Sharia is a package deal, as even Imam Rauf knows. As the deputy PM makes clear, once Sharia has attained sufficient strength within a society, the rest of it will fall into place. A society that has not resisted Sharia when it was a minor force will be even less able to do so when it is a major force. Hence the gradualist approach in Britain, and as seen here in Malaysia.
Denial is not reform, but often passes for it in the West. The moment a non-Muslim notes a troubling tenet of Sharia, Sharia becomes a shape-shifting jellyfish of a law: that’s not really Sharia, we’re told, or that’s only Sharia in scary places like Saudi Arabia. Or it’s cultural and tribal baggage that could never, ever happen in the West because the West is “different” (And how and why is it different?). Or those punishments only happen in special cases to very bad people — as if punishments like amputation or stoning, which are cruel and unusual in principle, are any less so when applied if we really didn’t like the defendant.
And yet these same punishments enter the discussion wherever Sharia gains sufficient strength. That, of course, is because they are prescribed in the Qur’an, and in ahadith — the recorded sayings and example of Muhammad — that were deemed reliable (“Sahih,” or “sound”) by the consensus of Muslim scholars. That includes amputation for theft (Qur’an 5:38) and for “spreading corruption in the land” and “waging war against Allah” (5:33), lashes for adultery (24:2: “let no compassion move you”), and stoning for adultery (Sahih Bukhari 8.82.816).
“Malaysia Not Ready To Practise Hudud Law, Says Muhyiddin,” from Bernama, September 22:
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 22 (Bernama) — Malaysia is not ready for the implementation of hudud law, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The Deputy Prime Minister said as a multi-racial and multi-religious country, Malaysia was not ready to introduce hudud laws as brought up by PAS leaders.
“Our stand is that in Malaysia, we cannot implement it in the present situation. I do not think in the present condition, it is suitable for implementation. We did not question the need to implement hudud law,” he told a news conference after chairing a Cabinet Committee on Supply and Prices meeting here Thursday.
Muhyiddin said hudud laws could only be implemented when the situation was really conducive.
He said explanation and understanding of theses laws needed to be extended to cover all the people in the country so that they truly understood them.
“As a Muslim, I cannot reject hudud law. This is a fact from the Islamic law aspect but its implementation has become a subject of debate today. If Nik Aziz (Kelantan Menteri Besar) said it would be implemented in Kelantan, it is his wish,” he added.
Under hudud laws, thieves hands [are] chopped off, adulterers will be stoned to death and murderers executed.