Could the UK be ruled under Sheria Law?

[British Lad]

I was woundering could be ruled under sheria/Islamic law because I read in the paper that some people are trying to make Britain an Islamic state and have Sheria controled zones, I have no problem with Islam but I hate that some are trying to impose there law on to British socitly. Also if it gets backing could there be a law passed to stop it or people thrown out or could Britain in 50 years be islamic? Because if so I am moving to USA or swedain or even New Zealand.

[Just Passing]

I would be highly annoyed if the UK became an Islamic country by default. It's extremely unfair for Muslims to impose their religion onto a country that isn't Islamic and I hope such a thing never comes to pass.

Not that I dislike Islam, but this is ridiculous if it's true.

[heatqueen]

Extreme dislike. Sorry.

[aidan]

Islamists aren't as much as a threat that the gutter press makes them out to be.

[Revan]

I think the chances of UK ever becoming Islamic rule is about the same chances as me going straight.

[Kerze]

This is propaganda spread by people like the BNP and tabloids like The Sun, Mail, Star, etc; only a ridiculously tiny (minute, small, insignificant, etc) percent of the Muslim population wants this and when you think about it Muslims are a minority in the UK; a vast minority of a minority want Sheria law. It will not happen.

[Helen]

No, this will never happen, no Muslims are ever going to try and do this. As concretehands has said, extreme right-wing groups with rather disturbing views on immigration (IMHO) have been banding this about in the hope that Islamophobia in this country will increase.

Lies, I say!

[steel03]

No.

[Martin]

The 'sharia law zones' you speak about are just stickers and leaflets posted about a street. The media have had a frenzy with it, but no law is enforced based on stickers and leaflets.

Also, many of the muslim asylum seekers in Britain have fled from persecution from countries which enforce sharia law in a pretty extreme manner and willingly abuse the human rights of citizens. Many of them come to this country because of the democracy and freedom that we all enjoy, so this interest they have of changing us is nothing more than a media myth. It's true that there are extremists in this country, but you'd find it difficult to find a country without extremists. The extremists don't speak for the Muslim community any more than the guy who commited the Norway massacre speaks for the Christian community.

Britain is pretty safe from Sharia Law. If anything the recent 'revolutions' and uprisings in the Middle East would indicate that countries are moving towards democracy rather than influencing Western countries to move towards Sharia Law.

Never trust the press on issues like this. They love sensationalising issues in the hope of selling papers.

[NickT]

It's amazing what people believe these days.

[Regis]

Total population of the UK as of Jan 1 2011:

62,435,709

Total Muslim population in the UK

2.869 million

List of countries by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just based on demographics alone the likelihood is remote

But also to address a few things:

The UK Muslim population is not a homogenous whole. they are made up of different communities from nearly every part of the Muslims world. There is the sectarian divide between the Sunnis and the Shiites.

You have Indian Muslims, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis (who fought against Pakistan), Iraqis, Iranians, Somalians the list goes on and on - many of these separate groups have had conflicts with each other. Even within their own community or ethnic group there is considerable friction and division between tribes, races and clans. Any actual attempt to implement the Sharia would run into a whole host of problems as different communities have different standards and views of the Sharia itself.

The second point is that UK Muslim community have not yet developed their own brand of Sharia. They are importing Sharia law from the home countries. Which are alien to living in the UK. The Sharia is supposed to reflect the Muslim community and grows and adapts with it. That is why the Sharia is interpreted and even implemented differently in different parts of the Muslim world. There is no such thing as some monolithic Sharia law that is the same everywhere. This is a fiction.

In fact only 10% of it is from the Quran. The rest is made up of local traditions, customs, hearsay, interpretation and analysis by countless scholars over the centuries. A UK Sharia law would and should reflect UK culture, law and society.
Urf is the term for local custom and recognised as a source of Sharia law. And since only 10% is actually from the Koran and so from God (according to Muslims) that leaves the other 90% ripe for changing.

Finally Muslims living in a non-Muslim country must abide by the rules and regulations of the resident country. This has been the consensus of the scholars. According to the jurists Muslims living in a non-Muslim country have entered into a covenant with the host and they cannot break it. Breaking the covenant is the action of sinners and hypocrites. In fact it comes directly from the Koran itself.

