With all the talk of Sharia in the news lately -- the measure to outlaw it in Oklahoma, the ongoing attempts by Islamic apologists to whitewash it -- it is useful to recall some of its more notable aspects. One of these is qisas, or retaliation, which allows for blood money to be paid by the perpetrator to the relatives of the deceased in cases of accidental death or even murder.
In such cases, the compensation is higher if the victim was a Muslim than if he was a non-Muslim. Only the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence allows for the possibility of capital punishment in the case of a Muslim who has murdered an unbeliever. The Maliki and Hanbali schools set a Muslim's life as worth twice that of a non-Muslim -- hence this Saudi Hanbali ruling below. The Shafi'i school sets a Muslim's life as worth two-thirds that of a Jew or Christian. Polytheists, as here, are valued less. The Shafi'i Sharia manual 'Umdat al-Salik dictates: "The indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man. The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid for a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth that of a Muslim." (o4.9)
From the website of the Consulate General of India, Jeddah, who is recording these matters because they come up in connection with his people who are working in Saudi Arabia (thanks to bestproject):
4. Mode of Pavment [sic] :All Death Compensation cases (except industrial accidents) in Saudi Arabia are settled through concerned Shariat Courts in accordance with the Shariat Law.
5. Maximum Amount admissible :
The maximum amount of Death Compensation (Diyya) generally admissible in Saudi Arabia, in respect of road/traffic/fire accident, murder, etc. is as under:
Death Compensation in respect of a male person:
i. Muslim - SR. 100,000/-
ii. Christian/Jew - SR.50,000/-
iii. Other religions : such as Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, etc. - SR 6666.66
In the case of death of a female, death compensation allowed is equal to half the amount as admissible to males professing the same religion. Further the amount of compensation admissible, is based on the percentage of responsibility fixed on the causer e.g. if the causer is held 50% responsible for the accident resulting in the death of a Muslim, the amount of Death Compensation admissible will be SR 50,000 only.
100,000 Saudi riyals = $26,665.25
50,000 Saudi riyals = $13,332.62
6,666.66 Saudi riyals = $1,777.69
The Iranian Shi'ite Sufi Sheikh Sultanhussein Tabandeh explains: "Thus if [a] Muslim commits adultery his punishment is 100 lashes, the shaving of his head, and one year of banishment. But if the man is not a Muslim and commits adultery with a Muslim woman his penalty is execution...Similarly if a Muslim deliberately murders another Muslim he falls under the law of retaliation and must by law be put to death by the next of kin. But if a non-Muslim who dies at the hand of a Muslim has by lifelong habit been a non-Muslim, the penalty of death is not valid. Instead the Muslim murderer must pay a fine and be punished with the lash....Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim...then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain...Again, the penalties of a non-Muslim guilty of fornication with a Muslim woman are augmented because, in addition to the crime against morality, social duty and religion, he has committed sacrilege, in that he has disgraced a Muslim and thereby cast scorn upon the Muslims in general, and so must be executed....Islam and its peoples must be above the infidels, and never permit non-Muslims to acquire lordship over them." -- Sultanhussein Tabandeh, A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Yet more inconvenient evidence of the world's fastest growing death cult.
Overhearing one of my comments during the nightly review of Islamic terrorism, a.k.a., the news, my ten-year-old daughter asked me if there are any good muslims. I responded that there are probably many, but if they try to seriously reform or leave islam, other muslims will kill them on orders of the imams. To that, she replied, "Then there are a lot of muslims who don't want to be muslim but are trapped?"
Bingo. She now understood the root problem of islam.
Thoughts:
1. Umdat al-Salik: A while ago, a particularly aggressive/abusive troll accused me of cherry-picking this one book about Islam to "demonize" (deeeeeeemonize!) all of it.
What I never got an answer on was this:
Umdat al-Salik is certified as a reliable manual of Shafi jurisprudence by al-Azhar University in Egypt, one of the highest institutions of learning in Sunni Islam.
If the book is so un-Islamic, it should be an outrage to them. Or at the very least, they might have declined to consider it. Or at the very, very least, they might not have certified its reliability!
