“Hamid Khan is an adjunct professor of Islamic law at the University of Michigan Law, a national security fellow with the Truman National Security Project and an attorney with the U.S. government.” Here he says “Islam is not a monolith,” and yet doesn’t produce even a single example of the Taliban violating any tenet of Islamic law, or any specific example of a Sharia tradition that differs from the ones the Taliban is implementing.
“Taliban doesn’t equal Islam: How news coverage of Afghanistan disserves a great religion,” by Hamid Khan, USA Today, August 21, 2021:
Like the dizzying speed with which events transpired in Afghanistan, so too has been the apoplectic invocation of terms used to describe the Taliban’s return to power.
News outlets and commentators have recklessly referenced Islam, fundamentalism, Islamic law and Shariah with little, if any, context, definition or understanding of the religion and its complex layers of teachings, laws and people.
And so, as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban this week, my heart broke twice. Once for all the work I did there building institutions that respect human rights in keeping with Islamic law and values, and a second time, for the way the media and politicians resorted to careless and often misleading rhetoric that stoked confusion, concern and outright fear of Islam and Muslims.
If we have learned anything in the two decades since 9/11, it should be that Islam is not a monolith, Muslims represent a sixth of humanity, and any simplistic reduction of Islamic law to savage brutality is woefully ignorant and unhelpful.
Although Islamic law is frequently equated with the Sharia, they are not the same thing. Sharia is an Arabic term that means “a path to the source of water” and is mentioned just once in the Quran; it is used to distinguish between an utterly whimsical path of lawlessness and a straight path bound by certitude.
In other words, Sharia can be understood as God’s will for humankind.
Yet, most of what has been described as Islamic law – including that articulated by the Taliban – is really a body of law produced by scholars trying to understand God’s will and the result of fallible human interpretation. There is no singular “lawbook” for Islamic law.
Instead, as I often teach my students, Islamic jurisprudence is a vast collection of different, often competing, interpretations of primary sources like the Quran and prophetic tradition, which is a separate and complex science.
Perhaps more important, because interpreting God’s will for humanity remains an ongoing enterprise, there is always new understanding to be derived, doing away with the stereotype that Islamic law is frozen, or locked in a particular place or time.
My students are not the only ones who have learned these lessons, so too have Afghans.
When the Taliban swept across stretches of Afghanistan in the 1990s, they brought promises of incorruptibility backed by force. Unfortunately, their earliest practices revealed an approach to Islamic law that was often inextricably entangled with the cultural traditions of the Pashtun people and led to the promulgation of various rules, among other things, resulting in the severe marginalizing of the role of women in society.
This week, when pressed on the issue, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, “The Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of women within the framework of Sharia.” Of course, like media outlets, the Taliban could offer no specifics regarding the precise meaning of their interpretation of Islamic law….
tom parry says
If you know any students, tell them to run as fast as they can from our woke universities.
IQ al Rassooli says
The most obscene of Islamic fallacies is that Allah is the same as the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus when in fact, Allah was and still is the name of the supreme pagan god of Arabia centuries before Muhammad falsely but deliberately metamorphosed him into the God of the Bible.
This perfectly clearly indicated by the first verse allegedly revealed to Muhammad al Alaq 96.1:
Read, ˹O Prophet,˺Recite in the Name of your Lord Who created—created humans from a clinging clot”
Alaq in Arabic means a leech or a blood clot; neither of which can create humans but most important of all is the fact, if Allah is the same as God of the Bible, how could he tell Muhammad a completely different and imbecile start for human creation?
Simple but utterly destructive question
Any Muslims with answers?
Americanthinker says
No Muslim here but….Islam did not exist as is today in the times of Noah. So who is more corruptable?
gravenimage says
What is Americanthinker trying to say here?
PRCS says
“Here he says “Islam is not a monolith,””
O.K.
So, if Islam IS open to interpretation, as he and others assert, then we must accept that the strictest is as valid as the least.
The Taliban, not a Presbyterian among them, represents their interpretation of Islam.
Grandma
James Lincoln says
PRCS,
The strictest interpretation of islam, which is the most dangerous, should be the default position of Western countries.
Thinker1 says
They keep bad animals.
rubiconcrest says
‘…. as I often teach my students, Islamic jurisprudence is a vast collection of different, often competing, interpretations of primary sources like the Quran and prophetic tradition, which is a separate and complex science.’ …. yes so complex and give me a few minutes more to completely muddle the topic….