Muslims living in non-Muslim countries have to comply with laws and regulations of the country they have been entrusted though valid visas to enter. At the same time, they have to avoid whatever contradicts Islamic teachings. In case they are obliged by law to uphold something contrary to Islamic teachings, they have to adhere to the minimum that the law requires of them.

One of the best approaches for a Muslim living in these countries is patience. As long as he agrees to live in a non-Muslim country, he is never to rebel against the people living in his choice of residence, even it seems to hard for him to endure. Muslims in non-Muslim countries

Another method is to distinguish between certain laws. For example Western law permits the drinking of alcohol. Muslims should abide by the Sharia prohibition against alcohol on a personal level. What they should not do is go around fire-bombing bars and smashing liquor bottles or even organising anti-alcohol legislation. That goes against the covenant/contract.

So even a if Muslim in the UK wants to implement the public model of the Sharia, if they cannot adhere to UK laws they must either stop the attempt, or leave the UK.

Of course there are some Muslims and scholars who believe that it is permissible to break non-Muslim laws. But just like Osama and Andres Breivik their extreme views are rejected by decent people everywhere.

[Dominoflare]

Well I'm from England and i can assure you, the chances of that happening are too small to even be classified as a possibility

[DarkClarity]

Originally Posted by Concretehands

This is propaganda spread by people like the BNP and tabloids like The Sun, Mail, Star, etc; only a ridiculously tiny (minute, small, insignificant, etc) percent of the Muslim population wants this and when you think about it Muslims are a minority in the UK; a vast minority of a minority want Sheria law. It will not happen.

Concretehands has hit the nail on the head. The UK will Never become a Islamist country. The story you were refering to was nothing but scaremongering from the right-wing press.

[Emberstone]

since the right wing are losing the culture wars against gay people these days, muslims are the ripe target. Basically, it was the same fear mongering that setup the norway attacks that just happened, which was over a far right extremist person attacking the goverment for allowing muslims to live in norway.

the greatest threat are not the muslims, but the fundementalist muslims, and the far right extremist who are basically the same, just tend to be white and christian, but promote the same violence.

We do have pushes for sharia style laws in america, but only from the far right fundie christians who are trying to legislate their religious beliefs (which christ himself rejected openly and repeatedly in the bible) onto others. The ironic thing is no muslim groups in america are advocating sharia law, and openly reject them... yet the right wing these days just wont shut up about sharia law being on the books in random places (are they still claiming dearborn michagan?) and trying to whip up a orgy or political and ethic hatred in responce to non-existant laws.

[Cantthinkofone]

Originally Posted by Martin

The 'sharia law zones' you speak about are just stickers and leaflets posted about a street. The media have had a frenzy with it, but no law is enforced based on stickers and leaflets.

Also, many of the muslim asylum seekers in Britain have fled from persecution from countries which enforce sharia law in a pretty extreme manner and willingly abuse the human rights of citizens. Many of them come to this country because of the democracy and freedom that we all enjoy, so this interest they have of changing us is nothing more than a media myth. It's true that there are extremists in this country, but you'd find it difficult to find a country without extremists. The extremists don't speak for the Muslim community any more than the guy who commited the Norway massacre speaks for the Christian community.

Britain is pretty safe from Sharia Law. If anything the recent 'revolutions' and uprisings in the Middle East would indicate that countries are moving towards democracy rather than influencing Western countries to move towards Sharia Law.

Never trust the press on issues like this. They love sensationalising issues in the hope of selling papers.

^that

Firstly, Muslims are a minority in the U.K. Secondly, only the extremists which make up a small percent of the Muslim population in the U.K want that. Third of all, the chances of something like that happening are simply non-existent (it's about as likely as...I don't know...the U.S becoming a communist country overnight. not going to happen). I mean, think about it, even if there were people dead-set on this how on earth would they go about actually doing it? :P Invading the Parliament with pitchforks?

I can't believe we've gotten to the point where people are actually taking these things seriously...

[olides84]

Well, even though I had 110% certainty that it would never happen, I've still learned a lot of background from this thread, so now have ammunition against the scaremongers* who exist here as well. Thanks for the informative posts!

[Emberstone]

the only thing we have to fear is fear itself... and donald trumps combover becoming sentient, and taking over the world.