A report by The American Center for Democracy an independent, not for profit organization states that Canada does not need to set up special Sharia courts as it is apparently already accepted in the country.
An Ontario Superior Court judge Justice Robert Smith had made a ruling in October 2017 which was in favour of Sharia law.
He found a Muslim man to be “not guilty of sexually assaulting his wife” since the government had not proven that he had violated the criminal code knowingly, when “on many occasions [he had sex with his wife] without the presence of her consent “as both he and she believed that he had the right to do so.”
The man was deemed as not guilty as it was “his honest belief that he had the right to have intercourse with her whenever he wanted.”
Recorded Instances Of Support For Sharia Law
The Toronto District School Board also seems to have accepted Sharia Law. A handbook released by it “Islamic Resource Guidebook for Educators 2017” has recommended Taha Ghayyur.
Taha Ghayyur recently took over as Executive Director of the Islamic Society of North America and is known to advocate the gradual implementation of Islamic Law in North America .
In October 2017, Mufti Aasim A. Rashid of Al-Ihsan Educational Foundation in a speech at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops B.C., asserted that the Canadian government was open to bringing in Sharia Law.
He stated that the government wants the Muslims to “regulate their own issues” relating to marriage and divorce and create “a system of mediation and arbitration” to resolve their issues between themselves according to Sharia Law., which will ease the burden on the court system which is “already so bogged down”.
It is yet to be ascertained if this is true and if the government of Justin Trudeau does indeed favour Islamic Law?
In several television interviews in January 2016, Trudeau has however insisted that Islam is not “compatible” with the Western secular democracy.
According to Rashid, everything a Muslim does – fasting during Ramadan, going to pilgrimage etc – is all part of Sharia Law and that whatever “every Muslim does is Sharia Law.”
He acknowledged that for many people the section of Sharia Law that talks of penalties like limbs being cut off or flogging for certain acts is a concern. These penalties, he said, was however not implemented even countries that claim to have true Sharia and added that “no Muslim has any intention “ to install such a system.
Clerics Involved In Mediating Cases
Rashid further stated that the Canadian government wanted to have clerics like him to “sign off on custody cases” involving allegations of parental abduction in order to verify that the parent taking the child to another country, are “Islamically authorized” to do so, since in many Muslim countries verification is required from a Muslim scholar.
He asserted that the government has told him that it wants to work on such initiatives with the community. He also decried that “a scare is created over everything and anything” that deals with Islam.
Examples of Sharia Law
Some excerpts from the books written by Mufti Aasim A. Rashid reveal details of Sharia Law:
- Essentials of Islamic Family Life
Roles, Duties and Obligations of the Husband
- Caring for her deen [religion] and prompting her to fulfill her religious obligations.
- Being protective of her honour and chastity
- Make sure she observes ḥijāb and Islamic dress whenever she leaves the house
- Not allowing intermingling with non-maḥrams [close family relatives].
Roles, Duties and Obligations of the Wife
- Obeying him [the husband] in all permissible matters.
The Quran commands that other than Allah a wife must prostrate to her husband (Tirmidhi)
- Not leave her house even to visit her own family members, without his permission.
The Quran states that “Men are caretakers of women”
- To fulfill his physical needs to the best of her ability
The Quran states that a women must not refuse intercourse with her husband without a valid reason
- “Human Rights in Islam and Common Misconceptions”(Distributed for free at the Islamic booth at Dundas Square in Toronto.
- “The non-Muslim residents of an Islamic state are required to pay a minimal tax called “Jizyah.”
- “As for the previously married male or female who commit adultery, the punishment applied to them is stoning to death…”
- “If the robber kills and seizes the money, the punishment may be killing and crucifixion. If he takes money and threatens but does not kill or assault, the punishment may be amputation of his hand and leg. If he kills the victim but does not take his money, he may be executed as in murder.”
- “Allah set the penalty of cutting the hand as a penalty for theft.”
