Sunday 17 February 2008

Statement on Shariah Law in Britain

Tendai Maphosa

London

11 February 2008

The Archbishop of Canterbury, who is head of the Anglican Church, recently provoked an uproar when he suggested it was unavoidable that that some aspects of Sharia law would be incorporated into English law. But as Tendai Maphosa reports from London, the Archbishop says the criticism is not called for.


Archbishop Rowan Williams (file photo)Archbishop Rowan Williams is the most senior bishop in the Anglican Church in England and the leader of the Anglican Communion around the world. Last week he triggered a barrage of criticism when he suggested that the introduction of elements of sharia law into English law is unavoidable. He was interviewed by British radio.


"As a matter of fact certain provisions of sharia are already recognized in our society and under our law so it's not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system we already have in this country a number of situations in this country in which the law, the internal law of religious communities is recognized by the law of the land," he said.


The archbishop's comment was greeted with outrage by some people who called for his resignation. Some elements in his own church also criticized him. Chris Sugden is the secretary-general of Anglican Mainstream, which represents some 2,000 churches. Speaking on British radio, Sugden called on the archbishop to apologize for his statement, arguing that rather than promote cohesion, it would cause division.


"What he has done in this country and overseas is to open the door to pressure from the Muslim community to take forward the instantiation of sharia law," he said.


Archbishop Williams - who has received the support of Prime Minister Gordon Brown - has refused to back down. Speaking on national television Monday before the Church of England synod, Williams said his comments were taken out of context.


"It posed the question to the legal establishment they were entitled to enjoy as a citizen of the United Kingdom and I concluded that nothing should be recognized which had that effect."


While Williams' comments on sharia law were criticized by some, they were welcomed by the Muslim Council of Britain. VOA spoke to its deputy secretary-general, Daud Abdullah.


"He was trying to set forth a debate on the issue of Muslim personal law which is quite different from its penal system here he was referring in his lecture to issues like marriage, divorce, inheritance, perhaps burials of the dead, support, child custody, these are the issues covered in Muslim personal law and he was not saying that it should be imposed upon British people but he was saying let us explore ways of accommodating it," he said.


Abdullah said if sharia law were to be allowed in Britain, it would only be imposed on people wanting to be ruled under issues covered by such law. He says Britain is not an Islamic state, so forms of shari considered extreme in the West would not apply here.

P/S:

Click this link for further reading. I'll comment on this article in my next entri, Insyaallah.

Thursday 7 February 2008

Alhamdulillah


Bila kita ditimpa bermacam tugasan pada suatu masa, Jangan Gelabah. Lakukan dengan tenang dan berdoalah pada Nya agar dipermudahkan urusan. Sentiasa berbaik sangkalah dengan Allah. Insyallah Allah akan membantu kita balik. Setiap benda yang berlaku ada hikmahnya.


Itulah yang saya pelajari pada hari ini. Hari ini, segala macam perkara berlaku yang memerlukan diriku untuk menyelesaikannya dalam hari ini juga. Semuanya adalah penting. Sama-sama penting.


Pertamanya, saya perlu pergi ke Bank Muamalat untuk menyelesaikan sedikit urusan pada waktu tengahari.


"Minta maaf dik. Ayat ini tidak jelas. Adik kena betulkan dan jumpa saya balik pukul 3 " jelas Encik Azlan.


Pukul 3? Saya punya kelas tutor Transaction in Islamic Law dan Pukul 5 saya punya Test Tort.


"Okay, takpe. Rehan cakap dengan Ustaz Hafiz. Dia bagi kot." kataku kepada Kak Aishah.


Tiba-tiba, Handphone ku berdering

" An, kat mane? Shida, Azwa & Kak Su pergi kelas tutor ustaz pukul 1." Tanya Salwa mencariku.


"Ada ek pukul satu? Aku memang nak join. Kat mana"


Saya mempercepatkan langkahku dari bank ke AIKOL yang jaraknya hampir 1 km. Tercungap-cungap diri tatkala berjalan dengan semaksima kelajuan untuk ke sana. Bila tiba di AIKOL, saya memilih untuk naik lif ke tingkat 3.


" Hahaha...Kitorang tak jumpa ustaz. Puas kitorang pusing. Dah pukul berapa ni. Takdelah kot. Nak makan kat kafe." jelas Shida tatkala pintu lif terbuka.


"oo Aku dah makan. Takpelah. Aku nak p lib"


Saya mempercepatkan langkah ke library dan memilih lokasi strategik untuk saya memulakan 'preview note session'. Saya melihat jam tangan pemberian Izzah, hadiah harijadiku, pukul 1.30. Takpe saya masih ada 1 jam setengah. Sempat ni. Tenang-tenang aja. Bisik hatiku. Saya menulis semula apa yang telah saya hafal dan ingat supaya saya tidak lupa terutamanya di dalam bab-bab ejaan.


" Ok, urusan awak dah setel. Sahlah akaun awak ini" jelas Encik Azlan.


Alhamdulillah. Alamak pukul 4 dah. Test akan bermula pukul 5. Tapi Shida kata 4.45 dah kena ada. Takpe. Relaks. Kak Aishah menghantarku dengan motornya ke AIKOL dari bank. Tidaklah saya tercungap-cungap seperti saya ke kelas tengahari tadi.


"Okay, you can begin answering your paper" Prof Altaf memberi kebenaran untuk memulakan perjuangan.


Alhamdullillah, soalan yang diberikan tidaklah begitu sukar. Straight forward. Tetapi untuk soalan 'Problematic Question', berpusing-pusing juga kepala untuk menentukan apakah pampasan yang boleh mangsa dapat. Tetapi, Terima Kasih Ya Allah, saya bisa memahaminya dan menjawab dengan tenang. Sesungguhnya Kau telah ingatkan apa yang telah aku baca dan Kau telah tunjukkan apa yang aku tidak tahu. Insyaallah biarlah cantik resultnya juga. Amin.


Saya pulang ke bilik dan mengemas barang-barang untuk dibawa pulang untuk cuti ini dan mengemas bilikku yang sedikit berselerak sebelum pulang esok hari dan pergi ke tandas membasuh baju-baju dan khidmat kendiri.


Selepas siap segala urusan di tandas, saya melihat handphoneku. Ada meseg masuk.


"Insy Mak amik malam ni. Pukul 10 boleh?"


Boleh. Tersorak ngirang hatiku. Allah permudahkan lagi urusanku hari ini. Terima kasih Ya Rabbi. Tidaklah saya perlu menunggu sampai besok hari nak balik rumah.
~ Allahumma Yassir Wala Tu'assir
Ya Allah Permudahkanlah Urusan kami dan Janganlah Engkau Menyusahkannya.~