Professor Stern has shared the Jewish experience on the Sharia issue. I have listed this in the top ten articles to understand Sharia from simple to complex perspectives at www.ShariaLaws.com on the left panel.

A Sharia conference is a must, Insha Allah, I will put a proposal, program outline and the content together, whoever wants to run the conference anywhere, they are welcome to do it on their own, it becomes a basic model to improvise and enhance from. Or they can fund the project, we can do it.

For this to be successful the guests have to be politicians running for elections, area Mayors, state and national representatives and of course, the clergy from EVERY religious tradition must be invited to participate and speak on the panel. I have identified Non-Muslim authors, politicians, clergy and professors who can present Sharia along with our Imams. We need to place all cards on the table and find comprehensive and sustainable solutions. The hardcore guys like Gingrich, Palin, Horowitz and others will not change, that is their livelihood, but the majority wants an assurance from us that there is nothing to be afraid of, we need to reach them.

Don’t Fear Islamic Law in America
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/09/dont-fear-islamic-law-in-america.html

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Please do attend the event on Sunday, September 5, 2011 - a Muslim initiative on 9/11 events in its 7th year public event. Details are at www.Unitydayusa.com, please share this with your friends.

Mike Ghouse
Committed to Cohesive Socities
www.MikeGhouse.net
Op-Ed Contributor

Don’t Fear Islamic Law in America

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/dont-fear-islamic-law-in-america.html?_r=3&hp

By ELIYAHU STERN

Published: September 2, 2011

MORE than a dozen American states are considering outlawing aspects of Shariah law. Some of these efforts would curtail Muslims from settling disputes over dietary laws and marriage through religious arbitration, while others would go even further in stigmatizing Islamic life: a bill recently passed by the Tennessee General Assembly equates Shariah with a set of rules that promote “the destruction of the national existence of the United States.”

Supporters of these bills contend that such measures are needed to protect the country against homegrown terrorism and safeguard its Judeo-Christian values. The Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said that “Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.”

This is exactly wrong. The crusade against Shariah undermines American democracy, ignores our country’s successful history of religious tolerance and assimilation, and creates a dangerous divide between America and its fastest-growing religious minority.

The suggestion that Shariah threatens American security is disturbingly reminiscent of the accusation, in 19th-century Europe, that Jewish religious law was seditious. In 1807, Napoleon convened an assembly of rabbinic authorities to address the question of whether Jewish law prevented Jews from being loyal citizens of the republic. (They said that it did not.)

Fear that Jewish law bred disloyalty was not limited to political elites; leading European philosophers also entertained the idea. Kant argued that the particularistic nature of “Jewish legislation” made Jews “hostile to all other peoples.” And Hegel contended that Jewish dietary rules and other Mosaic laws barred Jews from identifying with their fellow Prussians and called into question their ability to be civil servants.

The German philosopher Bruno Bauer offered Jews a bargain: renounce Jewish law and be granted full legal rights. He insisted that, otherwise, laws prohibiting work on the Sabbath made it impossible for Jews to be true citizens. (Bauer conveniently ignored the fact that many fully observant Jews violated the Sabbath to fight in the Prussian wars against Napoleon.)

During that era, Christianity was seen as either a universally valid basis of the state or a faith that harmoniously coexisted with the secular law of the land. Conversely, Judaism was seen as a competing legal system — making Jews at best an unassimilable minority, at worst a fifth column. It was not until the late 19th century that all Jews were granted full citizenship in Western Europe (and even then it was short lived).

Most Americans today would be appalled if Muslims suffered from legally sanctioned discrimination as Jews once did in Europe. Still, there are signs that many Americans view Muslims in this country as disloyal. A recent Gallup poll found that only 56 percent of Protestants think that Muslims are loyal Americans.

This suspicion and mistrust is no doubt fueled by the notion that American Muslims are akin to certain extreme Muslim groups in the Middle East and in Europe. But American Muslims are a different story. They are natural candidates for assimilation. They are demographically the youngest religious group in America, and most of their parents don’t even come from the Middle East (the majority have roots in Southeast Asia). A recent Pew Research Center poll found that Muslim Americans exhibit the highest level of integration among major American religious groups, expressing greater degrees of tolerance toward people of other faiths than do Protestants, Catholics or Jews.

Given time, American Muslims, like all other religious minorities before them, will adjust their legal and theological traditions, if necessary, to accord with American values.

America’s exceptionalism has always been its ability to transform itself — economically, culturally and religiously. In the 20th century, we thrived by promoting a Judeo-Christian ethic, respecting differences and accentuating commonalities among Jews, Catholics and Protestants. Today, we need an Abrahamic ethic that welcomes Islam into the religious tapestry of American life.

Anti-Shariah legislation fosters a hostile environment that will stymie the growth of America’s tolerant strand of Islam. The continuation of America’s pluralistic religious tradition depends on the ability to distinguish between punishing groups that support terror and blaming terrorist activities on a faith that represents roughly a quarter of the world’s population.

Eliyahu Stern, an assistant professor of religious studies and history at Yale, is the author of the forthcoming “The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism.”

