Postby avowedly-agnostic » Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:18 am
First and foremost let me just remark that I hope there won't be a repeat of mods and the admin deleting and censoring opinions contrary to theirs.
Can we have a system which combines and synthesises in complete harmony Islamic shari’a law with secular law? In order for us to answer this question satisfactorily, we must first determine what it is we want from our laws. Do we merely want to create a combination of religious and secular laws in order to silence critics of Shari’a law, or do we want to establish laws which guarantee citizens their inalienable civil liberties and human rights in order to protect and shield them from tyranny?
If the purpose of legislating laws and setting up a constitution is to ensure that the freedoms and individual liberties of all are respected and not under any circumstance infringed upon, then I think all rational persons would have to agree that Islamic law is incapable of carrying out that function. Islamic law places great stress on strict social morality, and its laws which are enshrined in the Qur'an and in the Ahadith enforce these doctrines at the expense of freedom and individual liberties.
The fundamental difference between Islamic and secular law is the concept of the HARM PRINCIPLE proposed by the 19th century English philosopher and thinker: John S. Mill.
The HARM PRINCIPLE states "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." and by "harm", it's meant physical harm. Much of secular law is based on this benign principle. In fact, many court legislations in the U.S. and Europe have often referred to the harm principle when making decisions about homosexuality, pornography etc. And they judged that because the aforementioned activities don’t constitute “harm†to anyone, then they oughtn’t be made illegal (irrespective of whether they may be deemed by some as immoral)
When one looks at Islamic law however, one finds that the Shari’a often illegitimately interferes with the private affairs of citizens. This is in direct opposition and contrast to the principles of secular law which states that the state should not under any circumstance prohibit, stop or interfere with the self-regarding matters that only concern the individual. Islam however doesn’t at all recognise the harm principle, or the notion that the state has no business in controlling the private affairs of individuals.