Patterns of Conflict in Pakistan: Implications for Policy

A foundational document to Islam, the Hadith plays a core role in the determination of Sharia law. "Hadith, as defined by Understanding Islam, is a narration of the words or acts of the Prophet, as perceived and transmitted by...

"The former chief executive officer of the Dubai Islamic Bank was yesterday accused in a Dubai court of concealing a fraud leading to a loss to the bank of $490 million.

Local prosecutors have charged seven suspects, five businessmen and two former employees of the bank, of defrauding the bank of $490 million between 2004 and 2007, according to the report carried in Gulf News today."

"The debate over the trajectory of the Western sociopolitical system and its strained relations with Islam is the most pivotal of our time, as approaches decided upon today will impact billions not yet born. Two prelates in the ever more fractious Church of England provide a microcosm of this discourse."

"IN OCTOBER LAST YEAR, Amina Lawal, a northern Nigerian woman, was convicted of adultery after falling pregnant more than nine months after her divorce. Her sentence was to be stoned to death, but only after weaning her infant, the evidence of her offence. At the time of writing, this sentence is due to be carried out some time next year.

Amina Lawal’s plight has attracted remarkable...

In this series of articles, Spencer discusses the verses of the Koran, using Muslim commentaries and seeks to "explain how mainstream Muslims who study the Qur’an will understand any given passage, and what its import might be for non-Muslims."

"Conservatives and liberals have denounced Islamic courts as poor substitutes for British jurisprudence."

"'Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth,' San Ramon Valley Herald reporter Lisa Gardiner wrote when summarizing the message of Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) founder Omar Ahmad to a Muslim audience in 1998....

This article discusses the possibility of the resurrection of the ancient muslim Caliphate, whose aim would be to bring the world under Islamic dominion. Raymond Ibrahim states clearly that if the West desires to avoid this possibility it must act now, while it has the upper hand and before it is too late to act. While he says this is the only option, he also realizes the West has no way to...

"The insolvency of an Islamic mortgage lender in Canada may hinder the growth of sharia-compliant finance in North America, where the industry has struggled to gain traction in the absence of a supportive regulatory framework."

"Muslims are rising up against tyranny throughout the Arab world. They have ousted autocrats, consistently called for democracy, and inspired people from Beijing to Madison to rally for justice.

And yet, for some here in the homeland, Muslims are still the problem. Consider two campaigns recently launched from Washington, DC. The first is the upcoming Homeland Security Committee hearing...

"Interest paid to depositors on savings by western banks is considered a loan with interest and is not allowed under Islamic financial principles. However, the mutual ownership and equal distribution of profits typical among financial cooperatives may mitigate some restrictions under that law and make credit unions attractive for Islamic savers and borrowers, not only in developing countries,...

"Aceh, the devoutly Islamic and semi-autonomous region of Indonesia, recently banned tight pants for women. The government now requires women to wear skirts, is prohibiting shops from selling pants to women, and has even gone so far as to pass out 20,000 long skirts throughout the region. Acehnese police have also been dispatched to find women who are violating the law (insert appropriate '...

"Why is Islamism a threat to democracy? Because, according to its interpretations, sharia regulates every aspect of an individual’s life; moreover, because it is considered God’s law, no compromises are possible. The holistic nature of Islamist ideology makes it fundamentally incompatible with the self-criticism and exercise of free will necessary for human beings to form truly liberal and...

Jim Harper examines the H.R. 6975 Bill which passed before Congress and declares his belief that it is completely unnecessary. He writes, "It’s embarassing that a strong, free country like ours would even consider an idea like this," in regards to its requirements that an alien must declare he/she will not attempt to establish Sharia Law in the United States.

Melanie Phillips blogs about the connection between Islamic religion and extremism. She claims there is a direct connection because extremists use the religion to fuel their power.

"A community debate over religious freedom surfaced in Western Pennsylvania last week when Dutch feminist author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who has lived under the threat of death for denouncing her Muslim upbringing, made an appearance at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Islamic leaders tried to block the lecture, which was sponsored through an endowment from the...

