Sharia law

“ Islamic Law - The most widespread type of religious law, it is the legal system enforced in over 30 countries, particularly in the Near East, but also in Central and South Asia, Africa, and Indonesia. In many countries Islamic law operates in tandem with a civil law system. Islamic law is embodied in the sharia, an Arabic word meaning "the right path." ”

“ To eliminate un-Islamic traditions, which affect the rights of women, particularly taking measures against their murders in the name of Honour, to remove the tendency of depriving them of their right of inheritance, to eliminate the tradition of Cirri, and to protect their rights guaranteed by Sharia and law ”

“ The present Sheikh is a typical Arab and spends most of his time in hawking and the chase; the religious rule, which in a Moslem land means the judicial and executive department, rests with the Kadi or Judge. There is no legislature as the law was laid down once for all in the Koran and the traditions. The administration of justice is rare. Oppression, blackmail and bribery are universal; and, except in commerce and the slave-trade, English protection has brought about no reforms on the island. ”

“ There is no jury system in the civil and criminal courts. If a situation is not addressed by statutes enacted after the 1979 revolution, the Government advises judges to give precedence to their own knowledge and interpretation of Islamic law, rather than rely on statutes enacted during the Shah's regime.
Trials in the Revolutionary Courts, where crimes against national security and other principal offenses are heard, are notorious for their disregard of international standards of fairness. ”

“ It would consequently be a transgression of the unalterable principles of the Sheri, which should be the guide of all the actions of the Khalíf, to transfer the supreme power of the Khalíf to one Vakil." This, the latest and most important decision of the jurists of Islám, is quite in accordance with all that has been said about Muhammadan Law. It proves as clearly as possible that so long as the Sultán rules as Khalíf, he must oppose any attempt to set up a constitutional Government. There is absolutely no hope of reform. ”

“ Prophet Mohammed laid emphasis on this principle by saying that people are as equal as dents of a comb are, that no Arab claims a preference over an 'Ajami' (or a non-Arab) and no white man can claim preference over a black man except on the basis of righteous- ness and good deeds. A natural flow of this great principle of Islam and indeed humanity is a set of related principles, namely:
1- All citizens are equal before the law in terms of rights and duties, without distinction of race, origin, language, religion or belief. ”

“ Much of the damage suffered by the citizens of Khuzestan Province during the eight-year war with Iraq has not been repaired; consequently, the quality of life of the largely Arab local population was degraded. Kurds, Azeris, and Ahvazi Arabs were not permitted to exercise their constitutional rights to study their languages.
Women
The constitution says all citizens, both men and women, equally enjoy protection of the law and all human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic rights. ”

“ He was taken a prisoner to Marakesh and there incarcerated, much to the joy of the people he had governed, for his extortion and [254] the worse crimes of his sons had drawn the hatred of the whole tribe upon them. The law of responsibility for one’s relations’ doings is by no means a bad law in Morocco, though in cases it may come hard upon individuals. So largely do the Arabs congregate in clans, and so easily can a single member of a clan escape after crime, that if it were not that his relations were held responsible, no punishment could ever be meted out. ”

“ In exceptional situations of emergency which threaten the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States parties to the present Charter may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Charter, to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin. ”

“ If, by a series of calamities, a man had become impoverished, his more prosperous neighbors were enjoined to lend him money; and although this was not a statute, to the violation of which was annexed a legal penalty, it was a rule which could not be disregarded without a degree of infamy, such as would attach to an Arab chief, who should violate the laws of hospitality. Thus did the Hebrew law enjoin a mutual helpfulness that is the best guard against inequalities of condition. ”

“ The Moslem Religious Courts have exclusive jurisdiction in matters of personal status of Moslems and Moslem waqfs.
Under the Turkish Government there were Sharia Courts, each presided over by a Qadi, in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Hebron, Gaza, Beersheba, Ramleh, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkeram, Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, Acre and Haifa. These Courts have been maintained. The Sharia Courts deal with matters of Moslem personal status (marriage, divorce, inheritance, intestacy, constitution of waqf and the like) , and in addition to their contentious work deal with a large amount of non-contentious business. ”

“ If disputes arise between citizens they are almost always settled on the spot by the interference of neighbours; and the rowdyism and violence of European towns are unknown at Haïl. Where, however, quarrels are not to be settled by the intervention of friends, the disputants bring their cases to the Emir, who settles them in open court, the mejlis, and whose word is final. The law of the Koran, though often referred to, is not, I fancy, the main rule of the Emir’s decision, but rather Arabian custom, an authority far older than the Mussulman code. ”

“ This is the nearest approach in Islam to the development by statute, which comes last in Sir Henry Maine’s analysis of the growth of law. The court guided by these Qanuns decides all matters of public and criminal law, all affairs between man and man. Such is the legal situation throughout the whole Muslim world, from Sulu to the Atlantic and from Africa to China. The canon lawyers, on their side, have never admitted this to be anything but flat usurpation. There have not failed some even who branded as heretics and unbelievers those who took any part in such courts of the world and the devil. ”

“ It is full of railings against the common people who know not the law and are accursed. They are too stupid to understand philosophy or argument. It is the duty of the Khalifa to guide them and especially to show them the distinction between God and His book. He who holds otherwise than the Khalifa is either too blind or too lying and deceitful to be trusted in any other thing. Therefore, the qadis must be tested as to their views. If they hold that the Qur’an is uncreated, they have abandoned tawhid, the doctrine of God’s Unity, and can no longer hold office in a Muslim land. ”