The $43 Million Islamophobia Machine

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/09/the_43_million_islamophobia_machine.html

Is President Obama a secret Muslim? Is Sharia law the radical scourge that’s threatening the very fabric of U.S. democracy? Contrary to the saying, a lie repeated often enough won’t make it a true. But that doesn’t mean anti-Muslim activists, armed with millions of dollars of foundation support, won’t stop trying.

It turns out a handful of seven donors have given nearly $43 million over the last decade to fund a close network of right-wing intellectuals and scholars who’ve concocted and fanned Islamophobic hysteria to push an anti-Muslim political agenda.

According to “Fear Inc.,” a new report released by the Center for American Progress, those millions have gone to a coordinated network of anti-Muslim thought leaders: Frank Gaffney at the Center for Security Policy; David Yerushalmi at the Society of Americans for National Existence; Daniel Pipes at the Middle East Forum; Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch and Stop Islamization of America and Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

This network, with millions of dollars behind it, has moved an agenda that seeks to pit Islam against the West, that imagines Muslims as untrustworthy and dangerous, that has painted Muslims as a looming threat who are out to undermine American democracy and national security. And with the help of activists, right-wing bloggers and a platform from a more than obliging cable news system, these fringe ideas have become more and more mainstream.

“There is a coordinated, strategic, deliberate, interconnected agenda here, which has very detrimental effects on fellow Americans and our communities and which really poisons the well of civil discourse,” says Wajahat Ali, the lead author of the CAP report.

“We’re living in a post-9/11 environment so what the network does is very cynically exploits fear, hysteria and misinformation and ignorance for the sake of profit, and for the sake of pushing an anti-Muslim agenda under the guise of allegedly combating radical Islam and protecting our national security,” Ali said.

It’s in this post-9/11 climate that the most absurd statements have become commonplace in the mainstream political discourse.

“Arabic is not just another language like French or Italian, it is the spearhead of an ideological project that is deeply opposed to the United States,” Pam Geller wrote in February on her right-wing blog Atlas Shrugs. She is closely connected with David Horowitz, whose anti-Muslim group the David Horowitz Freedom Center has raked in $8.3 million in the last decade. Or, in the words of Bridgitte Gabriel: “[Muslims and Arabs] have no soul. They are dead set on killing and destruction.”
It’s the kind of extremist thought leadership that has paved the way for Rep. Peter King’s congressional hearings on the supposed Islamic radicalization of the country. They’re the authors whose anti-Muslim rants were cited dozens of times in the Oslo, Norway shooter Behring Breivik’s manifesto. These are the people who’ve singlehandedly brought anti-Sharia laws to over a dozen statehouses. They’re the machine that’s given rise to the idea that Obama might secretly be Muslim, and that were that true, it’d somehow be a terrible offense.

Ali says that the success of this messaging rests in part on the fact that 60 percent of Americans claim not to know any Muslim person, and so people rely for on mainstream media and the words of political leaders for information.

The anti-Muslim rhetoric firing across the airwaves and in congressional hearings has real-life impacts, too. It’s provided the political cover for a whole slew of policies that have targeted Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern and South Asian communities. An AP investigation published last week uncovered a years long domestic surveillance program that the NYPD had undertaken to gather information on Muslim communities. The invasive surveillance measures meant that New York police had broad powers to monitor, harass and racially profile New York Muslims.

But the manufactured threat has been overblown, experts say. A 2010 study from Duke University found that the imagined threat of Muslim fundamentalists committing acts of terrorism was exaggerated. The study tracked 139 known radicalized Muslim-Americans who had attempted to carry out acts of terrorism or had been prosecuted in connection with suspected acts of terrorism—they are just a handful of the nation’s 6.2 million Muslims.

“Muslim-American organizations and the vast majority of individuals that we interviewed firmly reject the radical extremist ideology that justifies the use of violence to achieve political ends,” David Schanzer, an associate professor at Duke and the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, said in a statement at the report’s release.

And this week a new report from the Pew Research Center found that American Muslims are concerned about the exact same things everyone else is: they take national security seriously and are distrustful of extremism in many forms, even as they report being unfairly seen as suspect themselves. American Muslims overwhelmingly have both, Pew reports, “mainstream and moderate” attitudes.
Nevertheless, in the last decade, Muslims, Arabs, Middle Easterners, South Asians and those who’ve been confused for any of the above, have been the targets of a marked rise in job-related discrimination, hate crimes and biased-based bullying.

“Fear is a two-way street,” said Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. “It’s created fear within the community too.”

Billoo said that since September 11, it’s not uncommon for American Muslims to be confronted by anti-Muslim incidents in their daily life, the the utter frequency of which have begun to normalize Islamophobic rhetoric in even her community members’ eyes.

“Some sort of hate is manifested but it doesn’t rise to the level of a hate crime,” Billoo explained, “where someone calls me a terrorist, or someone looks at me funny, or someone yells something from their car at me.”

“It’s happened for so long that many people have taken it in as their reality and stopped complaining when it’s not okay, whether it’s happening to them or anyone else.”