"Of all the Gulf’s Islamic banks, one stands out in the crowd.

Al Rajhi has quietly emerged as one of the world’s largest sharia-compliant lenders and has maintained slow but steady growth.

Against a backdrop of improved lending conditions in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, the Riyadh-based bank reported a year-on-year increase in third-quarter profits of 18 per...

"It's 20 years since Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a death sentence on Salman Rushdie for 'insulting' Islam with his novel The Satanic Verses. The repercussions were profound - and are still being felt. Andrew Anthony traces the course of the affair, from book-burnings and firebombings to the dramatic impact it had on freedom of expression in a multicultural society."...

"In a recent article appearing in Tablet, Lee Smith takes former House speaker Newt Gingrich to task for the latter's focus on sharia (i.e., Islamic law). The thrust of Smith's argument is that sharia is a 'hopelessly abstract concept' and 'a highly idealized version of reality that has little basis in fact'; that sharia is 'a catchall phrase for legal principles that have rarely, if ever,...

"Islamic banking is steadily moving into an increasing number of conventional financial systems.

It is expanding not only in nations with majority Muslim populations, but also in other countries where Muslims are a minority, such as the United Kingdom and Japan. Similarly, countries such as India, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Syria have recently granted, or are considering granting,...

"As big Western financial institutions have teetered one after the other in the crisis of recent weeks, another financial sector is gaining new confidence: Islamic banking.

Proponents of the ancient practice, which looks to sharia law for guidance and bans interest and trading in debt, have been promoting Islamic finance as a cure for the global financial meltdown."

"A new IMF study compares the performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks during the recent financial crisis, and finds that Islamic banks, on average, showed stronger resilience during the global financial crisis."

"Islamic finance is booming. At least $500 billion in assets around the world are managed in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law, and the sector is growing at more than 10% per year. In spirit, Islamic finance seeks to promote social justice by banning exploitative practices. In reality, this boils down to a set of prohibitions--on paying interest, on gambling with derivatives and options,...

"Both Middle Eastern and Western banks spend much time analyzing Islamic financial law these days, as they create instruments that comply with religious rules. The spirit of Islamic finance--as opposed to the letter--often goes undiscussed.

Yet any review of religious texts, Friday sermons or contemporary debate on the subject shines light on Islamic finance's true intentions: infusing...

This piece explains how a particular investment company is following Sharia compliant principles of finance and dramatically succeeding. This piece then explains what types of investments are acceptable under Sharia law.

"The Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists, Inc., Mr. Ernest Perce V., was assaulted by a Muslim while participating in a Halloween parade. Along with a Zombie Pope, Ernest was costumed as Zombie Muhammad. The assault was caught on video, the Muslim man admitted to his crime and charges were filed in what should have been an open-and-shut case. That’s not what happened, though....

"In the United States today, there is a system of courts which is just outside of the federal and state court systems, known as the American Indian Tribal Courts. The Tribal Courts deal with criminal, civil and family court issues, and have their own lawyers, judges, and court officials. The Muslim Community can learn from the experience of the American Indian Tribal Court System as we attempt...

"There are many reasons to find problems with sharia law. In its full form, it contains numerous provisions that are barbaric and irreconcilable with any advanced society: stoning married adulterers, flogging the unmarried, throwing homosexuals from roofs or steep hills, amputating limbs for theft, and much more. But sharia is much wider than that. It moves seamlessly from the public to the...

"Ali, the author of Infidel, criticizes President Obama’s political rhetoric in the Middle East (June 2009) regarding better relations between America and the Muslim world. She argues that unless sharia is eliminated, then various aid programs to the Middle East, such as providing for female literacy, Muslims will not gain true freedom or rights. "

"The world's attention may have wandered from Iran, but recent reports from the country reveal a government that is as willing as ever to suppress dissent and a judiciary that still plans to execute a woman saved from a stoning sentence last month."

