The most conservative Islamic States like Saudi Arabia operate under a strict interpretation of Shariah law. But many Muslim majority countries have adopted a more moderate European model. The USA is certainly in no danger of having Shariah law adopted here yet the anti-Shariah rallies would have us believe that our American legal system is under attack.
“The premise of these rallies was the opposition of Shariah, a set of Islamic ethical guidelines whose most extreme interpretations violate human rights. The ACT event was cast as a march for women’s rights, which participants say are curtailed by Shariah. Yet while demonstrators at the rally derided female genital mutilation and honor killings, no other traditionally feminist issues were apparent” (source Crosscut)
“I think it’s shrewd on the part of Brigitte Gabriel (founder of ACT for America) to point to the extreme views on women that the more conservative elements of Islam hold,” says Fred Clarkson, a senior fellow at the Massachusetts-based progressive think-tank Political Research Associates and the author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy. “But it’s an empty gesture. Nobody is trying to impose Shariah law (in the U.S.)…This kind of stoking of paranoia and taking a stand against a problem that doesn’t exist — it’s political theater.”
Ed note: We lived in Saudi for a year. Indeed the rights of women were suppressed and the punishments were quick and severe. It does raise the issue of comparability with Western human rights. But Sharia law as practiced there, is no excuse for the Islamophobia rallies occurring here.