Ali urged people to put the current debates within a historical context. “What’s happening right now is simply a remake. The characters in the past were Jews, Irish Catholics, and Japanese Americans,” Ali said. “And the scapegoating of those minority communities represents in hindsight the worst of America.”

Ali said he hoped the report would give these funders an opportunity to assess their political priorities and distance themselves from the obvious fearmongering that they’ve funded. He said that the U.S. needs to learn from its past mistakes and regain its moral compass to bring some moderation back to the national discourse.

“What’s inspiring is that America usually does find its way back,” Ali said. “Sometimes grudgingly, and sometimes after making mistakes along the way. But we’re a resilient nation, eventually we find our way.”

Anti-Sharia Republicans Still Don't Know What Sharia Is

By Adam Serwer | Posted 07/12/2011 at 10:30 AM

Justin Elliott interviews Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa social conservative who authored the pledge that suggested black families were better off during slavery:

There's one section in the pledge that says the candidate has to reject -- the phrase used is "Sharia Islam" -- can you describe what you mean by that phrase and what you want the candidates to reject in that?

Well, Sharia Islam -- and I'm not an expert on Sharia Islam -- but I think just in the brief knowledge [I have] of Sharia Islam, one you can have multiple wives, and two is you can have temporary wives, and three is I think it disrespects women as a whole. And so we see Sharia Islam as being an issue. 

And you see that as something that is a dominant thing in Islamic cultures and societies, or more of a historical idea? 

No, there's a lot of American Muslims who reject Sharia. And we believe the president of the United States needs to be aware of some of the threats to our culture, and one of them is Sharia Islam in our opinion.

First of all, "Sharia Islam" is a nonsensical term, akin to "Halacha Judaism." Sharia refers to Islamic principles subject to wide interpretation, but since all observant Muslims adhere to what they consider to be Sharia the term makes no sense. This is why banning "Sharia Islam" would criminalize Muslims praying five times a day or following dietary restrictions, and it's not as though polygamy isn't already illegal in the United States. 

The term is not without "political use" though, since as the interview implies Americans have internalized enough about the inhumane religious laws in countries like Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia that the term evokes something bad. The idea that a few million American Muslims are going to impose their religious beliefs in a mostly Christian country where the Christian Right has failed time and again to do so however, remains laughable. But even if Muslims were someday numerous enough and sufficiently committed to Taliban-style Islamic law to do so through the political process, a ban on sharia wouldn't save us.

What could survive any manner of demographic change however, is a commitment to a separation of Church and State that doesn't interfere with the rights of the faithful to adhere to their beliefs. Unfortunately, social conservatives' commitment to that principle begins and ends with Islam.

Stop Sharia law

Stop Sharia Law, Foreign Law from Entering American Courts

I wish the neocon gang spends their time in mitigating conflicts, their passion to do wrong if funneled to bring peace will produce great results. But it is about making money for them, peace will stop their income hate will augment their income. What a shame that the simpletons write them checks for creating chaos – Mike Ghouse

http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/07/stop-sharia-law-foreign-law-from-entering-american-courts-2/

Shariah Law’s main “mouthpiece” and organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, has as its goal the downfall of the West and the establishment of a worldwide caliphate. Their motto is “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

Middle East analyst Marwan Muasher declared: “The Muslim Brotherhood has been used for a long time as a scare tactic.” Then he half-heartedly added: “That is not to say they don’t have designs.” This militant spokesperson oversees research for the Middle East at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, funded by leftist multi-billionaire GEORGE SOROS, one of the leftist world’s most influential men, politically.

According to Frontpagemag.com: “Soros is waging his own personal ideological war against America by shoveling seemingly limitless funds into organizations giving life to his ‘progressive’ vision of social justice.”

“That vision, like the Muslim Brotherhood’s, identifies America and Israel as the ‘Great Satan’ and ‘Little Satan’ respectively, who must be demolished to pave the way for a purifying, redemptive utopia.”

“Soros and his spokesmen like Muasher see opportunity in the unrest roiling in the Middle East and North Africa – opportunity to support the enemy. The numerous ties of Soros and his Shadow Party cohorts have been documented; they include the master puppeteer’s own Open Society Institute and various anti-Western Islamist groups in the revolutions. It has been confirmed, for instance, that the International Crisis Group (ICG), led in part by Soros, has long petitioned for the Egyptian government to ‘normalize’ ties with the previously banned Brotherhood.”

The Muslim Brotherhood is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds in Egypt. Some say the election will show just exactly how strong they are in Egypt…..very strong!

With our heart and soul, we will stand against Mr. Soros, the Muslim Brotherhood and Shariah Law! This is literally a battle of survival for the integrity of the United States and our U.S. Constitution. But with the pro-Muslim leadership of Barack Hussein Obama, we must continue in this all-out war for the literal soul of America.

We have made a very patriotic, serious decision to bring this fight to America! The Bill which outlaws foreign law from our U.S. Court system (H.R. 973) only has 56 co-sponsors. WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THE OTHER 379 House Representatives in this fight?

Do you know where your Representative stands in this very important piece of legislation? You need to find out! And quickly.

