Jamal Badawi – Sharia and Law of the Land

			First of all,
		

			for coming and joining in this session, may Allah bless you all, bless our, our moderator.
		

			Secondly, it is my honor, actually, to be by the side of a scholar of Sharia, that many people do
not realize his scholarship, I just ran through his very scholarly article on criminal punishments.
It's just amazing. I didn't complete reading, it just came to my attention a couple of days ago. So
it is a pleasure and honor actually to share that with him, even though I'm not at his level at all.
Thirdly, I wrote to doctors
		

			that I didn't like the original title that says Sharia or the law of the land. The title, which I
wish, I wish we had some arrangement to see, because this presentation much more effective with
		

			the title I chose, actually, Sharia and the law of the land, not all and a subtitle, are they
		

			incompatible to that? Tell you from the beginning, we have seven points inshallah we have zipped
through them as best as we can, and within the time, what is Sharia first? Secondly, is Sharia the
same as jurisprudence? or fifth? Or are they different? Two? Totally different are the intersections
between them? Thirdly, what are the sources of that Sharia? The fourth item is the one that will
take most of the time. That is, what are the supreme objectives or mocassin of Sharia, get to it,
inshallah. fifthly. Just a quick look at some of the salient characteristics of Sharia. And then the
question that our brother was raising Also, do all men made looks violate Sharia based law? I prefer
		

			to use the term Sharia based row other than Sharia law, but I have no time to elaborate. And
finally, what does that understanding affect our duties and rights of citizenship? First of all, the
word literally means way. You use it like way to water which is life. In the technical sense, it is
the way to Allah subhanaw taala, following what he prescribed for us for righteous life here on
earth and happiness in the afterlife in sha Allah.
		

			So the focus of Sharia is not specific laws, really, the focus is on the basic or supreme aims or
objectives of Sharia. Its ethical orientation, its values and broad principles. Truly, there are
some constant elements of the law. But you can tamper with It is estimated that probably less than
8% of the entire production is devoted to ICANN rulings. And out of that, according to Dr. Brown's
article, only about 2% that deals with, you know, certain Penal Law most most people think that
Sharia means Penal Law, this is this is just reducing it to one aspect only.
		

			But we can say also, why in Sharia is not exactly identical to jurisprudence, there is some kind of
relationship between them even though they are not really identical. Because, of course, the
lawmaking or jurisprudence has to be based on the macaws and texts of Sharia. And Sharia does not
exist floating just in the air. So it could be found in the totality of the body of Islamic
jurisprudence. We'll go to the second topic, what is then fifth or jurisprudence, literally, it
means understanding, it could be in chemistry or biology, understanding, but of course, in the legal
meaning, it is understanding the basics of is its teaching and interpreting
		

			the Sharia law, you might say, in providing the practical ruling in issues that face the Muslim
community in and out.
		

			In a way, even though this is not a perfect analogy, it's just like having a constitution and laws.
The Constitution doesn't change everyday. Even though when humans made that constitution they
discovered some problems with it and try to correct it. But generally speaking, the kind of
		

			fusion is quite stable, it doesn't change all the time.
		

			Whereas, look,
		

			has to be based on on the constitution not violate the constitution. If there is such an allegation,
then it is the the Supreme Court that make this type of determination. So, the
		

			same type of focus. But in the meantime, why are there certain elements in Sharia that are stable
and not subject to tampering in and out, like the principle that we'll see again, good rationale for
it, even from non Muslim perspective. But based on Muslim understanding, of course, Syria, is unlike
any constitution made by human beings, we believe it is coming from a less cannatonic. And so long
as it's definitive, not just arbitrary, is universally accepted as definitive non changeable,
		

			then, in that case, you can consider as really infallible, infallible, whereas jurisprudence is
fallible, because in jurisprudence, the jurist surmises all of this information and rules and
guidelines to come up with a particular solution which is not definitive and final, in fact, as the
multiple that goes among traditional scholars, classical scholars about Sharia, that fed to a
particular one aspect of application of Sharia, fatwa change with the change of time, place,
circumstances and customs.
		

			then like I said earlier, that filter is guided by Sharia, even though it is it is fallible, but it
has to be guided by Sharia as best as the jurist or group can do. But again, Sharia exists within
the total body of geological heritage. Now, taking more speaking a little bit more about the
infallibility,
		

			or what are the sources then of Sharia, so that we can say, you know, this is not changeable, this
is not to be tampered with.
		