“ Administration of justice in Mohammedan countries generally.This may be partly ascribable to the desire of all Mohammedan rulers to monopolize power, which makes it impossible for them to tolerate in their neighbourhood independent judges with so wide a jurisdiction. But there is more than this: the Mohammedan law is unfitted for the practical administration of justice [129] , among other reasons because it greatly hampers the detection of crime, imposes impossible demands on witnesses and fails to take cognizance of historical changes. ”

“ First, in the town itself before the appearance of Muhammad on its little stage—little, but so momentous for the future—there were two parties, often at war, oftener at peace. There was a genuine Arab element and [68] there was a large settlement of Jews. To the Arabs any conception of law was utterly foreign. An Arab tribe has no constitution; its system is one of individualism; the single man is a sovereign and no writ can lie against him; the tribe can cast him forth from its midst ”

“ Under the old customs of war a belligerent possessed the right to seize and appropriate all the property belonging to an enemy's state or its subjects, of whatever kind they be or in whatsoever place where the acts of war are permissible. So those who object to the early Moslems' threatening, or capturing, or appropriating the [Pg xxxi] person or property of the enemy, and call them robbery, rapine or brigandage, show their complete ignorance of the International Law, ancient or modern.
Intolerance—no compulsory conversion enjoined, or took place during Mohammad's life-time. ”

“ There is, therefore, some reason to hope that, were Arabian thought once more supreme in Islam, its tendency would be in the direction of a wider and more liberal reading of the law, and that in time a true reconciliation might be effected with Christendom, perhaps with Christianity. The great difficulty which, as things now stand, besets reform is this: the Sheriat, or written code of law, still stands in orthodox Islam as an unimpeachable authority. The law in itself is an excellent law, and as such commends itself to the loyalty of honest and God-fearing men ”

“ The Mandatory shall establish in Syria and the Lebanon a judicial system which shall assure to natives as well as to foreigners a complete guarantee of their rights. Respect for the personal status of the various peoples and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed. In particular, the control and administration of Wakfs shall be exercised in complete accordance with religious law and the dispositions of the founders. ”

“ The defense of the Islamic religion, society, and country is a duty for each citizen. The regime establishes the provisions of military service.
Article 35 [Citizenship] The statutes define the Regulations governing Saudi Arabian nationality.
Article 36 [Arrest] The state provides security for all its citizens and all residents within its territory and no one shall be arrested, imprisoned, or have their actions restricted except in cases specified by statutes. ”

“ The nominal codes of justice are the Moslem religious law and the "Instructions" of the Mahdi,—the latter being supposed to regenerate the former, which, through abuse and corruption, had been misapplied and, metaphorically speaking, trodden under foot. The main principle governing the "Instructions" is the necessity for absolute belief [545] in the Mahdi's Divine mission,—to doubt this is considered an act of apostasy punishable by death, confiscation of property, or imprisonment for life. The Khalifa's object being to seize all power, the "Instructions" are applied on every possible occasion ”

“ The front door of entrance to Islam stands wide open, but the door that leads out is forever closed. Apostasy by male adult Moslems who are sane is, when uncompelled, punishable with death. Genuine freedom of conscience is impossible. Moslems who have changed their religion have been regarded by their friends and relatives as despicable in the extreme. Even in lands like Egypt, Iraq and India, where more enlightened
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law prevails and the strict requirements of the shariat cannot be legally carried out, a convert from Islam runs the risk of suffering secret death. ”

“ The Citizens of Qatar shall be equal in public rights and duties.
Article 35
All persons are equal before the law and there shall be no discrimination whatsoever on grounds of sex, race, language, or religion.
Article 36
Personal freedom shall be guaranteed and no person may be arrested, detained, searched, neither may his freedom of residence and mobility be restricted save under the provisions of the law; and no person may be subjected to torture, or any degrading treatment; and torture shall be considered a crime punishable by law. ”

“ These seem to have in their hands the teaching power which strictly belongs only to the Hidden Imam. They thus represent the principle of authority which is the governing conception of the Shi‘a. The Sunnites, on the other hand, have reached the point of recognizing that it is the People of Muhammad as a whole which rules through its agreement. In another point the Shi‘ite conception of authority affects their legal system. They utterly reject the idea of co-ordinate schools of law ”

“ The caliph Omar initiated in the 7th century a code which required Christians and Jews to wear peculiar dress, denied them the right to hold state offices or to possess land, inflicted a poll-tax on them, and while forbidding them to enter mosques, refused them the permission to build new places of worship for themselves. Again and again these ordinances were repeated in subsequent ages, and intolerance for infidels is still a distinct feature of Mahommedan law. But Islam has often shown itself milder in fact than in theory, for its laws were made to be broken. ”

“ In like manner, government in some instances undertook to give legal force to customs, many of which occur among our Indian tribes, which sought to discourage feuds by limiting the time within which revenge could be taken, or to restrictions upon the mode or measure of redress suggested by considerations of humanity. Although Mohammed, in the Koran, adheres to the law of personal retaliation for bloodshed, he counsels forgiveness or composition on the part of the aggrieved persons. ”