What is H.R. 973? This is a simple, short bill designed to protect Americans from being forced under laws which we did not enact, but were enacted by foreign powers or foreign peoples. The motivation for this bill is primarily that the sponsors do not want judges to use Shariah law, but this bill would apply to any foreign law which judges might use to subvert the Constitution or the will of the people of the United States. We are a sovereign nation.

Please CLICK HERE to FAX every Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 973 and urge them to become a co-signer right now! YOUR FAX will ALSO force Congressmen to ACTION to get this important bill OUT of the Subcommittee.

You can also CLICK HERE to send a FREE message directly to YOUR U.S. Representative and Senators!

Part of the bill reads:

‘In any court created by or under article III of the Constitution of the United States, no justice, judge, or other judicial official shall decide any issue in a case before that court in whole or in part on the authority of foreign law, except to the extent the Constitution or an Act of Congress requires the consideration of that foreign law.’

However, It is still in the Subcommittee of the U.S. Constitution and has been since March 9th – almost 4 months ago! This bill is too important to stay in a Committee for that long!

With your help we can expand this intensive NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN to put the other 379 House Members and U.S. Senators “ON NOTICE” that they should support this Bill, before too many cities include foreign law and Shariah Law in their judicial system!

We urgently need your help today?

Since this is an all-out war for the very soul of America, a national media campaign is necessary to get this important bill passed. Our immediate plans include:

• Create ads that will tell people what their Member of Congress is doing on this vital bill
• Create and run television ads in key areas, as well as satellite ads
• Run urgent campaigns on FACEBOOK and GOOGLE
• Keep up the pressure via our critical and massive Congressional faxing efforts

U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) introduced H.R. 973 which outlaws foreign law from our U.S. Court system. She had 56 co-sponsors. Why aren’t more Congressmen committing to this very important bill? That’s why we must fax them to let them know how patriotic Americans truly feel. Let’s fax our Congressmen to raise our voice of support.

Please CLICK HERE to FAX every Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 973 and urge them to become a co-signer right now! YOUR FAX will ALSO force Congressmen to ACTION to get this important bill OUT of the Subcommittee.

You can also CLICK HERE to send a FREE message directly to YOUR U.S. Representative and Senators!

We must not let radical Islam penetrate our legal system!

According to Shariah Law, their law supersedes any Constitutional Law!

Little-by-little, Shariah Law is infiltrating the United States that you and I once knew. Our founding fathers of our U.S. Constitution would rise up in rebellion to what is going on, even in our own court system where some places have already “embraced” Shariah Law in various degrees.

I am NOT against Muslims! I am not against the right of any religion to practice their religion in the United States. Freedom of religion is one of the chief cornerstones of our republic and democracy. However, when a religion goes against our sovereign Constitution, then it must be thought of as sedition; and that religion must be limited.

One of the objectives of Shariah Law is to make sure they take over every aspect and area of life in a country: political, military, religion, everyday life. That is the ultimate goal of Shariah Law—to CONTROL every area of your life.

That is only one of the dangers of Shariah Law infiltrating our Justice system.

Governmental appointees of Shariah-compliant Muslims are drastically on the increase. In fact, it is in epidemic proportions. Do you want Shariah Law to replace our United States Constitution? Of course not. Then we must continue to fax every Member of the United States Congress to keep the pressure on!

Please CLICK HERE to FAX every Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 973 and urge them to become a co-signer right now! YOUR FAX will ALSO force Congressmen to ACTION to get this important bill OUT of the Subcommittee.

You can also CLICK HERE to send a FREE message directly to YOUR U.S. Representative and Senators!

Conservatives, such as you, oppose a dual legal system in the United States that would weaken the U.S. Constitution (NO FOREIGN LAWS!) Of course Liberals are the first to line up to oppose almost anything that Conservatives are for. In the United States, most feminists, gays, liberal professors and atheists line up to support Islam and Shariah Law. Ironically, according to Shariah Muslim Law, these are the very first groups that will be beheaded, hung or stoned to death in a radical Muslim takeover.

The liberal media helps to foment public opinion in the wrong way. Has the liberal media given any space to the long-range bad effects of Shariah Law?

Of course not! That’s one of the reasons why this national media campaign to create ads that will tell people what their Member of Congress is doing on this bill is so important. We want to create and run ads in key areas, as well as satellite ads. There will be campaigns on FACEBOOK and GOOGLE. Of course, with your help today, we will keep up the pressure via our critical and massive Congressional faxing efforts! We need your help today!

The biggest threat to you and me is right here in the United States. Under the auspices of being “politically correct” and taking in “the poor, huddled masses,” we have thrown the door wide open to radical Islam. Shariah is not complete until it controls every single area of our society. In Shariah Law, our United States Constitution would be finished. Women’s rights would be a thing of the past.

And George Soros, and his kind, will have won their victory! But we will not ever let that happen!

In every way possible, Shariah Law will not stop at your street-corner. It will try to come inside your very household. And we must do all we possibly can to stop Shariah law IN ITS TRACKS before it invades ALL of the United States of America!!

