“There’s really no such thing as just Sharia, it’s not one monolithic Continuum – Sharia is understood in thousands of different ways over the 1,500 years in which multiple and competing schools of law have tried to construct some kind of civic penal and family law code that would abide by Islamic values and principles, it’s understood in many different ways…” — Reza Aslan
And yet whenever we see Sharia implemented, it looks the same. Now, why is that?
“Islamist vigilantes step up threats in Egypt’s Sinai,” from Reuters, December 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
CAIRO (Reuters) – An Islamist group in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula threatened to launch a crusade against drug use and cigarette smoking in the lawless desert region on Wednesday, prompting fears about the growing influence of radical groups in post-revolutionary Egypt.
The country’s new constitution, adopted this week, states that the principles of sharia, Islamic law, are the main source of legislation.
Rights groups say the document contains vague language, such as references to “national” morals, which they believe hardliners can take advantage of to impose religious restrictions on people.
The Sinai vigilante group, which calls itself “Group for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” issued its warning in a leaflet distributed around North Sinai, saying its punishment of those who did not comply would be “very harsh”.
“This statement is the first warning, and there will be no second. It is directed at those trading in drugs, specifically cigarettes,” it said. “Those traders are destroying the families of Sinai, and flouting God’s laws.”…