			In a way, there are three layers,
		

			the primary sources of Sharia, and they say primary, it's not other old various mechanisms of
interpreting Sharia.
		

			The primary sources has to be by nature, revelatory, it's not anybody's idea. It is based on
revelation of Allah span of time. And that includes, of course, two important elements that has the
consensus of the jurist one, it Koran, which is the source of sources, as some scholars call it,
which has been preserved intact in writing, but more importantly, by memorization, through our time
from the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam until our time, there is nothing called some authentic
part of the run and some are authentic, it is the verbatim words of Allah subhanaw taala. But then,
the second is the sound authentic Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam which means his words, his
		

			actions as a quote, the model to follow, and also his tacit approvals. Without getting too much
detail, tacit approval means something that happened that relate to our practice of faith, and he
was aware of it and he did not object to it, because if there is something wrong, he would speak up
of law would reveal him direct him to try and correct that problem. There are a second layer.
		

			Other means that are not really in the same degree of authenticity as the Quran and Sunnah, but are
widely accepted with complicated interpretations and issues. I call them derived sources because
without the Quran and Sunnah as a base, for them, it becomes very difficult really, to make that
determination. And that includes things like the consensus of the scholars and analogy or PS that
are other areas that are somewhat disputed. 10 minutes.
		

			When did you start? Okay, okay, well, I trust you arithmetic, no problem. So I have to speed up the
supreme objectives of Sharia need to have a
		

			different approach than what most people talk separately about Sharia and then the law of the land.
But before we do that,
		

			The classification when you speak about the Mikasa, or the supreme objective of Sharia, that are the
necessities, and we'll talk, these are the ones that will focus about are on, there are also the
needs has yet to remove hardship, but it's not really as pressing. And then that our lecture is on
taxi net for more comfort. Now, since necessities are common, are the universal between for Muslims
and all communities, I think this is where the mocassin really pay great attention. Now,
		

			concisely and very quickly, the first and sometimes it is placed even as number one in terms of
hierarchy is to protect faith, which means not only Islam, but means by the text of the Quran, the
freedom of every human being to choose the religion, he or she is, you know, comfortable with the
Quran is kidded about not no compulsion in religion, we all know that includes also not only this,
not only freedom to believe but to worship that way you chose to,
		

			in fact, the Quran in selected has even speaks about the protection of all places of worship, it
gave a number of them, you know, like monasteries,
		

			churches, mosques, and so on. So all everybody's entitled regardless whether you agree or disagree
with what they believe, or worship, respects for religious dialogue, to discover the common beliefs,
but not mixing or religion to come up with when civil religion or some people say, like chef salad
type of No, but respectful dialogue, that is truth, everybody's true to his faith. But in the
meantime, open also to see areas of reconcile ability, common platforms, there is no time again to
code that but you can take that number inshallah, check it. And then there is something even beyond
what is normally the
		

			practice in western democratic free societies, that Islam goes beyond that, because under Islamic
law, and historically speaking, by and large,
		

			minorities are entitled to their own peril in personal law
		

			did not have to follow the law of the majority, even if they're 1%. This is an amazing thing that's
beyond democracy that we know today. And now, that's the approach and music.
		

			How does that those principles, how do those principles
		

			compared with the law of the land? Take, for example, a country like United States, most western
countries are not saying constitutions are perfect?
		