"When some American pundits call sharia, 'a growing threat to the United States,' Muslim Americans wonder what in the world are they talking about. [S]haria is overwhelmingly concerned with personal religious observance, not with constitutions and laws. All observant Muslims practice sharia. Defining sharia as a threat, therefore, is the same thing as saying that all observant Muslims are a...

"Richard Thompson, TMLC President and Chief Counsel, commented, 'Muslims dominate the political and law enforcement process in Dearborn. It seems that police were more interested in placating the Mayor and Muslims than obeying our Constitution. Sharia law makes it a crime to preach the Gospel to Muslims. This is a classic example of stealth Jihad being waged right here in America. And it...

Volokh, a UCLA law professor, argues that it is acceptable for private contracts to require sharia-based dispute resolution. He states that the United States law has long provided for parties to turn to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration, including on the basis of secular or religious laws that some might consider unfair.

This article reports that the push for Sharia Law being enacted in Muslim Chechnya has increased Moscow's difficulties in the region. Islamic clerics in the area are gaining more and more control as they press for greater implementation of Sharia Law. Women in the area have reported increased harassment correlated with this development.

Cinnamon Stillwell describes the recent trend towards marginalizing radical Islamists. She mentions the growing trend by leading radical Islamist apologist John Esposito towards calling these radicals, merely "moderates." She concludes by saying, "Britain can serve as a cautionary tale for the West. Scholars who downplay the threats to democratic societies posed by the encroachments of Sharia...

"On October 28, 2009, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, an African American Muslim, was killed in a shootout with agents of the FBI in Detroit. The dead man was one of twelve individuals sought for firearms violations and conspiracy to engage in theft and fraud. But they were also members of a little-known Islamist network dedicated to the establishment, through violence if necessary, of an enclave on U....

This piece describes an attempt by the Tennessee legislature to ban the practice of Shariah law. The legislation was formed in an effort to prevent the "'cruel punishments [of Shariah] such as amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress and independence.'" Concerns were raised, however, that the legislation violated the rights laid out in the First...

"Islamic finance is booming. There are at least $500 billion worth of Sharia-compliant assets globally, up from just $150 billion a decade ago. But just 20 men (and, yes, they are all men) are the gatekeepers to this lucrative realm. These are the top-tier Islamic scholars whose stamp of approval is required before the world's banks can market a new financial product as being consistent with...

Andrew C. McCarthy discusses the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and its potential to devolve into a rebirth of the old Islamic Caliphate. He describes the Caliphate: "The caliphate is an institution of imperial Islamic rule under sharia, Muslim law. Not content with empire, Islam anticipates global hegemony. Indeed, mainstream Islamic ideology declares that such hegemony is...

"A German scholar of ancient languages takes a new look at the sacred book of Islam. He maintains that it was created by Syro-Aramaic speaking Christians, in order to evangelize the Arabs. And he translates it in a new way."

"A decision by the UK government to put on hold earlier plans for the first Islamic sovereign bond from a western country was criticized as a setback for the initiative that could have provided more security to a shaking economy."

"American officials have privately backed Pakistan's 'Sharia law for peace' deal with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley despite publicly criticising it as a 'negative development'."

"Most Americans have no idea what it [Shariah] really means or stands for. But the deeds and rhetoric of some have produced a similar effect: shariah has come to constitute a red flag, even without the misrepresentations of so-called Islamophobes. Many Muslims dislike this logic and are actually as offended by it as some Americans will be by the insinuation that our flag can double as a symbol...

"The countries which apply, to some degree, Sharia law."

"Since the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, there have been many studies of Islamic groups, such al Qaeda, which oppose the United States and use violence against civilians. However there has been relatively little research into how these groups are viewed by the larger Muslim society from which they arise. The attitudes of this larger society are important for a variety of...

"Muslim Americans hold liberal political views on questions about the size and scope of government. At the same time, however, they are socially conservative and supportive of a strong role for government in protecting morality.

