THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 38, February 12, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
BRITAIN'S ENCOUNTER WITH ISLAMIC LAW
By Dr. Daniel Pipes
ISLAM IN GREAT BRITAIN: THREAT TO BRITISH CULTURE, UNITED KINGDOM SECURITY, & WESTERN CIVILIZATION --
BRITISH APPEASEMENT CONCERNING THE WAR ON TERROR, THE NATURE OF THE FAMILY, & THE RULE OF LAW --
CHALLENGING & UNDERMINING THE VERY NATURE OF LIFE IN BRITAIN & THE WEST
FULL STORY:
Beneath the deceptively placid surface of everyday life, the British population is engaged in a momentous encounter with
Islam. Three developments of the past week, each of them culminating years' long trends – and not just some odd
occurrence – exemplify changes now underway.
First, the United Kingdom government has decided that terrorism by Muslims in the name of Islam is actually unrelated to
Islam, or is even anti-Islamic. This notion took root in 2006, when the U.K. Foreign Office, afraid that the term "war on
terror" would inflame British Muslims, sought language that upholds "shared values as a means to counter terrorists." By
early 2007, the European Union issued a classified handbook that banned use of the words "jihad," "Islamic," and
"fundamentalist" in reference to terrorism, offering instead some "non-offensive" phrases. Last Summer, Prime Minister
Gordon Brown prohibited his ministers from using the word Muslim in connection with terrorism. In January, 2008, Home
Secretary Jacqui Smith went further, actually describing terrorism as "anti-Islamic." And, last week, the Home Office
completed the obfuscation by issuing a counterterrorism phrasebook that instructs civil servants to refer only to violent
extremism and criminal murderers, not Islamist extremism and jihadi-fundamentalists.
Second, and again culminating several years of evolution, the British government now recognizes polygamous marriages.
It changed the rules in the "Tax Credits (Polygamous Marriages) Regulations 2003": previously, only one wife could inherit
assets tax-free from a deceased husband; this legislation permits multiple wives to inherit tax-free, so long as the marriage
had been contracted where polygamy is legal, as in Nigeria, Pakistan, or India. In a related matter, the Department for Work
and Pensions began issuing extra payments to harems for such benefits as jobseeker allowances, housing subventions,
and council tax relief. Last week came news that, after a year-long review, four government departments (Work and
Pensions, Treasury, Revenue and Customs, Home Office) concluded that formal recognition of polygamy is "the best
possible" option for Her Majesty's Government.
Third, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, endorsed applying portions of the Islamic law (the Shari‘a) in Great
Britain. Adopting its civil elements, he explained, "seems unavoidable" because not all British Muslims relate to the existing
legal system and applying the Shari‘a would help with their social cohesion. When Muslims can go to an Islamic civil court,
they need not face "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty." Continuing to insist on the "legal monopoly"
of British common law rather than permit Shari'a, Williams warned, would bring on "a bit of a danger" for the country.
Prime Minister Brown immediately slammed Williams' suggestion. His office declared:
"Shari‘a law cannot be used as a justification for committing
breaches of English law, nor can the principle of Shari‘a law
be used in a civilian court. … the Prime Minister believes
British law should apply in this country, based on British
values."
Criticism of Williams came additionally from all sides of the political spectrum – from Sayeeda Warsi, the Tory (Muslim)
shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action; Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats; and Gerald Batten
of the United Kingdom Independence Party. Secular and Christian groups opposed Williams. So did Trevor Phillips, head of
the Equality Commission. The Anglican Church in Australia denounced his proposal, along with leading members of his own
Church, including his predecessor, Lord Carey. Melanie Phillips called his argument "quite extraordinarily muddled, absurd
and wrong." The Sun newspaper editorialized:
"It's easy to dismiss Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
as a silly old goat. In fact he's a dangerous threat to our nation."
It concluded acerbically that "The Archbishop of Canterbury is in the wrong church."
Although widely denounced (and in danger of losing his job), Williams may be right about the Shari‘a being unavoidable, for
it is already getting entrenched in the West. A Dutch justice minister announced that "if two-thirds of the Dutch population
should want to introduce the Shari‘a tomorrow, then the possibility should exist." A German judge referred to the Koran in a
routine divorce case. A parallel Somali gar courts system already exists in Britain.
These developments suggest that British appeasement concerning the war on terror, the nature of the family, and the rule of
law are part of a larger pattern. Even more than the security threat posed by Islamist violence, these trends are challenging
and perhaps will change the very nature of Western life.
© Daniel Pipes 2008
Originally Published in the Jerusalem Post, February 13, 2008
Republished with the Permission of Daniel Pipes
Reprinted from the Daniel Pipes Mailing List, February 12, 2008
Article URL: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5462
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Britain -- The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland:
Mother Country & Close Ally of the United States of America
The Anglosphere -- The English-Speaking World:
The U.S.A., Britain, Canada, Australia, & New Zealand
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Daniel Pipes, a Ph.D. in Islamic History (Harvard University, 1978), is the Founder and Director of the Middle East Forum,
the Founder of Campus Watch, a signatory of the Project for the New American Century, a former board member of the U.S.
Institute of Peace, a former adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Golden Circle supporter of the
U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon, a former member of the U.S. Department of Defense Special Task Force on Terrorism and
Technology, and a former lecturer at the U.S. Naval War College, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the
University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Pipes was the Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute from 1986 to 1993.
Author or co-author of eighteen books, Dr. Pipes is a regular columnist for Front Page Magazine, the New York
Sun, and the Jerusalem Post. His analyses of world trends and of forces and developments in the Middle East
have appeared in numerous North American newspapers, including the Washington Post, the New York Times,
and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on American network television, as well as at universities and
think tanks, to discuss the Middle East, Islam, and the Islamist threat to the U.S.A. and the West. He also has appeared on
BBC and Al Jazeera, and has lectured in approximately twenty-five countries.
Dr. Pipes is a Polish-American Jew whose parents fled Poland in 1939, immigrated to the U.S.A., and assimilated well into
American society and culture. His father is Richard Pipes, an American historian specializing in Russian and Soviet history
and serving as Professor of History at Harvard University from 1950 until his retirement in 1996. During the Cold War, the
worldview of Richard Pipes was strongly anti-Soviet and anti-Communist.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity