Why Does Sharia Law Burden Us for All Girls and Women, Not Only Muslims?

Christians are Islamophobic! Ever noticed how quickly an opposing view gets tagged –phobic? I have no fear of Islam, but my heart breaks for every girl and woman subjected to the laws of Sharia. Throughout the hundreds of European and at least thirty-five Muslim enclaves in America, the rights women have struggled to achieve are being smashed under the banner of religion. Why does Sharia Law burden us for all girls and women, not only Muslims? Can’t something be done?

Sharia in the West

As countries receive tens of thousands of Muslim refugees, some of the Islamic laws (Sharia) collide with the local, State, and federal statutes. After significant pressure from the Muslim leaders in each community, a growing number of secular courts in Europe and America have accepted a dual legal system.

For example, if the matter deals with family court, any Muslim family has the case decided in a Sharia court. If no such court exists in the smaller communities, the secular judge will decide the case based on the laws of Sharia. Understanding just a few of those laws will shed light on the burdens carried for these girls and women.

 

Introduction

First, let’s understand that Sharia is not like the laws of any western country—to protect the citizens from harm and maintain order in the community. Islamic law/Sharia governs the total life of the Muslim—public and private behavior, as well as private beliefs.

After reading thirty articles of the Sharia law, I realized American women may never have been subjected to what these women endure. Should we throw these freedoms aside in the name of religious tolerance now? And, if we turn a blind eye to the spread of Islam in our country, how long will it be before Sharia will be the only law in our land?

With that in mind, let’s look at a few examples of the law governing the lives of Muslim women and girls.

 

Marriage: Child Brides and FGM

Sharia allows a Muslim man to marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she’s nine. Some Muslim countries move the age to ten, while others wait until she’s had her first period. One of my pediatric patients was given to her husband when she was eleven, so I have personal knowledge that this Seventh Century practice continues.

While the girl’s father may agree to give his daughter to the man at any time, before any actual marriage occurs, the girl must undergo circumcision–female genital mutilation (FGM). The age this happens depends on the finances of the individual families, but most families will have the removal of the clitoris while the girl is still quite young.

Where I serve in missions, we’ve known girls from five to twelve being taken away from our programs for three weeks because the family had arranged for FGM.

Under Sharia, no Muslim man is allowed to marry an uncircumcised Muslim girl. Unless her pleasure is removed from the sexual act, the man cannot trust his wife to be faithful to him. Is the husband expected to be faithful to his wife?

 

Marriage: faithfulness

The wife must be faithful to one husband. The man is expected to be faithful to the laws of Sharia—faithful to the Prophet Mohamed and his teachings. Aware of the man’s temptations in this area, Sharia allows the husband to have four wives.

In addition, Sharia says that “a wife is like a man’s field. He is allowed to go into her whenever he chooses.” Rape and severe beatings inflicted on the wife who refuses are commonly ignored by the courts. In Texas, an ex-wife (Muslim) requested a permanent restraining order be issued to her ex-husband (Muslim) because he continued to beat and rape her even after their divorce. The judge listened to the testimony of the man’s spiritual advisor, his imam, and denied her request on the grounds that the defendant followed the beliefs of his religion, making his behavior lawful under Sharia.

The husband may beat his wife if he deems her insubordinate, which may be as simple a matter as her disagreeing with his opinion. She is to be faithful to him in every way.

 

Marriage: Unfaithfulness

Under Sharia, adultery by a married man or woman carries a death penalty—stoning. The punishment can only be carried out if the adulterer confesses or if there are four male eye-witnesses to the adultery being committed.

If unmarried individuals engage in sexual intercourse before they are married, Sharia dictates they’ve committed adultery. Since they are unmarried, the punishment is 100 lashes for each person.

While adultery is forbidden, an allowance has been made to accommodate the carnal nature of man. Not only is a Muslim man permitted to take four wives, he is allowed to keep a sex slave as long as she’s not a Muslim.

The sex slave is obtained as the spoils of war and considered his possession. He may not marry her, and no Sharia law regulates what he chooses to do to her. She is the enemy, defeated in battle.

Herein lies my concern for the non-Muslim girls residing in the countries receiving the tens of thousands of Muslim refugees, more than 80% of whom are men between eighteen and thirty-five. They are not individuals overwhelmingly grateful to have escaped the ravages of war at home. They are fighting jihad against all infidels—non-Muslims.

For example, consider the following account from Sweden:

In 2010 a young Syrian man entered the country illegally. Because of the conditions in Syria, they allowed him to stay.

In 2014, another young Syrian man entered Sweden. He was granted asylum, given $800/month, and a full-ride scholarship to university.

The two men established a coffee house, earning accolades for the success of their business in the local press. The refugees make a new start kind of article came out a few months ago.

