith. These three texts can be called the Trilogy.

The Koran is a small part, only 14% of the total words, of the doctrine that is Islam. The text devoted to the Sunna is 86% of the total textual doctrine of Islam. Islam is 14% Allah and 86% Mohammed.

Sharia is nothing more than a condensation and extrapolation of the Koran and the Sunna. Therefore, it is impossible to understand the Sharia without some understanding about the doctrine found in the Koran, Hadith and the Sira. Turn to any page after this chapter and you will find that most of the paragraphs have an index number.

The classic Sharia law text is the Reliance of the Traveller, N. Keller, Amana Publications. (Yes, the correct spelling is Traveller with a double l.) It is a 1,200 page book devoted to such subjects as: political control of non-Muslims, prayer, jihad, wills and estates, punishment, court rules, and land use. It covers legalities and theology.

Here is a typical paragraph:

08.0 APOSTACY FROM ISLAM

08.1 When a person who has reached puberty and is sane, voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed.

[Bukhari 9,83,17] Mohammed: “A Muslim who has admitted that there is no god but Allah and that I am His prophet may not be killed except for three reasons: as punishment for murder, for adultery, or for apostasy.”

The o8.1 is an index number in the Sharia law text, The Reliance of the Traveller. The text is divided into divisions, a, b, c, … This particular law is found in division o; section 8; subsection 1. With the index number, o8.1, you can read the source, The Reliance of the Traveller.

We not only have the law, apostates (people who leave Islam) should be killed, but we have the supporting doctrine found in a hadith, a sacred text used along with the Koran. A hadith is what Mohammed did or said. This particular hadith is by Bukhari, the major collector of Mohammed’s stories. Notice the index number–9,83,17. This is like a chapter and verse index so that you can go and read the original. All of the Hadith, including Bukhari, can be found on many university Internet sites.

Here is a Sharia law supported by the Koran:

09.0 JIHAD
Jihad means war against Kafirs to establish Islam.
Koran 2:216 You are commanded to fight although you dislke it. You may hate something that is good for you, and love something that is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not.

Here we have the Sharia defining what jihad is and then gives its foundational reference for the authority. Again, you can verify the accuracy of the Koran verses and the original reference, 09.0, in the Reliance of the Traveller.

There is one last type of reference to a supporting document.

DEALING WITH A REBELLIOUS WIFE
m10.12 When a husband notices signs of rebelliousness…
Ishaq969 … Men were to lay injunctions on women lightly for they were prisoners of men and had no control over their persons.

Here we have the usual Sharia reference number, m10.12, which allows you to read the original reference. The Ishaq index number, 969, is a margin note reference that allows you to look in the Sira (Mohammed’s biography-The Life of Muhammad, A. Guillaume) and verify the truth of the reference.

BELIEVABLE AND AUTHORITATIVE

This is fact-based knowledge based upon critical thought and analysis. What you see here can all be independently verified for yourself.

This is a very different approach than asking a Muslim or an “expert” in the media. If a Muslim or any expert says something about Islam that disagrees with the Koran or Sunna, then the expert is wrong. If the expert says something that agrees with Koran or Sunna, then the expert is right, but redundant.

Once you know Koran and Sunna, you don’t need anybody else.

POLTICAL ISLAM

The largest part of the Trilogy is not about how to be a good Muslim. Instead most of the text is devoted to the unbeliever. The Koran devotes 64% of its total words to the unbeliever and the Trilogy, as a whole, devotes 60% of its text to the unbelievers.

Islam is NOT a religion. It is a complete civilization with a detailed political system, religion and a legal code-the Sharia. Mohammed preached the religion of Islam for 13 years in Mecca and got 150 Arabs to convert to Islam. He went to Medina and became a politician and a war-lord. After 2 years in Medina, every Jew was murdered, enslaved, or exiled. He was involved in an event of violence on the average of every 6 weeks for the last 9 years of his life. Mohammed died without a single enemy left standing.

This was not a religious process, but a political process. Jihad is political action with a religious motivation. Political Islam is the doctrine that deals with the non-Muslim.

Mohammed did not succeed with his program of religion, but his political process of jihad triumphed. Sharia law is the political implementation of the Islamic civilization.

The political nature of Islam is what creates the major difference between Sharia and Jewish religious law, halaka. Jewish law has nothing to say about non-Jews and explicitly says that the law of the land trumps halaka.

Sharia has a lot to say about Kafirs and how they are to be treated, subjugated and ruled. Sharia claims political supremacy over the Constitution.

There is nothing good for non-Muslims in the Sharia. This is why every unbeliever has a reason to know Sharia law, especially those in politics, policy, regulation and legal matters. Sharia law is about the unbeliever as well as the Muslim. Islam’s attitudes and actions about unbelievers are political, not religious.

Even though Sharia violates every principle of our Constitution, it is being implemented today, since Islam is seen as only as a religion.

MUSLIMS AND SHARIA

Non-Muslims call Muslims that seem nice, moderate Muslims. This use of the word “moderate” is not based on Islam.

A moderate Muslim is one who follows the Sharia. As much as they follow the Sharia, they are a Muslim. To the degree they don’t follow the Sharia, they are a failure at being a Muslim.

The Sharia is based on the perfect, unchanging Koran and Sunna. Therefore, the Sharia is perfect and unchanging. If every Muslim in the world wanted to change a single letter of the Koran, the Sunna or the Sharia, they could not. How can perfection be improved? How can an eternal text be changed? Since the Sharia is nothing more than a codification of perfect, unchanging, universal texts, it is a perfect, unchanging and universal legal code.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

If you read something in this book and want to know more, most paragraphs have an index number. You can look it up.
Koran 1:2 is a reference to the Koran, chapter 1, verse 2.
Ishaq 123 is a reference to Ishaq’s Sira, margin note 123.
[Bukhari 1,3,4] is a reference to Sahih Bukhari, volume 1, book 3, number 4. (Sahih means authoritative and authentic.)
[Muslim 012, 1234] is a reference to Sahih Muslim, book 12, number 1234.

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Bill Warner, Center for the Study of Political Islam
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