New Jersey: Muslim judge accused of imposing Sharia in Family Court

Question.

I seem to recall that, as explained by Nonie Darwish in her book on sharia, 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment', there is no such thing as alimony (in the western sense) under sharia.

"She only receives financial support after a divorce for a maximum of three months".

And as for custody: the children may go with the mother if they are small, but as soon as they reach either age 7 or age 9, they become the property of the father, period.

One would expect a judge who was a Muslim , and who was influenced by a sharia mindset whilst working within a Western legal system, to be reluctant to grant alimony in the first place, let alone go to any great lengths to enforce the payment of same or punish its non-payment.

Robert,

At the very least the judge committed judicial misconduct for ordering debtor prison.
I have no doubt that the Judges' council or whatever organization that oversee judges' conduct won't kick him out and then he'll be disbarred.

In all Western jurisdictions, debtors' prison has been abolished and is illegal.

I am against the insidious insinuation of sharia law in a US (state) court, but it would not be necessarily out of the realm of possibility to incarcerate a deadbeat father pursuant to the applicable law in most US jurisdictions. I do not know all the facts, but it is conceivable that he judge made a finding that the father willfully disobeyed a court order ordering him to pay. That is, the judge found that the father had the money, but deliberately refused to pay it over after the court ordered him to do so. For such action, the father could be held in contempt of court and jailed, not for the nonpayment per se, but for the violation of the court order.
p.s.I once represented a mother in a San Francisco court proceeding where the father was found to have willfully violated a court order and was incarcerated for a couple of days.

Asked for a comment, Gov. Chris Christie was heard to say between chomps on his falafel kabob: "Good judge. I appointed him. Sharia later!"

As an earlier commenter said, it is impossible to tell from this story whether Shari'a is involved or whether this is a case in which a judge has jailed a man for contempt of court for failure to pay alimony, a procedure that is entirely legal and proper in the law of most if not all US states.

Incidentally, the link to the original article is no good.

As an earlier commenter said, it is impossible to tell from this story whether Shari'a is involved or whether this is a case in which a judge has jailed a man for contempt of court for failure to pay alimony, a procedure that is entirely legal and proper in the law of most if not all US states.

Incidentally, the link to the original article is no good.

This has nothing to do with sharia. As mentioned earlier, there is no alimony in sharia for a divorced woman beyond 3 months. This sounds more like a case of deadbeat dads trying to avoid paying what they owe to their children and/or former ex's

Last I heard, New York was already putting debtors for child support in prison. I know this is about alimony, but perhaps it also includes the child support? In any regard, 8000 is excessive, no?..

this isn't the first time. if this judge is imposing sharia. remember the man in mos costume?for halloween

I am certainly no apologist for jihad but there is nothing remotely jihad- or Sharia-related involved in this case.

An order to pay alimony or child support is a court order. Willful failure to obey a court order constitutes contempt of court. Contempt of court is punishable by imprisonment under AMERICAN law in every State in the Union.

With all due respect, this story does not belong in JihadWatch.org and I believe that running with this story was a mistake because it could undermine JW's credibility the next time it tries to call attention to when a judge actually does apply Sharia in an American courtroom.

''In 2008, the law was changed allowing women equal amounts of diyyeh in cases involving insurance and life-insurance. An unborn child in the first period of pregnancy will receive 1/20 of regular diyyeh, and in the second period, 1/10 of regular diyyeh.
**In an intentional case, the money must be paid at once, and the person must remain in prison until the money is paid. In unintentional cases, the blood money can be paid over a period of 1–3 years, it the person fails to generate the money, they will go to debtor's prison until it is paid**

I got that from Wikipedia.

It doesn't seem to refer to alimony, although this judge may be interpreting it that way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors'_prison#United_States_of_America

Also according to Wikipedia, some states allow for imprisonment for debt.

Presumably New Jersey is one of them ?

If **not**, then clearly this judge is acting against the law, and should be investigated.

However, it would appear (and in this I agree with American Exceptionalist) that in this instance, this case hasn't in fact, anything to do with sharia.

Having said that, though, I really do think it is unbelievably **stupid** of us to put muslims in positions of authority over us. This mmohammedan judge may not be implementing sharia in this particular instance, but suppose he does so in the future ? Will anyone challenge him, if he does, and will that challenge be upheld ?

The judge who dealt with the zombie-mohammed case comes to mind, and I believe he is still on the bench.

Talk about the thin end of the wedge ...

Looks like this father has been jailed for contempt. Technically there's no such thing as debtor's prison.

Course, none of this means this judge isn't a toad.