What is Sharia Law and Should You be Concerned?

A man being flogged according to sharia law

For the past many years and in recent time, the spate of killings in the name of Religion has increased dramatically. The victims are majorly between Christians and Muslims but largely affected Christians more. But wait, what is the cause of this killings or hatred if I may ask?, I think the answers to this is in the Scriptures. 

But beyond that, the attrocities being commited today against ourselves has gone out of hand, The Holy Bible warn us that ''my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge''. The Bible also encourage us to “Study to show yourself approved before God.” (Hosea 4:6a, 2 Timothy 2:15). In order for us to understand our environment or a culture, we need to study the environment or the culture to understand them. Same thing applied to Religion, The recent killings in Nigeria ( Abuja, Kaduna, Kano and Suleja) from what majority of people said, were based on baseless and uncalled for - Blasphemy. 

All Christian faithful need to know what sharia Law is all about because it concerns us, it will help us to appreciate Jesus Christ our Saviour and our Creator the more. It will also help us to reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters who need the LIGHT, Let us apply Apostle Paul principles when he visited Athens, he saw an altar with an inscription dedicated to that god (possibly connected to the Cylonian affair[5]), and, when invited to speak to the Athenian elite at the Areopagus gave the following speech:

Read: What is Sharia Law?

 Acts 17:22-23 (KJV): 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Am using this medium to appeal to all to painstakingly study the following Sharia Law to enable us apply Apostle Paul Principles wherever we are, Paul study the environment and their religion and use it to convert them, not condemn. Though this is one of many signs of end time, when Light and Darkness will be at conflict. Let us apply wisdom in other for us not to fall by their bait.

Some sharia laws that I find quite concerned:
1. Jihad, defined as “to war against non-Muslims to establish the religion,” is the duty of every Muslim and Muslim head of state (caliph). Muslim caliphs who refuse jihad are in violation of Shariah and unfit to rule.

2. A caliph(in Democracy, is President) can hold office through seizure of power, meaning through force.

3. A caliph is exempt from being charged with serious crimes such as murder, adultery, robbery, theft, drinking and in some cases of rape.

4. A percentage of Zakat (charity money) must go toward jihad.

5. It is obligatory to obey the commands of the Caliph, even if he is unjust.

6. A caliph must be a Muslim, a non-slave and a male.

7. The Muslim public must remove the caliph if he rejects Islam.

8. A Muslim who leaves Islam must be killed immediately.

9. A Muslim will be forgiven for murder of: 1) an apostate, 2) an adulterer, and 3) a highway robber – making vigilante street justice and honor killing acceptable.

10. A Muslim will not get the death penalty if he kills a non-Muslim but will get it for killing a Muslim. (this is the cause of two faction of Boko Haram).

11. Shariah never abolished slavery or sexual slavery and highly regulates it. A master will not be punished for killing his slave.

12. Shariah dictates death by stoning, beheading, amputation of limbs, flogging – even for crimes of sin such as adultery.

13. Non-Muslims are not equal to Muslims under the law. They must comply with Islamic law if they are to remain safe. They are forbidden to marry Muslim women, publicly display wine or pork, recite their Scriptures or openly celebrate their religious holidays or funerals. They are forbidden from building new churches or building them higher than mosques. They may not enter a mosque without permission. A non-Muslim is no longer protected if he leads a Muslim away from Islam.

14. It is a crime for a non-Muslim to sell weapons to someone who will use them against Muslims. Non-Muslims cannot curse a Muslim, say anything derogatory about Allah, the Prophet, or Islam, or expose the weak points of Muslims. But the same does not apply to Muslims.

15. A non-Muslim cannot inherit from a Muslim.

16. Banks must be Shariah compliant, and interest is not allowed.

17. No testimony in court is acceptable from people of low-level jobs, such as street sweepers or bathhouse attendants. Women in low-level jobs such as professional funeral mourners cannot keep custody of their children in case of divorce.

18. A non-Muslim cannot rule even over a non-Muslim minority.

19. Homosexuality is punishable by death.

20. There is no age limit for marriage of girls. The marriage contract can take place any time after birth and consummated at age 8 or 9.

21. Rebelliousness on the part of the wife nullifies the husband’s obligation to support her, and gives him permission to beat her and keep her from leaving the home.

22. Divorce is only in the hands of the husband and is as easy as saying, “I divorce you,” and becomes effective even if the husband did not intend it.

23. There is no community property between husband and wife, and the husband’s property does not automatically go to the wife after his death.

24. A woman inherits half what a man inherits.

25. A man has the right to have up to four wives, and she has no right to divorce him even if he is polygamous.

26. The dowry is given in exchange for the woman’s sexual organs.

27. A man is allowed to have sex with slave women and women captured in battle, and if the enslaved woman is married, her marriage is annulled.

28. The testimony of a woman in court is half the value of a man.

29. A woman loses custody if she remarries.

30. To prove rape, a woman must have four male witnesses.

31. A rapist may only be required to pay the bride-money (dowry) without marrying the rape victim.

32. A Muslim woman must cover every inch of her body, which is considered “Awrah,” a sexual organ. Not all Shariah schools allow the face of a woman exposed.

33. A Muslim man is forgiven if he kills his wife at the time he caught her in the act of adultery. However, the opposite is not true for women since he “could be married to the woman he was caught with.”

34. It is obligatory for a Muslim to lie if the purpose is obligatory. That means that for the sake of abiding with Islam’s commandments, such as jihad, a Muslim is obliged to lie and should not have any feelings of guilt or shame associated with this kind of lying.

I hope this will go a long way in enlighten you, as the saying, ''if you want to catch monkey, behave like monkey''. May the ongoing killings in Nigeria and elsewhere be a thing of the past soonest in Jesus name, amen.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/2010/08/196041/

5. Plutarch's Lives