Shariah Law is trying to overtake our U.S. Judicial System and must be stopped! H.R. 973 passage will prevent foreign law in our federal court system. We must fax NOW!

The bottom line: If we do not stop the growth of Shariah now, we will not be able to stop it later! Your faxes today will assist us in this all-out war for the very soul of America!

Help us this very moment to NOTIFY every Member of Congress to Co-Sponsor H.R. 973 right away; and to help get this important bill out of Subcommittee!

Sincerely,

Tony Adkins

Conservative Action Alerts

P. S. Please help us to STOP SHARIAH LAW in the United States by faxing every single Member of the United States Congress to Co-Sponsor H.R. 973! I know you do not want our country being taken over by a foreign, radical religious set of laws; or even by extremists like George Soros!

Please CLICK HERE to FAX every Member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 973 and urge them to become a co-signer right now! YOUR FAX will ALSO force Congressmen to ACTION to get this important bill OUT of the Subcommittee.

You can also CLICK HERE to send a FREE message directly to YOUR U.S. Representative and Senators!

Sharia Politics - My random thoughts

Sharia law like any law is mis-implemented from time to time; innocent people get on the electric chair or the lethal injection in our own US of A.   In at least 3 out of 56 Muslim majority nations, wrong people get stoned to death for adultery or blasphemy. It is neither our laws nor Sharia that is wrong; it is the mis-application to suit the ones in power that is wrong.

Parents are not to abuse Children, yet, incest and beating of innocent children continues.  The men who beat their wives violently are Muslim, Christian, Jews, Hindus… and every one, it is not the Christian or Islam thing – it is the precisely because they did not get their own religion to guide them, even if they wear a loud label of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism or any religion or tradition and even if they go the Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple… you see them in all groups.

Qur’aan is a binary book, everything is addressed in pairs - when it talks about male, it is followed by the word female, day follows night, and life follows death. Traditionally Quraanic interpretations have been done my men, like in all other religions. Thank God, women contributions are pouring in and bringing a balance to the meaning of the words in Qur’aan.

Sharia interpretations have been men-appeasing and justice busting in some, but not all the cases. A very small percent of Muslim women endure the non-sense of men's Sharia misapplication - while women across the world be it in America or Arabia, Chile or China,  Native American or African are mistreated in jobs, harassment continues unabated, violence, rape... all of these are shameful acts that few men have stood up against. We need the majority to speak up.  

Great example is the interpretation of the word Daraba, which suited the men “to discipline the woman if she does not remain faithful to you” to “separation” by Dr Leila Bakhtiar that most people are subscribing to now, which was covered very well in the www.Quraanconference.com . Michelle Bachman talks about obedience to husband, rather than partnership. More women in America are violently killed by their spouse than anywhere else in the world; does that make Christian faith bad? Heck no.

Men in power and some Qazi’s are usually rigid when it comes to punishing others. They do not see the essence of Sharia; Justice. If the Sharia laws are turned over to Regular attorneys and let there be arguments and discussions, it will serve justice. There is no stoning to death in Qur’aan... There is no triple Talaq in Qur’aan as it is practiced; the men have allowed it to happen in three to four nations out of 56 Muslim majority nations.

We all, Muslims or not, have a stake in creating just societies and we need to speak up and thank God, in democracies we can do that. Unfortunately the kings and dictators care less about religion and more about saving their tail...

As an example of shared stakes in the world, take a look at the comment in face book from a Jewish friend Paul Goldstein – “Since Sharia, to my understanding, is similar to Halacha in Judaism, it might be helpful to consider its application within secular democracies as is Halacha. To take the U.S. as an example, there exist Jewish religious courts within sizable Orthodox communities such as New York. These courts are purely voluntary for all concerned; rabbis and religious scholars are the "judges" who decide cases, and litigants can be represented by lawyers familiar with Jewish law. There is no way to enforce the religious court decisions through the regular civil courts; enforcement is only through respect of community mores, community pressure, and maintaining one's standing as an honorable member of the religious community.”

Sharia counseling in the US is indeed voluntary. The decisions are not legally binding, but morally binding. Those couples, who want to be religiously right, prefer religious guidance. It's almost like sitting with friends or going to marriage counselor. It's to maintain one's standing as an honorable member of the religious community.

If the Republican Right wingers can come out clean and say – no one has a bloody right to tell a woman or a man, what to wear, eat, worship, believe or think, and then we can look forward to a positive change.  They are no different than the Bin Laden kind who believed in imposing his understanding of religion on others. Is the right wing Christians any different?

# # #

Our first task is to communicate a comprehensive outline of knowledge to those who are attacking Sharia. The traditional Imam explanations give strength but are deficient in communicating with non-Muslims. Americans have to relate with each instance to understand it. God has blessed me and several other non-bearded, suit and jeans wearing Muslims in public, who can bridge that gap in communicating.

