The Significance of Sharia Law for Muslims in the UK Free Essay Example, 5500 words

Family law is Koran oriented on how individuals should treat women, children, orphans and dependents. Penal laws as provided for in the Koran provide for moral sanctions against transgressions. The rationale for Ismalic/Sharia law was to ensure that orphans, women and those who were generally characterized as dependents enjoyed an improved position. The Sharia law also sought to constrain sexual morality and to fortify the institution of marriage, to curtail vengeance and to codify moral standards. From about the 19th century onward, Islam and Western civilizations increasingly came into contact. Up until this time, Sharia law had been able to sustain and regulate the internal workings of Islamic states. However, external forces politically and socially began to manifest itself with the period of colonialism. Rigid Sharai law and doctrine of taqlid (established tradition) conflicted with the Muslim society s requirement to adhere to Westernization. In this regard, the degree to whic h Western laws were adopted among the various Islamic states depended in large part on the urgency to which specific Islamic states were required to adhere to Western conditions. For the most part, civil and commercial laws exposed the greatest weaknesses in Sharia law and were the first to be adopted. We will write a custom essay sample on The Significance of Sharia Law for Muslims in the UK or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now These areas were significant for adopting modern trade and economic systems. Some criminal penalties were also regarded as inconsistent with international human rights discourse and were abandoned in some Islamic states. These penalties included deterrence principles of law, such as limb amputations for theft and stoning for women suspected of adultery. In any event, European criminal and commercial laws were cornerstones of the 19th century Ottoman Empire which permitted the establishment of a separate system of laws for European citizens in Islamic states. 7 In this regard, modern Islamic states, for the most part, are either entirely dominated by Sharia law or ordinary laws or maintain pluralistic legal systems in which ordinary civil courts exist for the purpose of regulating non-Muslims and Sharia courts exist for the purpose of regulating social control over Muslims.