Mussulmen and Mobs

Via Matt Drudge comes a story from across the pond about how sharia law has gained a foothold in Britain.

Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain.

However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing case that was decided by an unofficial Somali "court" sitting in Woolwich, south-east London.

...

"Sharia courts now operate in most larger cities, with different sectarian and ethnic groups operating their own courts that cater to their specific needs according to their traditions," [Patrick Sookhdeo] says. These are based on sharia councils, set up in Britain to help Muslims solve family and personal problems.

...

[Faizul Aqtab] Siddiqi predicted that there would be a formal network of Muslim courts within a decade.

Perhaps I should have said "leg-hold"....

The article shows no sense of alarm about this, probably owing to the influence of multiculturalism and the complete absence of the notion that the law should protect individual rights (rather than enforce the alleged will of an imaginary being). The concept of individual rights was, of course, never once mentioned in the article.

And lest we grow too smug here in America, we should note that mob rule, including blatant attacks (HT: Glenn Reynolds) on the freedom of speech of invited lecturers any leftist students happen to disagree with, has taken hold at a few of our "elite" centers of learning.

This totalitarianism, unsurprisingly, not only paves the way for Islamofascism by getting people used to intimidation and to censoring themselves, it is also specifically directed against anyone who dares speak up against Islamofascism.

Such behavior is certainly not limited to East Coast universities. Last February at San Francisco State University, former liberal activist-author turned conservative activist-author David Horowitz had his entire speech shouted down by a group of protesters. Composed primarily of students and other members of the Spartacus Youth Club, a Trotskyist organization, the group stood in the back of the room shouting slogans and comments at every turn.

...

Recently, reformers from within the Muslim world itself have been on the receiving end of such treatment. Whether it be the work of student groups or faculty, insurmountable security restrictions and last-minute cancellations have a strange way of arising whenever such figures are invited to speak on college campuses.

Arab American activist and author Nonie Darwish was to speak at Brown University earlier this month, when the event was canceled because her views were deemed "too controversial" by members of the Muslim Students' Association. Given that Darwish is the author of the recently released book, "Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror," such claims are hardly unpredictable. Like most Muslim reformers, Darwish must overcome the resistance within her own community, aided and abetted by misguided liberal sympathizers, in order to get her message across.

The whole article, by Cinnamon Stillwell, is well worth a full read, and not merely because it is so eye-opening. On the bright side, the piece also introduces the reader to a several courageous individuals who have renounced terrorism and are now fighting the Good Fight against Islamofascism.

-- CAV