# # #

We should expect every Muslim to know about his or her religion. The religion was completed and perfected while the prophet was alive. In his last speech he left the book for us, each Muslim to live by it. Prophet Muhammad did not assign any one, not one single person to interpret the religion for us. The Shia denomination of Muslims believes that Prophet had said to follow his progeny and we respect their belief, it works for them.  We are accountable on the Day of Judgment and not even the Prophet will do favors. We had the time to be right and the only thing we have on that day is our deeds, the good things we have done to fellow beings and environment in preserving God’s creation.   

# # #

No Mufti, no Imam, no Khalifa is needed for Muslims.  You are individually responsible for your actions. When we began life in the United States… each one learned the religion on his own like Prophet wanted us to. Talk to the people who have been here from the sixties. The clergy in every religion including Islam have made the religion dependent on them, it is their job security.  Neither Jesus likes the clergy nor did Muhammad like it – if it becomes a profession. Clergy in every religion fall in the same proportions of good, ugly and greedy.

# # #

Mother Teresa once said if you want to make peace, go talk with your enemies, you don’t make peace with friends and scholars. Hazrat Ali has also said something to that effect. A Chinese saying goes, if you want to eliminate your enemy, understand them and make friends, then you are free and they are free, if you fight head on, the battle continues. In light of these, I am pleased to carry the dialogue with my friends.

To be effective, we will have input from Imams, Scholars, Shari experts, non-Muslims, lay persons and others. We will encourage everyone to place his or her cards on the table so we can deal with the issue comprehensively.

 I have been reaching out to ISNA, ICNA, CAIR and others, if they cannot do it, I am planning to pick the slack and just organize it. If you recall last year Qur’aan and the Prophet were attacked by Pastor Robert Jeffress, no Muslim Organization took it up. Thank God with the help of 10 Pastors, Rabbis, Pundits, Shamans, and elected Reps (Lon Burnam) who read the so called troubled verses from Qur’aan to the audience, while the 5 Muslims; Imam Zia Sheikh, Imam Shakoor, Dr. Basheer Ahmed, Ahmadi Muslim and myself either confirmed their understanding or corrected the misunderstanding. Today, those Pastors from Mormon, Baptist, Catholic, Unitarian, Presbyterian, Methodist…. will correct any misquotes from Qur’aan. All the details are at www.QuraanConference.com
We are all in this together and find solutions.

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies. His work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net and his current articles at www.TheGhousediary.com

Sharia solutions initiatives

Great initiative, it is fairly close to the Sharia conference I have been planning, indeed, I had sent the initial plan to Imam Mujahid along with a large group of Muslims leadership in the US. Glad to see this coming through. Together, we can reach out and allay the Sharia Phobia among the right wing Americans, and hope to assure the Moderate Americans, the majority that the Sharia law portrayed by them does exist in 3 out of the 56 Muslim Majority nations, but will never make it among Muslims living in other nations, and certainly not in America. Muslim Americans are not asking or want that part of the mis-applied  Sharia. Please refer to the article on the left panel.

Mike Ghouse
Muslims Together working for a cohesive America
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Hate against Muslims is becoming lethal.

The Norway terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people, was influenced by    American anti-Sharia Islamophobes. He said that he was killing to stop a Sharia    takeover.

Breivik’s brand of hatred is based on intentional ignorance. The same ignorance is represented in the 49 bills in 25 states calling for a Sharia ban. Now a number of U.S. presidential hopefuls are calling for a federal  Sharia ban.

The major source of this ignorance and hate is the internet. Just Google the    word “Sharia” and see the search results in    images,    videos, and    articles. This is what the Norway terrorist quotes and this is what anti-Sharia    lawmakers cite.

We Muslims must tell our story.

Practicing Islam is practicing Sharia. Our month-long fasting, our prayers,    eating Halal and serving our communities are all Sharia. But that is not what    our neighbors know.Banning Sharia affects you and I in concrete ways. These bills will prevent    Muslims from being able to marry, divorce, inherit, bequeath, and finance according    to Sharia.

We cannot allow the criminalization of our faith, or for that matter, any faith    in our country. Freedom from state interference in religious practice is one of    the cornerstones of our nation. Anti-Sharia bills do just the opposite.

This ignorance will not die if we remain silent. It is crucial that we urgently    provide accurate information about Sharia. Even those who oppose these bills are    searching desperately for more information. Abraham Foxman, National Director    of the ADL, says that “People don’t know what Sharia means…”

Sound Vision is developing fresh information on Sharia to answer the critical    questions the public has on the topic. We plan to put this material on Sharia101.org,    to be launched this fall and updated regularly thereafter insha Allah.

Alhamdu lillah, so far we have written about 100 articles on Sharia, and filmed    professors from Harvard, Columbia, Duke, and other universities on different aspects    of Sharia, Jewish and Catholic laws, and freedom of religion in our country.

However, a great amount of work still needs to be done. We need to retain more    scholars, producers, and SEO experts. Sharia 101 requires retaining top-notch    experts who must be compensated for their time and effort.

Sound Vision has been serving the community for the last 23 years by producing    high quality Islamic information for Muslims and non-Muslims. This is our area    of expertise.