So, what remained a rhetorical question was: why did al-Azhar not kick that to the curb as a Monument of Misunderstood Islam?
2. Blood money is one of the most glaringly absurd injustices in Islamic law. It places an uneven burden on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized in Islamic society by providing a "plan B" for those who can buy and/or schmooze (because money and influence travel together) their way out of trouble. Thus, the rich and powerful have a way out of being held accountable for their actions on the level that those who are not so fortunate would face.
But even more revealingly, it explicitly codifies the notion that a non-Muslim life is worth less than that of a Muslim. If that's the case even in death, the injustices perpetrated against the living unbelievers can be no surprise.
A just and fair society, it isn't, and it is self-evident that the problems lie in the letter of the law, not the "misunderstanding" of it.
That's even worse than the Three-Fifths Compromise. That only reduced slaves to 60% of a person.
Feisal Rauf, Muck-tedar Con, Robert Crane and other such sharia-pimping, mahound-worshipping bedouin nazis would have a hell of a hard time explaining how this makes sharia "focus like a laser beam on justice and human rights more than any other belief system", wouldn't they?
It's interesting that Fjordman's essay Camel Economics had also previously discussed the value of human (i.e. infidel) life vis-à-vis the mahoundian variery, with info from the Wall Street Journal.
The reminder on penalties for death are useful.
I wonder though whether someone with more knowledge and time than myself could perhaps produce a spreadsheet showing the penalties for both death (murder and whatever) and other "crimes", perceived or actual, as applied to men and women of different religions (or no religion).
This could involve for example "honour" killings, ability of Muslims to kill their own children without penalty; alleged adultery and rape; blasphemy; homosexuality; and so on.
I imagine this could be quite difficult. Different Islamic countries, and even clerics, seem to apply different interpretations of the koran. Seems to depend on what suits the particular totalitarian at the time.
Amazing that the financial penalties in Saudi are so well codified. Are they equally codified anywhere else?
Whatever. Such a spreadsheet, or more likely a multi-page workbook, could be an absolute eyeopener to those still in ignorance. (ignorance used in the Western understanding of the word and not the Islamic one)
There was some noise in Denmark some years ago because of a noise among the Faithful that occasioned the proposal from an Imam that blood money be paid to solve it. Apparently a major hurdle was converting camels to Danish currency.
Actually, not to defend the 3/5 compromise, but it had nothing to do with the biology of a person. It was about voting power, and given that the slave states would have rather had each slave represent one person for purely demographic purposes in order to gain Southern representation in Congress, the entire analogy is bunk. Slaves would have been better off with a 0/5 compromise, in order to weaken slave states and strengthen abolitionist states in Congress.
Your article says:
"The Shafi'i school sets a Muslim's life as worth two-thirds that of a Jew or Christian....The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim."
OK, got to be a typo. If a Jew or Christian is worth 1/3 of a Muslim, than a Muslim is held to be worth 3 (not 2/3) of the others.
Historical experience has taught us that those who see themselves as superior do so because they feel they are not. They have a need to retreat from achieving real advancement they need to push others down below their own level.
It's called an inferiority complex. Islam could actually be a mass neurosis.
LOL. Never a truer word. Same condition is what produces bullies and thugs. If anything you have understated the problem.
Makes one wonder why the Israelis trade 100s of Muslim Arabs for a single Israeli. Maybe their math is better than that of Allah?
Based on an audit, which was confirmed by a team of reknowned certified public accountants, there's two things which are of equal value. They both begin with the letters SH. One is Sharia.
This is why four Sudanese Muslims jailed for murder of an American diplomat and his driver, and sentenced to death (the families of the deceased were asked to choose between capital punishment or "forgiving" the men and regretfully chose the former), "escaped" before the sentence could be carried out. They have not been turned in by anyone yet but have disappeared into thin, Muslim air.
One defendant, Mohaned Osman Yusef, shouted after the second sentencing in October: "You cannot kill a Muslim because he killed a Christian."
And indeed, they didn't; instead, they put them in a low-security prison, no doubt with a wink.
Now, just imagine the international outcy if Israel announced non-Jews could not be buried on the soil of the Land of Israel, or that a Muslim or Christian's life was valued at half that of a Jew.
