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Welcome to America: No Jihad allowed

Wed, 09/24/2008 - 4:46pm

Just in case you were worried that Congress was neglecting other pressing issues during the ongoing financial meltdown, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo is working diligently to prevent the imposition of Sharia law in the U.S.

The "Jihad Prevention Act," which he introduced last week would make it a deportable offense for immigrants to advocate Sharia and require that all immigrants pledge not to do so when they are admitted to the country. I'll give Tancredo the benefit of the doubt and assume that he actually sees this as a threat, though it's a bit dodgy that the statistics he cites are from the U.K.

On the merits though, this is a phenomenally dumb idea. It not only singles out Muslim immigrants for suspicion, needlessly inconveniences the vast majority of U.S. immigrants who aren't Muslim, and violates the very constitution that it's meant to protect. It also, as Cato's Jim Harper points out, displays a disturbing lack of faith in the strength of American institutions to stand up to the ranting of a few extremists.

It's also inaccurately named since, as far as I can tell, non-Sharia-related Jihad activities would still be allowed.

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Specious evidence

by Virgil Tibbs on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 9:03pm

There is no sharia law in the UK, it's just dumb publications like the one linked to that don't understand what's going on.

"[D]isturbing revelations that the verdicts of Islamic Sharia courts are now legally binding in civil cases in the United Kingdom" is utter rubbish.

These "Sharia courts" are forms of unofficial arbitration. Jewish groups have been doing this in the UK for well over a century.

Instead of wasting courts' time with civil cases such as divorce and inheritance issues, parties can WILLINGLY SUBMIT (and they all must agree) to have their case overseen by a registered representative of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution).

Yes, their arbitration is based on Sharia principles (women sometimes are not treated equally to men, etc.), but it is a consensual arrangement.

Think Judge Judy, not Jihad. Of course, in the TV show, Judge Judy isn't acting in the office of a real judge; she is merely an arbitrator of sorts. Participants agree to accept the verdict of the arbitrator.

All of this operates within UK law. No law changed to enable this to happen.

However, I do wonder if equality and discrimination laws would apply in some cases, even if participation is consensual.