When asked to choose, 70% express a preference for a larger government providing more
services; just 21% prefer a smaller government providing fewer...

In a survey on economic and national security concerns, researchers questioned Moms and individuals in the Gen-Y age range about their views on "homegrown jihadist terrorists. A jihadist is a Muslim involved in a holy war of destruction targeted against those who do not share their religious beliefs."

"And still thinking about the Muslim Brotherhood, a U.S. Chapter of this organization was formed and has been in operation since the 1960s. Although the Brotherhood insists it is a peaceful organization that opposes the use of terrorism in order to further their objectives, a number of terrorist analysts argue that this organization is a breeding ground for jihadi and terrorist ideologies....

"The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt in the 1920s and is one of the oldest and largest Islamist groups. It serves as the largest political opposition in many Arab states. The Brotherhood’s stated goal is to instill the Koran, and what is referred to as 'Sharia' law, as the governing body for the family, community and government law. While the Brotherhood claims to be committed...

According to this chart, with the exception of four countries, the majority of Muslims want Islam to play a large role in politics.

This chart shows the percentage of Turks who agree with certain conclusions about Sharia law.

"This study analyzes the constitutional provisions currently in place concerning the relationship between religion and the state, freedom of religion or belief, and related human rights in predominantly Muslim countries."

"Since the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, there have been many studies of Islamic groups, such al Qaeda, which oppose the United States and use violence against civilians. However there has been relatively little research into how these groups are viewed by the larger Muslim society from which they arise. The attitudes of this larger society are important for a variety of...

"In Sections 1 and 2, the article shall provide a brief introduction to various notions of Islamic law as they exist today, as well as the common-law nature of Islamic jurisprudence to establish the possibility of finding a compromise that renders minor modifications of the existing juristic positions coherent. In Sections 3 and 4, the article will provide translations of the entire Azhar IRI...

"The forbidden bay‘u al-gharar can best be translated as 'trading in risk'. In the face of risk, any trade would involve some degree of trading in risk, and thus jurists disagree over whether a specific contract is forbidden or not based on their varying assessments of whether the amount of risk is substantial or small. Moreover, the prohibition is often overruled in cases where clear economic...

"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was created as an 'organization that challenges stereotypes of Islam and Muslims,' ... a 'Washington-based Islamic advocacy group' ... and an 'organization dedicated to providing an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to the American public.' ... Prior to establishing CAIR, its founders observed that 'the core challenge [in America],...

"Supporters of political Islam have launched a multifaceted assault on the principles of freedom in the West. Political Islam includes the establishment of Sharia (the body of Islamic religious law), which contains harsh restrictions on freedom of expression, as well as harsh punishments for apostasy and blasphemy and standards at odds with modern Western norms of gender equality. Political...

"Over the last decade, Islamic banking has experienced global growth rates of 10-15 percent per annum, and has been moving into an increasing number of conventional financial systems at such a rapid pace that Islamic financial institutions are present today in over 51 countries. Despite this consistent growth, many supervisory authorities and finance practitioners remain unfamiliar with the...

"Christianity and Islam share much common ground. Both trace their roots to Abraham. Both believe in prophecy, God's messengers (apostles), revelation, scripture, the resurrection of dead, and the centrality of religious community. This last element is especially important. Both Christianity and Islam have a communitarian dimension: what the church is to Christianity the 'umma' is to Islam....

"Whether Islamic values are compatible with the institutions of free societies is relevant most importantly for the future of Muslim countries. Yet it is also of immense practical relevance for the West, which has received substantial numbers of immigrants from Muslim countries. How should the West deal with them? How can Westerners be liberal in their immigration policies but protective of...

"Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. 'There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be...

"Islamic finance is based on principles of shariah, or 'Islamic law.' Major principles of shariah are a ban on interest, a ban on contractual uncertainty, adherence to risk-sharing and profitsharing, promotion of ethical investments that enhance society, and asset-backing. The international market for Islamic finance has grown between 10% to 15% annually in recent...