Please support this initiative during this blessed month of Ramadan through    your Zakat and Sadaqa. I urge you to consider giving $40, $80, $500, $1,000, $2,500,    $5,000 or whatever you can for the sake of our Deen.Your donations are Zakat-eligible and tax-deductible.

Donations are needed now to develop the content of our project before the presidential    campaign, in which a federal ban of Sharia is likely to be proposed.

We need to raise $480,000 for this project. So far we have raised $120,000. With Allah’s blessings and your support we will insha Allah be able to assist    our neighbors to understand Muslim perspectives on Sharia so that ignorance can    no longer be used as a weapon by hate-mongers to kill, attack our Masjids, or    criminalize the practice of Islam.

Thank you.
 May Allah reward you for your generosity.
Wassalam,

Abdul Malik Mujahid
 President

 P.S. Sound Vision is a tax deductible not for profit 501 (C) 3 organization. You    can learn more about our   Sharia101 project    here. p.s.s. We have already produced three brochures for non-Muslims about Sharia.    Please feel free to call to get copies for your friends or Masjids at 1-800-432-4262

Sharia Resources Available Now

These three brochures are available now for our neighbors providing some aspects    of Muslims perspectives on the Sharia debate. Order printed copies   here,   here, and   here or    Download free from the links below:

 Sharia American Muslims
http://sharia101.yolasite.com/resources/The%20Sharia%20Muslim%20Americans%20Live.pdf

Prophet Honored by Supreme Court
http://sharia101.yolasite.com/resources/Prophet%20honored%20by%20Supreme%20Court.pdf

Sharia and Freedom of Religion
http://sharia101.yolasite.com/resources/Sharia%20and%20the%20Freedom%20of%20Religion.pdf

Sharia 101
http://www.soundvision.com/info/shariah/shariah101.asp

What you can do against the anti-Sharia bills today!
http://www.soundvision.com/info/shariah/what-you-and-your-family-can-do-for-sharia.asp

What your Masjid can do?
http://www.soundvision.com/info/shariah/what-masjids-can-do-to-defend-sharia.asp

What your interfaith partners can do?
http://www.soundvision.com/info/shariah/what-interfaith-partners-can-do-for-sharia.asp

Volunteers for the project
http://shariavolunteers.surveyconsole.com/

Sharia project
http://www.soundvision.com/info/shariah/shariah101.asp

Shari'a and Western Compliance

Article 22 of the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam states:

1. Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari'a
2. Everyone shall have the right to advocate what is right, and propagate what is good, and warn against what is wrong and evil according to the norms of Islamic Shari'a.

This declaration - made by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and intended as an counter measure to the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights - exposes the slippery slope on which Western societies tread when indulging Shari'a-based interpretations of rights and freedoms. If every such right and freedom is bounded by religious edict, then no such rights and freedoms will exist.

Accommodation without limit is in effect enslaving supplication. Any parent with a wayward histrionic child will know that. Churchill knew it. Even Roosevelt knew it. Certainly Lincoln and JFK knew it. Do our leaders (politicians, intellectuals and clergy) know it?

Apparently not. Many Western European countries (Holland, UK, France, Italy, Norway) have made allowances for these fundamental restrictions, the same restrictions that have produced deadly fatwas issued against those who propagate ideas hostile to Islam. Where does it end? Imams central to current Islamic orthodoxy (such as Qadi 'Iyad, who died in 1149) confirm that any Jew or Christian who reviles Mohammed, or commits blasphemy, should be burned or beheaded unless they convert.

Authorities in these same countries often inhibit the criticism of Islamic history and doctrine. One can easily exhibit, in the West's leading museums, Christ and Pope figures fornicating, or publish in our press cartoons of demonic Jews with Stars of David and skulls-caps feasting on Palestinian babies. Yet our media will not dare publish cartoons of Mohammed or demand an open, fear-free discussion of all the reasonable and varying interpretations of the Koran that stand as alternatives to the current immovable, literal and fundamentalist doctrine - to do so will engender an earthquake, as the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper found out.

To censor any criticism of Jihad, to disallow any open discussion thereof, is to accommodate fascist authoritarianism, anti-Semitism and anti-secularism. This supplication by its very nature is oppressive and dehumanizing. This is not what the French Revolution was about, nor the American Bill of Rights - never mind what brought Moses down from Mount Sinai.

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that it is not pleasant for non-Muslims living in societies influenced by Sharia law. We see the ongoing burning of Coptic churches in Cairo, forced abductions and conversions of Coptic daughters, suicide bombings against the Baghdad Christian community, the de-Christianizing of Bethlehem, a simmering war on the Hindus in Kashmir, the illegality of bibles and crosses in Saudi Arabia, and Bahai's under enormous pressure in Iran. Our goal in the West should be to foster tolerance, not to make allowances for its erosion.

Until the Muslim world rejects its dominant fundamentalist ideology, until it allows a long overdue reformation in Islam, the hazards of Shari'a and the inviolability of Koranic law will remain an ominous threat to the West's ongoing freedoms, democracy and tolerance.