Islamic countries are more in agreement than disagreement. The only difference is whether they their non-Muslims citizens and minorities want to die quickly or slowly.
gravenimage says
Spot on.
tim gallagher says
Maybe the Taliban and ISIS are the really hardline versions of Ilsam, but I personally can’t find anything good or even slightly decent and civilised about any aspect of islam. All of Islam seems to me to be a primitive, barbaric load of crap, with its hatred and calls to kill non-Muslims, its child brides, imitating that scumbag Muhammad’s evil behaviour, the rape gangs that Muslims always join to prey on non-Muslim girls and women, and so on. Islam, all of it, is a load of evil crap and this academic is either a complete fool or a lying traitorous piece of crap. “Disservice to a great religion”. Pig’s arse. If people who call evil Islam a “great” religion are referring to the fact that it has a huge number of members it might make sense, but to call such an evil, barbaric ideology “great” is complete bullshit and only an immoral creep could possibly call islam “great”. Evil, degenerate, barbaric, inhumane, satanically evil, backward, primitive would be accurate in describing Islam, but definitely not “great”.
Peter35 says
Makes sense to me, Tim! At best, anyone who labels islam a ‘great religion’, has to be a halfwit.
Seems there are plenty of halfwits around
tim gallagher says
Yes, Peter35, there definitely do seem to be plenty of halfwits around alright when it comes seeing the truth about islam’s nature. These people who keep telling us all to respect Islam amaze me. The way that islam, which is so obviously barbaric and murderously violent (what 40,000 or so Muslim terrorist attacks since the 9/11 attack) seems to have fooled so many people who defend it has to be one of the greatest confidence tricks ever perpetrated.
Donovan Nuera says
Islam is too big to fail!
tim gallagher says
You are probably right, Donovan. Islam will probably go right on fouling up the human race for ages and ages. Still, I live in hope that the evil and barbaric ideology will somehow fall apart, which is what such an evil ideology deserves to have happen to it.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Tim. There is no aspect of Islam that is not either horribly destructive or easily found elsewhere.
tim gallagher says
gravenimage, I can find nothing good or noble in the content of Islam. As we have discussed before, I do come across people who seem to be pretty decent, who happen to be Muslims, but it has to be the way they have turned out in spite of Islam. As you have mentioned, some people are just better than the religion or ideology they are a part of. I didn’t get far when I tried, years ago, to read the boring Koran, but I did find it was obsessively full of hatred for all non-believers. That hatred seems to dominate islam.
gravenimage says
Yes, indeed, Tim. I read the Qur’an for the first time shortly after 9/11–I wanted to see if Islam really did preach violence. I had expected to find a few ambiguous references to ancient battles–instead, I was just horrified by the level of hatred and calls for violence I found. And this was before I knew anything about abrogation, which just makes it worse.
tim gallagher says
gravenimage, I read a bit of the Koran,which was in a local library, mainly because i wanted to check on whether those quotes I had seen at Jihad Watch and other places about how Muslims should go out and murder non-believers whenever the chance arose were there (which of course they were – I thought that I better have the quotes right if I am going to write to politicians and give them those quotes to wake them up to Islam’s nature), then i read a bit more of it and my overwhelming impression was also that the foul book was full of an obsessive level of hatred for non-believers and a desire to kill them. I didn’t read much of it because I honestly found it unreadable, but I certainly could see how evil a book it was and understood the violence of Muslims a bit more from seeing what their “holy” book was like..
gravenimage says
Tim, I’ve read the Qur’an five times now in various translations–ugly, irrational, and dispiriting stuff. I never would have tackled it if it were not such a threat today.
somehistory says
“no lawbook for islamic law.” Well, that’s just because islam is complete and utter ***lawlessness*** straight from satan the devil.
There can’t be a “book of islamic law,” for the simple reason that everything about islam breaks the Laws set down thousands of years ago by man’s Creator.
Absolutely all of the the filthy book worshipped by mozlums is designed to keep people from knowing and obeying and gaining wisdom and personal happiness from the True Book of Divine Law,
Even such basic things from the Bible, such as the earth being round, and the proper disposal of human waste are twisted and perverted by the book of evil filth.