"Shari'a is the guidance, the teachings, the rulings, and the way of life Allah sent through His messengers for humanity to attain success in this life and the eternal life. The final seal of this guidance is the Shari'a of Islam sent to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The word Shari'a is misunderstood by many Muslims and non-Muslims and it is often confined to criminal law. ... This limited...

"The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.

The Pew Research Center conducted more than 55,000 interviews to obtain a national sample of 1,050 Muslims living in the United States. Interviews...

"Pakistan’s political instability today is in large measure due to the struggle between three major actors—the civilian wing of the state, the military, and the Islamists. Partition from British India and the migration that followed led to mobilization based on identity, a power structure that was eventually dominated by the military, and the weakening of democratic institutions and principles...

"So what is this ideology we label Islamic-Fascism? What are its sources, theories, aims, and who are its proponents? The answers to many of these questions can be found in a collection of violent Islamic thought called Qutbism. (8) Qutbism refers to the writings of Sayyid Qutb and other islamic theoreticians, e.g., Abul Ala Maududi and Hassan al Banna, that provide the intellectual rationale...

"In February 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams suggested in a speech at the Royal Courts of Justice in London that British Muslims who would like to avail themselves of Islamic law-based arbitration courts ... should be permitted to do so. ... Williams said, '. . .While there is no dispute about our common allegiance to the law of the land, that law still recognizes that...

"Susie Steiner explains the Islamic legal system which has sentenced a Nigerian woman to be stoned to death." She provides information on what Sharia law is and decrees, what a hadd offense is, the probable punishment scenario for a Nigerian woman who has been sentenced to death, and the types of sentences passed down previously in Nigeria for hadd offenses. She...

"This study evaluates published appellate legal cases that involved 'conflict of law' issues between Shariah (Islamic law) and American state law. For every case in this sample drawn from published appellate legal cases, there are innumerable cases at the trial level that remain unnoticed except by the participants. Thus, this report is a only a sample of possible cases—a 'tip of the iceberg'—...

"The normative figure in Western feminism remains the liberal autonomous individual of modernity. ‘Other’ women are those who have their freedom to choose restricted. Typically, ‘other’ women are those burdened by culture and hindered by their communities from entering modernity. If we remain in the terrain of thinking about women as vulnerable or imperilled, and some women as particularly...

"This paper examines the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) and conventional banks (CBs) during the recent global crisis by looking at the impact of the crisis on profitability, credit and asset growth, and external ratings in a group of countries where the two types of banks have significant market share. Our analysis suggests that IBs have been affected differently than CBs. Factors related...

"The Islamic financial system represents a financial structure substantially different from the dominant paradigm. It is supported by the network of institutional elements whose existence creates a strong barrier to the emergence of instability. This system is only in its nascent stage of development, however, and is operating in coexistence with the conventional system in a hybrid form in...

"With more than 1 billion adherents, Islam is the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity. Within its mainstream traditions, Islam teaches piety, virtue and tolerance. Ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, however, many Americans have associated Islam with the fundamentalist groups that preach violence against the West and regard 'moderate' Muslims...

"This paper presents an overview of Sharia law, honor-based violence, female genital mutilation, and forced marriages as they affect women living in Islamic communities in Western countries. European countries have been confronting the issues described longer than the U.S. has, and the paper summarizes efforts made by selected European countries to address them.

At the end of each...

"[L]ocal news coverage of ABC27 on the trial of Talaag E. The judge a self professed Muslim is irate and ignores the police officer and the witness. His finding, 'You have offended their culture, their being, (dressing up as Mohammed) I find it offensive...'"

"Emory Law Professor Abdullahi An-Naim discusses the postcolonial condition of Muslim states while presenting the 2007 Currie Lecture, The Future of Shari'a: Secularism from an Islamic Perspective, at Emory University School of Law."