Unbelievable.
Hmmm. That makes a Hindu or Buddhist woman worth 3,333.33 Saudi Riyals or 889 dollars approx. And that would be the maximum (can be less, according to degree of responsibility). Wonder if the amount will cover costs of a casket and air fare. Ain't Sharia loverly.
I think I shall get hold of a yarmulke and go to the playing ground of the Muslim Street to see if it still says "Allahu Akbar fuck u if ur not muslim" on the wall.
I wonder how much my life would be worth?
Yeah... I remember driving my little Al-Futaim (UAE) Toyota, fully insured, of course. All the while knowing -- as per the policy -- that my life was not so "fully insured" as others.
Ok so let me get this straight. The worth of a muslim woman is only half that of the muslim man while the male Christian or Jew is worth half that of the muslim man, meaning that the muslim woman is equal to a male Christian or Jew.
And they keep trying to say islam is not sexist. Bull puckey!
If a Christian or a Jew is worth only one-half that of a Muslim and on top of that you are equated with najis(feces, urine, dog etc..) under Shia shariah law then what the hell are Western troops who are mainly Christians fighting and dying for these arse-sniffers?
this is one of best example of bigotry of muslims. it is worse than the nazis.
Hi,
My name is Aziz , and i am a Muslim.
excuse me for my bad English .
to be honest i know that most of what you said is true.
but you missed several important things.
1- Saudi Arabia does not represent Muslims!
2- more than 90% of Muslims are following a deformed and Mutilated version of Islam. so my advice is to hate Muslims not Islam or its prophet !!
now to discuss the "facts" you mentioned:
"Death Compensation":
there is not even a verse saying that it the compensation should reach a certain amount , and it should be less when anybody from another religion is killed !!
this "sharia" is man made !!
""Thus if [a] Muslim commits adultery his punishment is 100 lashes, the shaving of his head, and one year of banishment. But if the man is not a Muslim and commits adultery with a Muslim woman his penalty is execution":
when a man\woman commits adultery he gets 100 only , no shaving of the head , no banishment, no killing ( not a single verse in Koran mentions killing adulterers )
they say there are some "hadith", but sadly we can't trust any hadith because people deformed the hadith..
in the end the REAL ISLAM respects all, and does not differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims..
so please, Hate Muslims but not ISLAM !!
Peace !
I forgot about a "Hadith" ...
our prophet said that 72 out of 73 Muslims sect will be in hell !!
only a few "Hadiths" can be believed .. and this is definitely one of them...
so if you do the math ... more than 95 % of Muslims are wrong !! and will suffer in hell !!
side by side with Jews, Christians, and other people who thinks that killing people is right ( unless it is self defense "which cover a lot of different terms")...
Well, Well, Well, this is a strange bit of information that I have happened to come across the web. I am from India and Thank God that all these shitty laws are not applicable in India. Here all people are served the same sentences for their crimes committed whether they are Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs or Christians etc. We in India think that all Religions are equal, none is superior and none are inferior.
I wonder and really amazed to think that how come a particular religion think themselves to be superior than the others. Islam religion is not superior to any religion by any means and neither It is inferior to anyone. Islam religion is just equal as any other religion. One should not become superior because of the religion he or she follows but by dint of his hard work and the help that he renders to his fellow beings in their need.
Here I want to cite something. Please check the link below. Then go to the 7 no. point. You will realize something very big.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Attributed_to_Ashoka
So, what I want to really say is that please don't glorify only your religion and underestimate other religions. Every human being is equal in the eyes of God. He doesn't love and care for his children based on the religion they follow but by the good deeds they are doing or have done in their life time. I pity for Saudi Arabia, what their future will be!
So, I appeal to every of my fellow beings irrespective of their country, caste, creed, religion that love all human beings as your brothers and sisters. Please be tolerant to other religions. Judge people only by their deeds and not by religion or whatsoever. May God Bless You All! Thank you. If you by any chance liked or disliked my comments then please reach me at "kphookan@gmail.com." Any comments are welcome.
How about reverse Sharia? A cat's life is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Muslims.