This “professor” is just another liar, building an image to the evil thought up by a slime bag of filth, loathsome lying son of satan, mass-murdering raper of children, thief and purveyor of every evil that the devil whispered in his nasty ears.
He should be run out of town on a rail for lying to his students and for writing such as he did for the public consumption, attempting to bring honor and respect to the demonic filth of islam.
gravenimage says
There is the Reliance of the Traveller–an orthodox compendium of Sunni Shari’ah law.
somehistory says
Call it “law” if you want, but it is against the Laws of Creation and the Laws of Morality and Common Sense set out by our Creator. Lawless in all of its “books” and sects.
gravenimage says
I agree, Somehistory. I never meant I agree with any of these horrors.
Donovan Nuera says
Why is there no adjunct professor of Catholic Law…or Jewish Law…or Shinto Law at that law school??? Same with Prof. Raab at Harvard Law School; why are law schools investing in theological departments rather than the US Constitution? And specifically ONLY the foreign religion of Islam which has had no bearing on US culture until migration in the 60-70s…along with black convert movements like the idiotic NOI???
somehistory says
Because they wish to change the mindset of the populace…esp the young who are not allowed to disagree with “professors” and still keep a grade he/she earns.
The student leaves school believing this evil garbage of islam and some then spread it around as though it is all true and proven fact.
and, it is all controlled behind the scenes by enemy number 1, satan the devil.
gravenimage says
If this were just disinterested study it would be fine–after all, there are scholars who have studied the laws of the ancient Aztecs or the Spartans–but so much of this with Islam is Da’wa, not just study.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Hello, Somehistory. You refer to “basic things from the Bible, such as the earth being round, and the proper disposal of human waste”. This is new to me. Please cite chapter and verse.
somehistory says
Isaiah wrote about the “One dwelling above the “circle of the earth,” (Is 40:22) and other verses from Genesis and the Psalms indicate that the earth is round.
The Mosaic Law gave instructions on disposing of the waste, even while the Israelites were in the Wilderness.
Deuteronomy 23:13 “And you must have a digging tool in your ..›
Each of you must have a spade as part of your equipment. Whenever you relieve yourself … When you go out to the toilet area, use the shovel to dig a hole.”
.https://biblehub.com
somehistory says
By the way, Mark,
I have gone out to the Atlantic and looking out over that vast ocean, I could clearly see the earth curving away. It’s something that those living near the oceans can easily see if they are observant. and it’s rather awesome.
gravenimage says
University of Michigan Islamic law prof: Taliban doesn’t equal Islam, news coverage ‘disserves a great religion’
…………….
Bald-faced Taqiyya from Hamid Khan.
James Lincoln says
The tuition alone at the University of Michigan Law school is $31,840 per semester.
So, law students are paying $63,680 – tuition only – to be lied to.
Does this make sense to anybody?
https://michigan.law.umich.edu/resource-center/tuition-rates-and-cost-attendance
Donovan Nuera says
We should start calling these schools “Lie Schools”.
gravenimage says
Very grim, James. Thanks for those figures.
Giacomo Latta says
”for all the work I did there building institutions that respect human rights in keeping with Islamic law and values”
Of that I have no doubt. Unfortunately for you Western countries are hard-wired democracies that have adopted laws totally incompatible with your immutable crap from the Dark Ages. So take a hike back in time and space to your intellectual squalor of some middle eastern dump.
OLD GUY says
This comes to our Universities through the Saudi Arabia cash flow and the then placing of islamic scholars on faculty to teach/spread propaganda of the great islamic religion. Just what’s so great about a religion that teaches to kill, rape, child molest and hate everyone non-muslim. He is a lie’s.
Chief Nick says
The reality is that many “moderate” muslims are all for Shari’a law and that law is what the Taliban is instituting. Islamic’s Shari’a law is barbaric. The treating women as chattel, beating them, controlling them like a master does a slave, marrying little girls, female genital mutilation, honor killing, rape of non-muslims are all allowed under Shari’a law. Then there is the barbaric treatment of LGBTQ people, of non-muslims in general, all the more barbaric, yet 2/3 of the “moderate” muslims what Shari’a law.
And never forget the truth that the Quran tells the faithful to lie to gain acceptance in non-muslim countries. Because of that you have to take everything said by a supposedly “moderate” muslim with a dose of salt.