This video describes how Islamic banks and financial systems work. The American loan crisis is then discussed and its relative lack of negative effect on the Muslim world is credited to their resistance to monetary interest.

"From the Iranium Raw Interview Files: Parts of Manda Zand Ervin's original interview. Under the Islamic Republic government regime, women are deprived of multiple basic human rights."

In this clip, Newt Gingrich describes some of the details of Sharia law and their incompatibility with established Western law. Gingrich also warns that Sharia law is a direct attack on the principles that many liberal Americans hold dear.

This video presents a compilation of images of Sharia law in practice--many of them very disturbing. The accompanying commentary in the form of a poem decries the treatment of women and homosexuals as ordained by Sharia law.

"In what some have described as police enforcement of Sharia law at the annual Dearborn Arab International Festival, last Friday night Dearborn Police Officers arrested four Christian missionaries... [and] confiscated their video cameras which were recording the events surrounding their arrests...Arrested on charges of Breach of the Peace are: Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla,...

"The Lou Church Memorial Lecture in Religion and Economics presented by Mustafa Akyol at the Austrian Scholars Conference on 12 March 2011, at Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno."

"This book is the first attempt at writing Islamic laws For Muslims who have settled in non-Muslim Countries. Muslims who were compelled to leave their countries, and the places where they grew up, and had to migrate to non-Muslim countries in which they now live under different laws and systems, dissimilar values and rules, and unfamiliar customs and habits. The modes of conduct and manners...

“Now, I have observed that there is a class of men who believe in their superiority to others because of their greater intelligence and insight. The have abandoned all the religious duties Islam imposes on its followers. The laugh at the positive commandments of religion which enjoin the performance of acts of devotion, and the abstinence from forbidden things. They defy the injunctions of the...

The Declaration of Human Rights set to govern the members of the Organization of Islamic Conference. It sets down that the nations will be ruled according to Sharia Law. It specifically mentions the differences in rights between men and women.

In this case, a Pakistani man living in the United States sought to divorce his wife. The husband declared that he had properly followed the Pakistani laws of divorce, while the wife sought monetary reimbursement in U.S. courts. This decision overturns a lower court decision and declares the following:

"In conclusion we hold that (1) the trial judge should have afforded recognition to...

Prepared for the Ontario attorney general, Michael Bryant, this piece examines Canadian "arbitration of family law and inheritance matters and its impact on vulnerable people." This report resulted from a 2003 dispute over attempts at implementing Sharia law in Canada and includes a variety of input from Muslim adherents.

"1. The sound functioning of a financial system depends, inter alia, on the users of the system having confidence in the quality of the conduct of business by the participants offering financial products and services, and that there are adequate systems of control over the conduct of business. A framework of the principles and rules that govern effectively the conduct of business of Islamic...

"To require aliens to attest that they will not advocate installing a Sharia law system in the United States as a condition for admission, and for other purposes."

This case centered around the marriage and divorce of two Afghan descendents. On pursuing divorce, the wife claimed that she had been promised a $20,000 divorce payment during their Islamic wedding ceremony. This court decision declared "that under neutral principles of contract law, Mr. Qayoum and Ms. Obaidi did not enter into a valid agreement for payment of $20,000 to Ms. Obaidi upon...

"These are the Islamic Laws [Sharia] according to the Fatawa of Ayatullah al Uzama Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani. This is the English Version of Taudhihul Masae'l, translated by the World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities, P.O. Box 60, Stanmore, U.K. HA7 4LQ. See also a...

"If peace, harmony and equality are to prevail we should start by learning to better communicate with each other based on mutual respect, understanding and empathy of each other. Using such terms as 'Islamic fascists', 'Muslim terrorists' and 'Islamist fundamentalist extremists' do not help in fighting the so called 'war on terrorism'.

On the contrary, such offensive, irresponsible and...

