On April 13, 2011, Hussam Ayloush, the director of CAIR in Southern California, spoke at the Islamic Center of Orange County. His speech was about Shariah and why, in his view, it is perfectly in conformance with the US Constitution. As you know, Shariah law is under attack in the US due to concerns or fears about such issues as stoning for adultery, apostasy, death penalty for homosexuals, honor-killings, dhimmitude, jizya (tax for non-Muslims) and attitudes toward non-Muslims. This speech, which is posted on Ayloush's own website, is meant to assuage fears on the part of non-Muslims about Shariah. It lasts 38 minutes, but I think it merits watching by any non-Muslim who harbors fears of Shariah being imposed in any way upon a Western country.
http://hussamayloush.blogspot.com/2011/04/khutbahsermon-understanding-and.html
After watching this video, you might ask yourself if Ayloush has assuaged any of your concerns about Sharia.
The pick up I'm getting is too slow to watch a video. Is there a transcript?
ReplyDeleteIf it lives up to the summary Gary offers of its purpose, it would assure me of two things:
A Muslim can practice sharia without violating the Constitution of the United States.
I can live under the Constitution of the United States without practicing sharia.
That would be good. If sharia has as many meanings as the Torah (sustaining three mutually inconsistent branches of Judaism, or are there more?) and the Bible (sustaining three main groups, each with three or one hundred sub-groups of Christianity), then we don't have to worry about sharia per se. We have to worry about those who raise up some form of oppression on the platform of sharia, or of the Epistles of Paul, or certain references in Deuteronomy, or...
I guess you'll just have to watch the video to see if Ayloush puts our concerns about sharia to rest. Why don't you go to his website and ask for a transcript?
ReplyDelete"...concerns or fears about such issues as stoning for adultery, apostasy, death penalty for homosexuals, honor-killings, dhimmitude, jizya (tax for non-Muslims) and attitudes toward non-Muslims."
ReplyDeleteNo better proof that fear of Shariah Law in the US in nothing more than a phobia stirred up by the anti-Muslim right wing.
With the exception of honor killings none of the other fears have ever taken place in America.
Speed of reception is much better today. And now, having heard the entire speech, I can affirm that it is an excellent and thorough response to the ignorant who would turn the word "shariah" into a vague ominous bogeyman, without the slightest idea what it means.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, you might say this speech is on a par with that Professor in Scotland who debunked the "Israel apartheid" crowd. Indeed, there are people who make rash statement in ignorance from all kinds of ideological perspectives. Hussam Ayloush spoke as a patriotic American, a valuable fellow citizen -- no matter what else CAIR might do or say on other occasions.
So tell me Gary, what do "honor killings" and "terrorism" have to do with Hussam Ayloush's presentation on Shariah?
I am concerned though, that every Roman Catholic in the world has not personally and publicly condemned honor killings in Brazil. Have you forgotten that the Palestinian man in Missouri who stabbed his daughter to death for speaking unchaperoned to boys, had a Brazilian Roman Catholic wife who aided in the murder?