Leslie J. Sacks

Shariah foes seize on Perry's ties to Muslims

Shariah foes seize on Perry's ties to Muslims

By Justin Elliott Wikipedia/Center for Security Policy Pamela Geller and Frank Gaffney It looks like my story last week about Rick Perry's cordial relations with a group of Muslims has, as expected, generated alarm within the anti-Shariah wing of the Republican Party. My piece explored Perry's long-standing friendship with the Aga Khan, the wealthy, globe-trotting leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect, which has a small but significant population in Texas. Perry and the Aga Khan have launched two joint projects, including a program to educate Texas schoolchildren about Islamic culture and history. I noted that this relationship set Perry apart from those members of the GOP field who consistently demonize Islam, and that some anti-Shariah/anti-Muslim activists might be skeptical of his ties to the Aga Khan. Like clockwork, two anti-Shariah figures have now penned columns attacking Perry on exactly these grounds. But one anti-Shariah group, Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy, has dissented and says it has no problem with Perry's relationship with the Ismailis. The group's spokesman, Dave Reaboi, emailed Commentary's Alana Goodman: Politico’s Ben Smith amplified a Salon report about Perry’s relationship with Aga Khan of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. As Salon’s in-house apologist for Islamism and crusader against conservatives, Justin Elliott clearly believed such a story, breathlessly told, would cause a great deal of friction between the Texas governor and the GOP base—who are rightfully concerned about the anti-Constitutional aspects of Shariah law in our own country, and are watching as Shariah is the rallying-cry of jihadists around the globe. That said, Perry’s relationship to Khan and the Ismaili’s, I predict, will not cause much of a stir. The Islamailis are a persecuted Shia minority in Saudia Arabia; indeed, Perry’s meeting with Khan could not have won him many friends there. Rather than reaching out– as both presidents Bush and Obama mistakenly did—to problematic organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood’s expressly political agenda, Perry’s choice to engage with a more ‘progressive’ group is a good sign. Continue reading And: This story tells us more about Salon, Politico and other left-of-center media outlets than about Perry. Rather than engage on the substantive issues as regards to Islamism and the extent of the threat of groups with political motivations and histories of terrorist links, Elliott and Smith refuse to take their opponents seriously, thinking they’re 'poking the cage' of a Republican base too unsophisticated to know the difference between the Ismaili sect and, say, the Muslim Brotherhood. As it turns out, Reaboi's predictions -- that Perry's associations "will not cause much of a stir" and that anti-Shariah activists are too sophisticated to demonize the Ismailis -- have already been proven wrong. The blogger and activist Pamela Geller wrote a column for the American Thinker today declaring that "Rick Perry must not be President. Have we not had enough of this systemic sedition?" But Perry has been sucked into the propaganda vortex, and is now wielding his enormous power to influence changes in the schoolrooms and in the curricula to reflect a sharia compliant version of Islam. He is a friend of the Aga Khan, the multimillionaire head of the Ismailis, a Shi'ite sect of Islam that today proclaims its nonviolence but in ages past was the sect that gave rise to the Assassins. Commentary's Goodman suggests that, compared to Gaffney's think tank, Geller is a fringe figure in the anti-Shariah movement. In fact, Geller is one of the primary ideological and organizational leaders of the movement: she devotes numerous posts to the issue on her influential blog; she regularly gives speeches on Shariah and discusses it on TV; and she founded a group, Stop Islamization of America, that names stopping Shariah as one of its primary goals. And it gets better: Both Geller and Gaffney are apparently on the eight-member steering committee of a coalition called the "Sharia Awareness Action Network." Another sponsor of that coalition is WorldNetDaily, which yesterday published an attack on Perry by Joel Richardson, author of "The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth About the Real Nature of the Beast" (WND Books). He argues that Perry has been fooled by the Aga Khan, who is part of the relentless Islamic quest to conquer "the West": It should also be mentioned that one of the doctrines espoused by Ismaili Muslims is the doctrine of Taqiyya. In simple terms, the doctrine of Taqiyya allows Muslims to purposefully hide or lie about their true religious beliefs to "unbelievers" or even Muslims of different sects. Of course, it is doubtful that the children of Texas will learn anything of Taqiyya in their Perry-sponsored education concerning Islam. Of course, while lying in the name of religion may seem like a foreign concept to most, it is the principle of "the ends justify the means" that underscores many aspects of the Islamic approach to win the West. One can only hope that such is not the principle driving Gov. Perry's campaign for the presidency. None of this is particularly surprising. As I noted in my original piece, the Muslim education program previously generated a bit of controversy in a state board of education campaign in Texas. ("I think Islamic curriculum is about the furthest thing that we need to be introducing into Texas classrooms," said the Republican candidate in that race.) To be clear, I have absolutely no problem with the Aga Khan-Perry partnership, and the effort to educate Texas schoolchildren about Muslim culture and history is to all appearances a positive and constructive thing. I think Perry's relationship with the Ismailis in Texas makes for an interesting and relevant contrast to the Santorums and Cains of the GOP field. But here's the bottom line: My prediction that anti-Shariah activists would be troubled by Perry's associations was borne out in the space of just a few days. Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More: Justin Elliott