"After having briefly elucidated the meaning of Jihad and the significance of the clause ‘in the way of God’, I wish to explain in brief terms the Revolutionary Creed which Islam upholds so that it may be easily understood why Jihād is needed and what is the objective of Jihad."

In the recent case of Murray v. Geithner, the judge held the lawsuit sufficiently alleged a federal constitutional challenge to the use of taxpayer money to fund AIG’s Islamic religious activities and that times of crisis do not justify departure from the constitution.

President Obama seeks to mend the conflict between Islam and the West. He wishes to take certain steps to establish common ground between the two and to create a better understanding and relationship for the future. Additionally, he does not deny that tension exists especially in the areas of violent extremism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the rights and...

This case involved the repeated assaults on a Muslim woman by her husband. This particular ruling overturned the ruling of a lower court which "fail[ed] to issue a final restraining order." Justice Payne concluded that "[t]he trial court abused its discretion by finding that defendant lacked the requisite intent to commit sexual assault and criminal sexual contact based upon his religion."

This case involved a custody battle and the controversy over whether or not the outcome should be determined in a Sharia court. Some of the judge's sentiments to this case are expressed as follows:

"We remand the case to the Probate Court (for further consideration, if possible, by the same probate judge, after such additional evidentiary inquiry as she shall determine to be appropriate...

"'Maritime transactions', as herein defined, means charter parties, bills of lading of water carriers, agreements relating to wharfage, supplies furnished vessels or repairs to vessels, collisions, or any other matters in foreign commerce which, if the subject of controversy, would be embraced within admiralty jurisdiction; 'commerce', as herein defined, means commerce among the several States...

"The Saudi Arabian legal system in 1992 was based on the sharia, or Islamic law. The sharia was applied throughout the kingdom in strict accordance with the interpretation of the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam. Because pious Muslims believed that the sharia was sacred law, they accepted as judges, or qadis, only men who had spent a number of years studying the accepted sources of the sharia:...

"In this book, now, we are going to explain such various aspects of civilization that affect human beings in their social organization, as royal authority, gainful occupation, sciences, and crafts, (all) in the light of various arguments that will show the true nature of the varied knowledge of the elite and the common people, repel misgivings, and remove doubts. We say that man is...

"Praise be to God for all His praiseworthy acts, and blessings on Mohammad, His slave, the Pure, the Chosen One and His Apostle. The purpose of the following treatise is to inquire through sacred Law whether the learning of philosophy and other sciences appertaining thereto is permitted, or called dangerous, or commended by the Law, and if commended, is it only approved or made obligatory....

"This study analyzes the constitutional provisions currently in place concerning the relationship between religion and the state, freedom of religion or belief, and related human rights in predominantly Muslim countries. The Muslim world stretches from Europe to Africa, through the Middle East and into Asia. Indeed, its geographical diversity mirrors a central...

"When — in early September 2005 — I got a brief request from my editor at the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten to draw my impression of the prophet Muhammad, I had little idea of what I was getting myself into. To me it was just another day at the office. So I tried to do the best job I could, and I drew up a picture of the prophet with a bomb in his turban. I further inserted the quotation: '...

"The United States government is actively monitoring terrorist cells affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in eleven cities, from Florida to Boston to Denver to Houston. But al Qaeda is hardly our only threat. Hamas, formed in 1987, was run by top Palestinian officials in America from its earliest days, and has tentacles in Texas, California, New Jersey, Virginia, and Illinois....

"Democracy in the Middle East addresses the issues at stake in the development of democratic political systems in the Arab Middle East. The first of three sections considers the prospects for the successful introduction of democratic ideas and institutions into the Middle East: Can democracy be established in a region that has been traditionally associated with political systems that are...

"Almost 1400 years after the Prophet Muhammad first articulated God's law, "the sharia", its earthly interpreters are still arguing over what it means. Hardliners reduce it to amputations, veiling, holy war and stonings. Others say that it is humanity's only guarantee of a just society. In Heaven on Earth, Sadakat Kadri, a London-based criminal barrister and prize-winning writer, sets out to...