			Look at it. The answer is clear. Can anyone really say no?
		

			freedom of worship is not important.
		

			Let's take the second protection of life. Principles enunciated in the Quran. calls for respect for
the sanctity of life. All life, human beings, even lifes of animals should not be destroyed without
due cause.
		

			That
		

			protection of life means also that individually, collectively, on a state level, on a world level,
Islamic ethic, we are responsible to provide the fundamental needs of the human being to survive
like food, clothing, shelter, medication, and so on. It's a joint responsibility
		

			to have any meaning, the respect of sanctity of life would be useless, unless there are lows to
punish those who transgress and destroyed a life other human being. Anybody disagrees with that.
There are stringent rules that many people are not aware of, in criminal punishments in Islam,
		

			that the evidence is very, very strict. Secondly, that something that is beyond democracies here
because in democracies, if the family of the deceased or the one who's killed if the case comes
before the court filed, if they forgive, is still it doesn't relieve him from the punishment in
Islamic law. founded on the Quran, a family of the deceased may forgive them. If they see some
remorse with or with financial compensation, they do. But there is something amazing also in the
Quran, giving a chance for people who committed crimes which may have included murders. People like
cutting roads and
		

			Killing, on robberies and all of that. It gives a chance for rehabilitation if they give themselves
up to the authorities and repent, they could be forgiven. And this severe response. Now compare that
with so called secular law, the law of the land, aren't they, in many cases, in most cases, in
essence, para live,
		

			protecting the mind or reason which includes positive and negative, positively seeking knowledge,
demanding evidence. And that's explain Of course, Muslim huge contribution to civilization because
it became religious for them to contribute to the well being of themselves and the rest of the world
encouraging research, I have a paper if somebody is interested in as it's called Muslim contribution
to civilization, you can find it also on the site of accounts in that org, I believe, prohibition on
the negative side of anything that be closed or destroyed. The power of reason, the beautiful gift
of Allah through drugs and others, even if you say, Alright, but this when it comes to booze, there
		

			is no comparison. But even in Western societies, they try to teach people to drink moderately, they
have controls on more destructive and stronger drugs. So even though the do not prohibited, like the
case of Islam, at least, the fact that the regarded as something negative and not very healthy and
very costly, to say the least, then you could talk about protection of the family as the cornerstone
of a healthy society. There are elements of both equity and equality. Again, if you're interested in
that, you can have a look at my humble books called gender equity. In Islam, you find it also on
several sides. The Koran also speak about peace, love and kindness, in marital relationship,
		

			conflict resolution, peaceful separation and guarantee of the rights of all parties involved
financial, or otherwise custody, fair custody, child protection and moral upbringing. Again, some
people might differ in how to define the family. But they cannot say that these are not acceptable
principles that are compatible with the law of the land. And then you get to protection of property
that I work, earn, acquire wealth and use it lawfully, but in the case of Islam, not only locally,
but also more, as well. prohibition of all forms of cheating obligation of Zakah as an pillar of
social justice. Now, they may not call it the care. But again, if you look at the law of the land,
		

			is there any major
		

			contradiction between two in method principles? Its main characteristics, one is that it has a
divine origin. What does that mean? It is route, plus ultimate authority in knowledge, wisdom, and
justice. And that's for the believer is a great sanction for it. If a person knows it's from Allah,
and that person is committed, then he would be committed also to their implementation. It has a
moral anchor, not just political correctness, a number of ways to do it a memo McAdams, a flat the
best of behavior, actually is part of assassination in a way of the mission of the provinces and it
has also the focus on comprehensive aspect not piecemeal approach. It has also certain principles,
		

			this is just an example.
		

