From Newt Gingrich’s talk at American Enterprise Institute last month to the controversy surrounding a proposed Muslim religious center at Ground Zero in New York City, from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to use of Islamophobia to alter American foreign policy in the Middle East, misrepresentations of Shari’ah abound.
The Revealer‘s asked scholars, journalists and academics to weigh in on what shari’ah is, how the media often get it wrong, how it’s being used to create fear of Islam and Muslims, and how it is framed to justify continued military defense of “American values.”
Articles:
The Problem of Equating Shari’ah with Law, by Hussein Rashid
Contesting the Sharia: The Ideological Interpretation (and Misinterpretation) of Islamic Law, by Najam Haider
Shari’a and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan, by Najam Haider
Islamophobia: Stoking Fears about an American Community, by Joshua M.Z. Stanton
The Perversion of the Shari’ah and the Limits of Tolerance, by Tariq al-Jamil
As more articles in this series are published, we’ll list them here.
Editor’s note: the accepted spellings of Qur’an and Shari’ah vary. We’ve chosen to defer to our writers rather than impose a consistent usage.
15 comments
Tweets that mention The Meanings and Uses of Shari’ah « The Revealer -- Topsy.com says:
Aug 4, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by therevealer, Ann Neumann. Ann Neumann said: Hussein Rashid and Najam Haider kick off @the_revealer's new series on Shari'ah: http://therevealer.org/archives/4632 [...]
Discrimination Pays « The Revealer says:
Aug 5, 2010
[...] a platform for selling the book. The mystery is why they’re buying it. For some answers, follow our series on Shari’ah here. Commentary You can leave a response, or trackback from your own [...]
Shari’a and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan « The Revealer says:
Aug 6, 2010
[...] article is part of an ongoing series that will examine what Shari’ah is, how the media often get it wrong, and how it’s being used [...]
Shari’a and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan « SpeakEasy says:
Aug 6, 2010
[...] by Najam HaiderThis article is part of an ongoing series at The Revealer, a publication of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, that will examine what [...]
Shari’a and Women’s Rights in Afghanistan | Ikhwanophobia says:
Aug 10, 2010
[...] article is part of an ongoing series at The Revealer, a publication of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, that will examine what [...]
mike davis says:
Aug 11, 2010
Too much attention is paid to Islam. The main western effort in relation to this political program (it is not a religion as we in the West understand the word ‘religion’)must be to open ways to make it easier for muslims to escape this political oppression.
For those who want to stay muslim … fine. Do so. But the West is about the freedom of the individual (the prime gift of the Gospels)and we can only be faithful to Christ if freedom is the core of our lives and we make ourselves available to others to help them in their quest for freedom and bringing into existence their individuality.Islam does not offer any vestige of either freedom or individuality.
Sharia is the framework whereby a muslim stays a slave to this backward ideology. No point in trying to pretend otherwise. No point in trying to deny the innate backwardness of Islam. No assistance should be given in the West to enable any organizational aspect of Islam to be set up or flourish. That doesn’t help us and cetainly doe NOT help the millions of muslims who want to be free of imams, sharia and the whole backward universe of Islam.
How about some commonsense in the West on this issue. Please.
Islamophobia: Targeting An American Community « SpeakEasy says:
Aug 16, 2010
[...] from The Revealer, a publication of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, and is part of an ongoing series about Shari’ah.by Joshua M. Z. StantonWhen John F. Kennedy was running for president in 1960, fear-mongers raised [...]
Islamophobia: Targeting an American Community « The 2012 Scenario says:
Aug 17, 2010
[...] This article is cross posted from The Revealer, a publication of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, and is part of an ongoing series about Shari’ah. [...]
The Perversion of the Shari’ah and the Limits of Tolerance « The Revealer says:
Sep 6, 2010
[...] article is part of an ongoing series that examines what shari’ah is, how the media often get it wrong, and how it’s being used to [...]
The Meanings and Uses of Shari’ah « The Cordoba Initiative Blog says:
Sep 18, 2010
[...] Meanings and Uses of Shari’ah This page by the Revealer offers a collection of informative articles about sharia. This is a good resource for those who are [...]
I Ate a Bowl of Soup, and Now I’m a Muslim : ReligionNerd.com says:
Oct 14, 2010
[...] is a sign that Muslims are taking over the U.S. and imposing shari’ah to make everyone Muslim. The Revealer has a great series on the (mis)uses of the term shari’ah that points out that there is no one [...]
Shari’ah, Fearing the Unknown « The Revealer says:
Nov 20, 2010
[...] greatest country in the world” — it’s high time journalists buckle down and know what this Islam and Shari’ah thing is really about. Commentary You can leave a response, or trackback from your own [...]
Mubarak’s Reality « The Revealer says:
Feb 4, 2011
[...] Sean Hannitys of the U.S. may pander Shari’ah scares without having to examine what Shari’ah really is, but while the Muslim Brotherhood joins protesters to call for an elected government, social [...]
Numbers Lie: Hacking at Islam « The Revealer says:
Sep 30, 2011
[...] overseen, as one of my first projects as editor of The Revealer, a series of articles on how Shari’ah is used, misused, and misunderstood, I recognize the challenges reporters often face when writing about Islam. Few resources exist [...]
CSS3 says:
Apr 25, 2012
CSS3…
[...]The Meanings and Uses of Shari’ah « The Revealer[...]…