02 April 2014

Why is the Law Society throwing its weight behind a regressive form of Islam?

After all, sharia wills are perfectly common: the law places almost no restrictions on how you distribute your assets after you’re gone, so if you want to discriminate against your female relatives – whether for religious reasons or simply out of good old-fashioned misogyny – nobody can stop you.

.... But this isn't the whole story: both practically and symbolically the move undermines the axiom that all British people – male and female; gay and straight; Muslim, Christian and atheist – should be equal under the law. As Charlie Klendijan of the Lawyers’ Secular Society explained to me, “The Law Society’s guidance notes have a special influence and prestige.

They’re the recognised benchmark of ‘good practice’ for all solicitors, so they have a major impact on how law is practiced in this country. By publishing this guidance note, it has effectively legitimised sharia in the eyes of the legal world.”

[A COMMENT] I agree that here are Muslims who adhere to Islam's fixed values to various degrees, but the values themselves have remained unchanged for around 1,400 years. The so-called 'extremists' adhere rigidly to these values, and the so-called 'moderates' play fast and loose with them.

As a parallel example, your comment is like saying that there are reformist vegetarians who eat meat now and again. But the fact remains that vegetarianism is a meat free diet and that's a fixed given. You can't change the core fundamentals of an ideology by saying that adherents don't always stick to them. [The Independent] Read more