Earlier this year, two policemen out on a routine patrol, stopped by the Syrians’ coffeehouse. The officers discovered a sixteen-year-old Swedish girl bound by chains in the basement. Seven Arab men kept her for their sex slave.

Over the past three years, sex crimes reported in Sweden increased 1400 times. The problem isn’t limited to Sweden.

The SWAT team rounding up suspected terrorist in France found the same in the storage room of a refugee’s apartment.

In Brussels, a sixteen-year-old local girl was being strapped into a suicide vest when law enforcement raided the lodging of two Afghan refugees.

In the United Kingdom (UK) fathers are walking their seventeen-year-old daughters to school to prevent their abduction.

When a renown female Muslim activist inquired what the Muslim men can do to avoid committing adultery, Muslim clerics from both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait advised the men to take sex slaves from the non-Muslim population in the Christian and non-Muslim countries.

The captive is not taken as his wife, though union with a non-Muslim woman has a purpose in the jihad/holy war.

 

Marriage: Inter-Faith

While a Muslim woman must marry a Muslim man, the same is not true for the Muslim man. The laws of Sharia allow a Muslim man who is currently not engaging in sexual relations to marry either a Muslim woman who is not currently engaged in sexual relationship or a “chaste woman of the Book (A Jew or Christian.)”

In fact, in times of war, the Muslim man is encouraged to marry a Christian woman as part of the fight. The Muslim world has been engaged in a cultural jihad against America and Europe for decades.

Several years ago, a large group of Muslims in Seattle urged their followers to search after and marry Christian women. Online dating sites facilitated their search. Many such unions resulted in children, which is one of the major reasons for the admonition to marry.

Under Sharia, all children belong to the Muslim husband, regardless of the faith practiced by the mother. Should the marriage fail, custody of all children six years of age and older is given to the father. Those under six at the time of the divorce will be given to the father at the time they reach six. Such unions provide more soldiers for the jihad.

 

Divorce

The woman married to a Muslim may not seek a divorce decree without the permission of her husband. However, under Sharia, the husband need only pronounce “You are divorced,” in the presence of four witnesses to legally end the marriage.

If the Muslim man divorces her three times, he may not remarry the woman a fourth until she has been married to another man. If the new husband divorces her, then the original husband is free to marry her once again as long as the woman has had sexual relations with the second husband at least once.

 

Sharia and Rape

When a girl or woman is raped, Sharia Law makes it very difficult for her to receive justice. She is not allowed to testify against the accused in a court of law.

In fact, the victim must provide the court with the names of four Muslim men who are willing to testify that they witnessed the rape.

Last week, a group of refugee men gang raped a young Swedish woman, streaming their activity live for thousands to witness. Because of the live feed, police had no trouble locating the apartment and took appropriate action.

For two days, the victim received death threats. Finally, she went on television to confess that she had consented to the assault. In spite of the experts declaring the footage revealed something other than consent, the men walked. The rape, just another unpunished violent crime.

 

Sharia and the LGBT

Sharia law has no articles governing same-sex marriages because the practice of homosexuality is expressly forbidden. Homosexuality is considered a serious violation of Islamic law, punishable by imprisonment, torture, or execution.

 

Taqiyya

If you’re wondering how a non-Muslim girl can be sucked in by the young Muslim whose purpose is to marry her for Islam, or how a group of ladies from the LGBT community can embrace a leader who’s wearing the Muslim dress, the answer may be found in their doctrine of taqiyya–deception.

In the law of Sharia, taqiyya is the practice of lying with the intention to reach the goal of Islamic domination. It’s not permitted for a Muslim man to lie to a Muslim brother, but it is expected that he will lie to a non-Muslim to achieve the goal. Muslim women have the same right of taqiyya when it comes to non-Muslims.

 

Conclusion

While my heart has always broken for the girls and women living under such repressive laws, at least the lives of non-Muslim girls and women had not been affected—until now. When an adolescent girl learns that a female pilot may land the huge passenger jet in Saudi Arabia but isn’t allowed to drive a car home from the terminal, she’s not likely to be drawn to Islam.

Why does Sharia Law burden us for all girls and women, not only Muslims? Because the culture and laws of Islam are filling our lands, changing the judicial system in favor of Sharia. What once affected only Muslim girls and women is now affecting all of us.

Can’t anything be done? Many States have introduced bills to keep the courts from accommodating Sharia laws in their state. Unfortunately, wealthy Muslim groups have succeeded in jamming the works so the bills may never come up for a vote. The sponsors of the bills are labeled Islamophobic.

States that are trying to introduce legislation limiting Sharia include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, North and South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

 

Please, let’s not allow the progress women have made over the centuries to be tossed under the bus in favor of welcoming Muslim refugees. Write your delegates at all levels of government to declare you’re not in favor of any form of Sharia law in America. If refugees come to America, they must obey our laws. Expecting Sharia to replace local, state, and federal laws that expressly protect our women and girls is unacceptable.