It was a horrible precedent having our military in Iraq and Afghanistan submit to Sharia law and pay the qisas to families of Muslims killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They didn't even require proof that the person killed was murdered by U.S. troops and was not a combatant. Doing so did NOT put responsibility for human shields on the shoulders of jihadists, where it belongs, and that was a terrible precedent also.
Observe a Mohammedan, one 'Aziz', busy throwing sand, above.
He throws the Hadith under the bus, to protect Islam.
And he trots out exactly the same argument that was used to defend communism, when people pointed out the horribleness of life inside Communist Russia, Communist China, Communist N Korea, Communist Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, etc.
That is: he claims that the Islam that is practised in all the majority-Muslim states, especially the Islam practised in the most devout and sharia-enforcing, such as Iran (Shiite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni), is not really Islam.
Aussie journalist, Geraldine Brooks saw through that sort of nonsense, ages ago, when it was trotted out to deflect attention from Muslim abuse of women:
"Presented with statistics on violence toward women, or facing the furore over the Rushdie fatwa, progressive Muslims such as Ali Allawi ask us to blame a wide range of villains: colonial history, the bitterness of immigrant experience, Bedouin tradition, pre-Islamic African culture. Yet when the Koran sanctions wife-beating and the execution of apostates, it can't be entirely exonerated for an epidemic of wife slayings and death sentences on authors.
"In the end, what Rana Kabbani and Ali Allawi are proposing is as artificial an exercise as that proposed by the Marxists who used to argue that socialism in its pure form should not be maligned and rejected because of the deficiencies of 'actually existing socialism'.
"At some point every religion, **especially one that purports to encompass a complete way of life and system of government** {my emphasis - dda}, has to be called to account for the kind of life it offers the people in the lands where it predominates". (From 'Nine Parts of Desire', 1994, final chapter, 'Conclusion: Beware of the Dogma').
@dumbledoresarmy:
i wasn't trying to protect Islam.. and definatly not trotting about anything..
but it seems that you have so much hate for Islam, that even when a "moderate- muslim" points out that there are major flaws in the common version of his religion, and points them out, and says that islam wasn't always like this. you come and say " the freak is trotting !! he's a Mohammedan.. don't anger him he'll bite !! "
the only way to really understand is to learn Arabic, and read Koran.
and as i told you Iran, and KSA (that is Saudi arabia ) are the reason that Isalm is becoming more and more violent, for reasons that will take me volumes to write.
just because they are getting more and more extreme, and they extremely hate each other.
btw, notice that all these absurd laws are only in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
notice, that most "Islamic terrorist" are from Saudi Arabia!
and most of them thinks the "jihad" is strapping yourself to a bomb killing the nearest civilian in the process !!
i'm not telling you to take my word for it.
i can't even convince you, maybe because there is no good translation of Koran.
and maybe because all the books about Islam are written by dumb people who can't see beyond their noses.
perhaps, because people come up with dumb ideas, and then link it to Koran, and then find people stupid enough to believe it (actually we have many of those ) !!
the fact is that Islam tells us that all men are equal. and not to kill anyone unless it is self defense or if someone killed somebody.
and the most important fact is that 95 % of Islam follower have the wrong idea because they choose to follow a false Hadith over Koran.
you mentioned "woman beating" .. do you know that they word (darb = the common meaning is to hit or beat ) have 13 meanings. and only one of them means (to hit).. the others meaning are various forms of ( to leave ) .. that is a major flaw .. and no wonder more than 3 billion Muslims over 1300 years didn't see that because the nature of their life was savage..
actually i can give you more ammunition on the common version of Islam than anybody else on earth. but i have my own peaceful version, and that is what matters to me.
as far as i'm concerned hate everybody, i'm fine with it. you have the right to do what ever you want.
but i thought that an insiders view would be appreciated.
again, I wasn't trying to defend Islam, i already hate the common version more than you do. I just wanted you to know that it wasn't always like this.
anyway, hoping that you'll find it in your heart to help people who think that there is something very wrong about Islam today to spread their ideas and thought (AKA healing Islam) rather than spreading ( the hate Islam culture ) which i agree with at some level.
peace !!
sorry for the sarcastic beginning.
and sorry for all the grammer mistakes that i made ( still learning english )..
peace