Islamic Sharia Law for Beginners

Dave Gaubatz

There have been many outstanding articles written by counterterrorism (CT) specialists for other counterterrorism specialists. As an example, one need only read articles produced by David Yerushalmi, Director, SANE. Yerushalmi is light years ahead of others in the field of Sharia law, and thus his articles dissect Sharia in great depth and breadth. What is needed for families that want to understand the complexities of Islamic Sharia Law, however, and the impact Sharia has on our society – which includes people of all religions and all races – is an explanation they can understand at a novice level.

After gathering such information it is important, subsequently, for the novice CT individual to be able to explain it to other concerned neighbors, friends, and relatives. Therefore the following is a basic explanation designed for the novice; and it explains how the dangers of Sharia law creep into any society, including our own:

#1: An ideology/religion is formed. We can name it anything our hearts desire. We will call this one “New Religionism” (NR).

#2: The founders of NR will say they have five basic beliefs/pillars to which they all must adhere in order to be a true member/worshipper of NR.

#3: The five pillars of this new religion are:

3a: You must believe in God

3b: You must attend every NR service

3c: You must pray to the NR God eight times a day

3d: You must associate only with other NR worshippers

3e: You must pay 25% of your salary to the minister of NR

No matter how ridiculous some of the above pillars may seem to others, in America we have freedom of religion, and so we would not condemn the people who willingly want to observe a particular religion. Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam have factors in their respective religions that, although everyone may not agree on them all, the basic pillars cause no harm to others who do not wish to observe them, so all of these religions are observed in America.

However, if NR were to add to their pillars a #4 which advocates mandatory punishments - such as death - for worshippers and even non-worshippers who do not observe NR’s five basic pillars, this could cause disastrous results for NR members and non-NR members. If the NR scholars also were to advocate killing anyone who leaves the NR group, or who criticizes NR, or who insists only NR laws should be observed (rather than the laws of any country), this would be very dangerous and a grave threat to individuals and countries. If the NR scholars then encourage their members to go to war and use such tactics as suicide bombings, kidnappings, decapitating hostages, economic chaos and more, the host society as it has been known would be changed.

This is an example of what happens to a country that allows Sharia Law to be observed. Review the following equation from the list of numbers above in our hypothetical NR religion:

Numbers 1, 2, 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and 3e = No real threat to NR members or non-members.

But if you add to the mandatory beliefs number 4 (Sharia Law) as advocated by the scholars, you then have a threat to any country’s national security and a grave threat to individuals (be they NR or non-NR worshippers).

Sharia law encompasses all aspects of a Muslim’s life. It dictates how to pray, when to pray, how to conduct business activities and how to conduct one’s everyday affairs. These are for the most part peaceful practices. The area of concern is the violent ideology that considers all non-Muslims as enemies of Islam, and the mandatory “Huddud” (Islamic criminal law) punishments such as stoning and flogging young girls. In addition, there is the aspect of Sharia that entails raising an army of Muslims always to be prepared to fight the enemy if Islam or the Muslim people are assumed to be oppressed. Under Sharia law, a Muslim must (if not capable of physically fighting) support the Mujahedeen (fighters) financially; further, they must attempt to use the pen and tongue to fight the enemy.

The majority of the basic beliefs of Islam are indeed peaceful, and the majority of Muslims do not want to observe all aspects of Sharia law. Many Muslim parents want security for their families, they want medical care, they want education, and they want to be happy. Most importantly, many Muslim parents love Islam, but want to adhere only to the peaceful aspects of Sharia law. Unfortunately for them, Sharia law is an all or nothing requirement. One can’t push aside one area and accept the others. To do so is to be an apostate of Islam. Terrorist members and their supporters believe themselves to follow “Pure Islam.” A follower of “Pure Islam”, essentially, is not required to follow any particular school of thought (currently there are four recognized Sunni schools of thought and one Shiite school of thought). “Pure Islam” worshippers believe anyone who does not follow all aspects of Sharia law is not a Muslim and he or she is also an enemy of Islam.

How should we deal with Sharia in America?

• In America we should allow any person to observe numbers 1, 2, or 3. However,
• No element of any religion in America should be authorized to fund and raise armies to be used against Americans and our country in combat (physical Jihad).
• No element of any religion should be allowed to have scholars from other countries come to our country and teach violence to the children in Islamic schools throughout America.
• No element of any religion should be allowed to purchase land in rural areas throughout America in order to have isolated communities prepare for physical Jihad against America.

The observance of Sharia law in its entirety is extremely dangerous. The Muslim people know this, their Islamic scholars know this, and people who have studied Sharia law know this. The only people who do not know or otherwise ignore this are the vast majority of our elected officials and our citizenry.

As Americans, we need to support the Muslims who do not want to observe the violent aspects of Sharia law. They need to know they will have the support of our nation’s resources to eliminate from America the violent ideological aspects of Sharia law. Muslims who want only the peaceful aspects of Sharia will tell you that America could increase its level of security by returning any foreign-born, Saudi- or Pakistani-trained Islamic scholar to his respective country. Additionally, many Muslims do advocate imprisoning such scholars. These scholars are conspiring to commit treason against America and advocate this daily to their worshippers. Of course after 9/11, they no longer stand at their podium and say this: they simply provide Jihadist manuals promoting the violence. They leave it to the individual to do what any “Pure Muslim” would do. One need only follow the Lashkar e- Taiba and al Qaeda to understand “Pure Islam.”

The photo accompanying this article shows just a sampling of material endorsing violence that our researchers have retrieved from 100 Islamic centers – from the east coast of America to the west coast – that we have visited during the last few months. The material includes discs, tapes, DVDs, books, and manuals that call for killing America’s brave young men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials also call for killing Jewish people throughout the world, killing Muslims who do not conform to all aspects of Sharia law and turning America into an Islamic state.

Our researchers - a team comprised of Christians, Jews and Muslims - still have over 2,000 Islamic Centers to visit and conduct first-hand research. As you can see, we have our work cut out for us.