(CNN) – A federal appeals court has blocked an Oklahoma voter-approved measure barring state judges from considering Islamic and international law in their decisions.
The three-judge panel at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier injunction preventing State Question 755(pdf) from being certified until the free speech questions are resolved. The decision Tuesday allows a lawsuit brought by Islamic-American groups to move ahead to a bench trial.
“The proposed amendment discriminates among religions,” said the judges. “The Oklahoma amendment specifically names the target of its discrimination. The only religious law mentioned in the amendment is Sharia law.”
Banning Sharia Law in US is offensive to Muslims
House Bill 2029 would ban Pennsylvania courts from considering any foreign legal code or system that isn’t identical with theConstitution . Muslim activists say that it is specifically targeted against the practice of Sharia Law–a religious code for Muslims that has the power of law in some countries. Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR ) Attorney Amara Chaudhry says this would block freedom of religious expression.“This is not a new faith we are not a foreign faith and yes this dangerous, clearly stated discriminatory purpose on a publicly circulated document, you just don’t get any more troubling than that,” said Chaudhry.Professor Khalid Blankinship of Temple University compares following Sharia to the Catholic teaching that divorce is not allowed. “That would be like going into the Catholic Church and telling them that you can’t marry people the way you want or saying you have to allow divorce of people even if the Pope ruled otherwise,” said Blankinship.State Representative Rosemarie Swanger of Lebanon County, who authored the bill, says it is designed to preserve rights of liberty that do not exist in some foreign legal systems. She has said recognizing foreign laws could allow women to be treated as second-class citizens. In a letter she sent to colleagues, Swanger called Sharia law “inherently hostile to our constitutional liberties.”
The appeals court said voter initiatives normally should be given great deference by the courts but concluded the Oklahoma measure would be applied selectively.
Ballot supporters “do not identify any actual problem the challenged amendment seeks to solve,” said the 37-page ruling. “Indeed, they admitted at the preliminary injunction hearing that they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma.”
State Question 755, also known as the “Save Our State” measure, was approved by a 7-3 ratio. It was sponsored by Oklahoma State Reps. Rex Duncan and Anthony Sykes, both Republicans.
“The fact that Sharia law was even considered anywhere in the United States is enough for me” to sign on, Sykes told CNN last year. “It should scare anyone that any judge in America would consider using that as precedent.”more from source
| SHARIA (ISLAMIC LAW) Shari’a is an Arabic word meaning “path” or “way.” Today the term is used most commonly to mean “Islamic law,” the detailed system of religious law developed by Muslim scholars in the first three centuries of Islam and still in force among fundamentalists today.Shari’a tries to describe in detail all possible human acts, dividing them into permitted (halal) and prohibited (haram). It subdivides them into various degrees of good or evil such as obligatory, recommended, neutral, objectionable or forbidden. This vast compendium of rules regulates all matters of devotional life, worship, ritual purity, marriage and inheritance, criminal offenses, commerce and personal conduct. It also regulates the governing of the Islamic state and its relations to non-Muslims within the state as well as to enemies outside the state. Shari’ainfluences the behavior and worldview of most Muslims, even in secular states where it forms no part of the law of the land.Islam teaches that shari’a, as God’s revealed law, perfect and eternal, is binding on individuals, society and state in all its details. By logical extension, any criticism ofshari’a is heresy. Muslims who deny the validity of shari’a in any way are labeled as non-Muslims (infidels) or apostates (those who convert to another religion) by traditionalists and Islamists. As such, they face the threat of being prosecuted for apostasy, a crime that carries the death penalty in shari’a. |
In Tampa, Florida, a dispute arose over who controls the funds a mosque received in 2008 from an eminent domain proceeding. Former trustees of the mosque are claiming in court they have the right to the funds. Current mosque leaders are disputing that claim.
The current mosque leaders want the case decided according to secular, Florida civil law, and their attorney has been vigorously arguing the case accordingly. The former trustees of the mosque want the case decided according to sharia law.
Here’s the kicker.
The judge recently ruled “This case will proceed under Ecclesiastical Islamic law,” (Sharia law), “pursuant to the Qur’an.”
You can read the judge’s ruling here (it’s a PDF document).
American Islamic Group Supports Ban On “Foreign Law” Which Includes Sharia
Take that CAIR/ACLU[Emphasis mine]….In a separate debate, the American Islamic Leadership Conference (AILC) recently announced support for a Michigan bill (HB 4679) that would prevent state judges from utilizing foreign laws. This, to the surprise of some, would include Sharia law. This group, comprised of Muslim adherents, is opposed do any state court decisions that would conflict with American law. In an official release, the group writes:
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