"What should be the place of Shari‘a—Islamic religious law—in predominantly Muslim societies of the world? In this ambitious and topical book, a Muslim scholar and human rights activist envisions a positive and sustainable role for Shari‘a, based on a profound rethinking of the relationship between religion and the secular state in all...

"From furious reactions to the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to the suppression of women, news from the Muslim world begs the question: is Islam incompatible with freedom? With an eye sympathetic to Western liberalism and Islamic theology, Mustafa Akyol traces the ideological and historical roots of political Islam. The years following Muhammad's passing in 632 AD saw an intellectual 'war of...

"This book provides an overview of the practice of Islamic finance and the historical roots that define its modes of operation. The focus of the book is analytical and forward-looking. It shows that Islamic finance exists mainly as a form of rent-seeking legal-arbitrage. In every aspect of finance -- from personal loans to investment banking, and from market structure to corporate governance...

"Social Justice in Islam' is perhaps the best known work of Sayyib Qutb, a leading figure in the Muslim Brethen of Egypt who was executed by the regime of 'Abd al-Nasr in 1966. Despite the years that have passed since Sayyid Qutb's death, the imprint of his thought on the contemporary Islamic movements of the Arab world remains profound. The Arabic original of 'Social Justice in Islam' was...

"Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in this penetrating book, Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the...

"One of the most controversial and acclaimed novels ever written, The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie’s best-known and most galvanizing book. Set in a modern world filled with both mayhem and miracles, the story begins with a bang: the terrorist bombing of a London-bound jet in midflight. Two Indian actors of opposing sensibilities fall to earth, transformed into living symbols of what is...

"The Third Choice provides a compelling introduction to Islam on the basis of its primary sources, the Qur'an and the life of Muhammad. Topics covered include the sharia; interpretation of the Qur'an; abrogation; women's rights (including female genital mutilation); lawful deception (taqiyya); Muhammad's responses to opposition; Islamic antisemitism; religious freedom; and prospects for...

"In a Western world suddenly acutely interested in Islam, one question has been repeatedly heard above the din: where are the Muslim reformers? With this ambitious volume, Tariq Ramadan firmly establishes himself as one of Europe's leading thinkers and one of Islam's most innovative and important voices. As the number of Muslims living in the West grows, the...

"In response to ongoing abuses of women's rights, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her supporters established the AHA Foundation in 2007 to help protect and defend the rights of women in the West from oppression committed in the name of religion and culture.

Through education, outreach and the dissemination of knowledge, the Foundation aims to combat several types of crimes against women, including...

"Founded in Washington, DC in 2004, the Center for Islamic Pluralism (CIP) is a think tank that challenges the dominance of American Muslim life by militant Islamist groups. Specifically, our mission is to:

- Foster, develop, defend, protect, and further mobilize moderate American Muslims in their progress toward integration as an equal and respected religious community in the...

"Ikhwanweb is the Muslim Brotherhood"s only official English web site. The Main office is located in London, although Ikhwanweb has correspondents in most countries. Our staff is exclusively made of volunteers and stretched over the five continents. ...

Our main misson is to present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misonceptions about the movement in western...

"The Islamic Shari'a Council is an authoritative body, consisting of a panel of scholars, representing many established institutions in the UK, including:

1. London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, London.

2. Muslim World League

3. Markazi Jamiat...

"The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) was established in 2007 to provide a viable alternative for the Muslim community seeking to resolve disputes in accordance with Islamic Sacred Law and without having to resort to costly and time consuming litigation. The establishment of MAT is an important and significant step towards providing the Muslim community with a real opportunity to self...

"For nearly a decade since 9/11, America’s national security establishment’s understanding of the threat of Islamic terrorism and its approach to contending with that danger flow directly from a conviction that they have nothing to do with Islam, except to the extent al Qaeda 'perverts' or 'hijacks' that religion. But what if this characterization of the problem we continue to face is simply...