Last weekend, the Somali parliament unanimously endorsed the Islamic religious law, "Sharia law" to be ruled within the country.
Somalia has been without functioning government for 18 years, but is hoping to re-establish rule of law under recently-named President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. This sets up the legal framework in which the public and private aspects of life are regulated for those living within the system.
Fundamentally, Sharia law is derived from both the teachings of the Qur'an and from Sunna (Islamic customs and practices). It deals with many aspects of day-to-day life, including hygiene, sexuality, family, business, banking, economics, politics and social issues. Sharia law is currently the most widely used religious law, and one of the most common legal systems of the world (alongside common law and civil law).
I find it difficult to not oppose Sharia for its obligation of theocracy over democracy, its abuse of human rights, its institutionalized discrimination, its denial of human dignity and individual autonomy, its punishment for alternative lifestyle choices and for the severity of its punishments in general.
Every day when I wake up, I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to live in America. Not only that, but to live in the "Midwest" where conservative morals and liberal ideals collide.
Being in the heartland has protected me from terrorist attacks, hurricanes, pirates and for the most part, severe floods. Most of all, I'm grateful for the ability of religious freedom within our democratic republic.
I agree that the world is a battleground of social movements and ideas. It took people in the west more than 400 years of frequently bloody fights to gain the right to criticize Christianity. But I also understand that we must recognize that we now live in a global community.
Society is larger, more diverse and far more complex than the primitive tribal society of seventh century Arabia that gave birth to Islam. More than ever before, people need a secular state that respects freedom of religion and freedom from religion for those that have none, and human rights founded on the principle that power belongs to the people.
It's a shame that so many terrible things are done to so many people in the name of a religion. Religion should be personal, not political. No group should be able to legislate its own personal morality or be able to force anyone else to observe its taboos.
The cultural argument within Sharia for the rights of women states that Muslim women, by virtue of accepting Islam, voluntarily submit themselves to obeying their husbands and the veil, considered to be a sign of modesty, so that she may be regarded as an intelligent human being and not merely an object of desire. The majority of the time when religion gets mixed in with politics, it goes poorly for women.
According to Amnesty International, on Oct. 27, 2008, in Somalia, Islamic fundamentalists executed a 13-year-old girl, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow who had been declared guilty of adultery after she had been raped by three men. Duhulow had innocently reported to the authorities she had been raped, and for her "crime," she was taken into a stadium before a crowd of 1,000 spectators, buried to her neck and stoned to death by 50 executioners.
Individual conscience, not just religion, must guide us and remain the judge of private, personal conduct.
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