Dispelling myths about Sharia
By Dr Riffat Hassan
Friday, 24 Apr, 2009
I HAVE received a number of emails in response to my article entitled ‘Girl’s flogging not Islamic’ published on April 10 in this space.
Some of them have accused me of lying in order to protect Islam, and of being in a state of denial and ignoring events such as the flogging of a 75-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia, and acts of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims in India and elsewhere.
The majority of these emails — which I would characterise as hate mail — came from Indians and non-Muslims. However, the reservations about the Sharia expressed in these emails are similar to what has been voiced by a number of Pakistani Muslims in the contexts of the Lal Masjid episode, suicide bombings, and more recently, the prospect of having a Sharia-based Nizam-i-Adl in Swat.
As an educator who has taught Islamic Studies for more than three decades, I have learnt from experience that though there are many people who strongly support or oppose what they call the Sharia, there are very few, including Muslims, who have a clear idea of what this term denotes or connotes. Generally, Sharia is used as a blanket term to refer to a code of law which regulates all aspects of a Muslim’s life. It is often used synonymously and interchangeably with Islam and Islamic law.
Due to the Islamisation process in Pakistan, which began in the 1970s, and targeted women through the promulgation of Ziaul Haq’s Hudood laws, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Sharia is its penal law, particularly the fixed punishments for certain crimes. It is, however, of utmost importance to know — particularly in today’s bitterly divided Pakistan — that the meaning attached to Sharia in classical Islamic law and theology is very different from the meaning given to it both by those who have a very rigid, narrow and literal understanding of Islam, and by those who have never studied Islam but believe that it is incompatible with human rights, particularly women’s rights.
What we are witnessing today is a shouting match between people representing the two opposing mindsets neither of which seems to be aware of the classical perspective that Sharia was grounded in normative Islamic ideas of universalism, rationalism, moderation, social justice and compassion.
There are a number of urgent and important reasons as to why Pakistanis in general, and youth in particular, should be educated regarding the original concept, historical development and current relevance of Sharia. In this context it should be borne in mind that Islam is the matrix in which the lives of the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are rooted.
Given this fact, Islamic Studies should be the best-taught subject, but it is often the most neglected and badly-taught subject. There are a number of outstanding, progressive Muslim scholars, both in Pakistan and other countries who understand the lack of knowledge that exists about the fundamental and universal teachings of Islam — not only amongst non-Muslims, but also amongst Muslims.
They also know that the future of the Muslim ‘ummah’ depends on how well we educate the next generation about Islam, particularly its ethical principles which inform all other aspects of its teaching. Help from these scholars should be sought in order to dispel the confusions that exist in the minds of young Pakistanis about Islam, so that they do not end up internalising the flawed understanding of Sharia that is widely prevalent today.
Dr Fathi Osman, an internationally venerated Egyptian scholar, despite his advanced age and frail health, came to Pakistan on short teaching trips in 2006-2007 to share his vast knowledge of Islam with local students. Amongst what he taught was that the fundamental purpose of the Sharia is to facilitate life, its primary emphasis being on recognising and safeguarding human dignity conferred by God on all Children of Adam as stated in Surah 17: Al-Isra, verse 70.
Sharia is not restricted to penal laws but covers all known areas of law including modern laws (e.g., national, international, constitutional, administrative, socio-economic, civil, commercial, labour, public sector and mixed economic entities). The penal law is a very small part of the Islamic legal system, and ‘hudood’ is a very small part of Islamic penal law whose major part has been left to the human continuous legislative and judicial intellect.
The writer is a scholar of Islam and Iqbal, teaching at the University of Louisville, US.
rshass01@gwise.louisville.edu