What We Know About Sharia Law | Melanie Phillips

[00:00:00]So, we come to Sharia courts.

[00:00:02]And uh Islam in Britain has very much uh it's it's advanced has very much depended upon uh the orthodoxy of the day uh in British elites, uh which is that uh Britain and the West have no right to say that their way of life is superior to any other. That is racism.

[00:00:27]As a result, it will not say it will not it will not uphold its own core values.

[00:00:33]And in my view, Sharia courts and Sharia law in Britain is a direct onslaught on its the one of its key core values, which is that there is a rule of law, and that law is one law for all.

[00:00:51]That is absolutely fundamental to Britain. I think it's fundamental to Western democratic society. One law for all. Once you don't have If you have different laws for different groups, it's finished. It's not a society anymore. It's a set of competing tribes.

[00:01:09]Now, Sharia courts, I don't know how many Sharia courts there are, uh but I'm prepared to believe it's several dozen. I just don't know.

[00:01:20]Uh but to me, uh Sharia law is itself inimical to British core values.

[00:01:26]Uh why? Because um Sharia law uh not only divides um those who practice it from those who don't, uh but it does something much much more fundamental. Sharia law does not accept or the Islam does not accept that there can be any superior form of law to Sharia.

[00:01:48]Uh because Sharia is the um immutable word of God.

[00:01:52]And consequently, secular law cannot be superior.

[00:01:57]Now, people say of the Sharia courts, "Look, Jews have their own religious their own their own religious courts, so why can't Muslims have their religious courts?"

[00:02:08]And the answer to that is there is an absolute difference between the two.

[00:02:12]Uh Orthodox Jews, observant Jews, uh live by uh Jewish laws.

[00:02:18]Uh so when it comes to marriage, divorce, other matters, uh you know, you're married according to Jewish religious law, you're divorced according to Jewish religious law in Britain. However, when you're married or when you're divorced in Britain as a Jew, you do so under the umbrella of the domestic law of the land. So you are married uh your marriage ceremony, your Jewish marriage ceremony incorporates the uh re- requirements of British law.

[00:02:51]Uh similarly with divorce, uh you are bound by the rules of divorce that obtain in uh that have been passed by Britain's Parliament. In other words, when it comes to marriage, divorce, other matters, Jewish religious courts operate more as kind of um uh uh uh administrative tribunals which um uh regulate life according to Jewish law, but within the parameters set by English law.

[00:03:25]Um Sharia courts, that doesn't happen.

[00:03:30]Uh they do not accept the superiority of the secular law.

[00:03:35]Therefore, immediately, you don't have one law for all.

[00:03:40]Jews are under one law for all. It's an absolutely cardinal principle of Jews around the world.

[00:03:46]Uh the law of the land is the law.

[00:03:49]You always are underneath the law of land.

[00:03:53]Sharia means you're never underneath the law of the land. You might go along with it for various reasons, but you're not bound by it. You're bound by Sharia. So, to me, Sharia is in itself subversive of democracy. It is inimical to democracy.

[00:04:12]It is inimical to the core value of Western society that there should be one law for all.

[00:04:18]Now, this is unsayable. I just said it to you.

[00:04:21]I don't think there's anybody in Britain saying this. I can't think of anybody who's saying this. There's not There's no discussion about it.

[00:04:29]Um it it's off the table because to speak about it makes you immediately an Islamophobe, a racist because in the minds of many people Islam is a race, but let's put that piece of ignorance to one side. You are certainly Islamophobic, and you are divisive, and you are cruel, and all all the rest of it. And, most important for the point of view of governments, it's dangerous to say it because you may be killed, we may be killed, we may be blown up. There is violence behind this demand.

[00:05:08]And so, no one No one speaks about it.

[00:05:10]Um I'm not aware of anybody speaking about it elsewhere. I mean, I'm I I I know one or two politicians who are considered extreme have raised it, but it's not part of the discourse at all. And yet, to me, it's fundamental. You have a burgeoning population, not all of whom adhere to this at all. There are many many Muslims in Britain who pose no problem or threat to anybody because they are here because they they they they want to be part of Western life, and they they adhere to all its its precepts. So, you know, it's important to bear that in mind, but there's a very large number who refuse to do that and who want to live according to Sharia principles. And those numbers are increasing. And so, you have an a situation in which part of the country which is no doesn't doesn't regard itself as bound by English law, by the domestic law, um is increasing.

[00:06:11]And no one's talking about it.