			To secure benefit and remove harm gentlemen manifests with a model, which is very sensible as a
guiding principle. It is practical, not utopian, it is balanced, equitable. It has a built in
flexibility, in application, again, guided by the Supreme objectives of Sharia, but using also sound
methodology, compared again, with the law of the land, even though the titles or names might be
different, then we'll get very close the sixth point, the old man made laws violate Sharia, or I
prefer to use sbl Sharia based law. Well, in one sense, you can say that many of the men made so
called loads or Newton,
		

			regulation of traffic or whatever. And it's nice, there's no contradiction. There are many are that
are inherently contradictory, with the supreme objectives of Sharia, in western democracies,
		

			for example, you talk about religious freedom. Okay, we can talk about the Quran and lakra
		

			You can read the Constitution of the United States. So there is nothing that I could see, in
essence, freedom of worship, yeah, somebody might pull your hijab or do whatever other monkey
business, but in essence, you have the right and you have the court to go to you have the protection
of police, regardless. So in other words, don't get caught and the names shady African, all of this
		

			Sharia based law, or man made, sometimes some people think that's the either, Alicia Yeah, and then
you ask them what specifically have to do problem? They give you the answer.
		

			So it's not just either man man made or Allah made.
		

			Or man made laws that an Islamic truly Islamic committed government make on the basis of Sharia,
even though it is infallible. So the human hand is, is there also in details or changing
circumstances?
		

			Most constitutions as you know, an international law guaranteed this freedom. So there's no argument
here the contradictions in western countries? And very Finally, two minutes and shall that's the
last slide that might be two slides in one topic, duties and rights of citizenship. I'd be very
brief, because I understand that Dr. Brown also is but that was assigned to me also very quickly as
one of the question. citizenship is a contract and the Quran make respecting contracts, whether
implicit or explicit, you have to fulfill your Latina Amano alphabet code, there is more than one a
and karagoz respecting a man I see him or him wrong, but fulfilling
		

			of our duties as citizens if there is no Masaya or disobedience to Allah subhanaw taala duties comes
before right? Because every person's right is the duty of the other person. And when we fulfill our
duties, then we can demand our rights. Rather, we want this we want that it is reciprocal and
merciful.
		

			mercy upon all human beings in our interpretation.
		

			And that is basically a sort of quick outline. inshallah, I'm quite looking forward with eagerness
to listen to Dr. Bell challenges ECMO head on Dr. Jamil
		

			concise as possible, how valid is the Islamic financial institution for purchasing homes like
guidance, finance, the principle itself in many scholars say that there is no interest involved. And
there are a variety of options. Actually, it's not only one, then it is handled, but you have to
make sure that there is they have Sharia
		

			committee
		

			of scholars to scrutinize the kind of contract that they do. So in the principle here is to make
sure it is Islamic. But when people complain as to whether they charged or overcharged, that's
another issue that you can deal with. But there are halal forms of owning homes without without
interest. If government, if government take taxes, and spend this money on illegal things, such as
word or oppression, or all of that, will I be liable to pay the income? Number one, there is
something called so soon, I should say and Dr. Brown can correct me. If I'm sorry, something that
you might think is good to do. But actually, it could lead to something that is very harmful to you.
		

			So let's put it a practical question here. What are the consequences of saying I'm not going to pay
the tax you go to jail? Might you
		

			confiscate even your property for the lack of payments of taxes? So this is one thing that you have
to keep in mind. Secondly, the issue here is your own Nia, are you paying these taxes with the
intention that it will finance illegitimate activities according to your own belief? Or is it that
is what you're paying? And actually most of the government expenditures are not only this forbidden
things,
		

			even if you're living under Muslim governments could be pavement of roads, providing of services all
defense policing, and all of that, while on the pick on this? Thirdly, there is a rule that some of
the law has given also that when there is a mixture between halal and haram and matter of money, for
example, you can presume at least that what you're paying for is for good cause because there are
millions of people are paying taxes at least once a year, say I hope even though I cannot control
it, you cannot trace it. My knee is this another example
		

			Empathy related to that, you know, some people say,
		

			my neighbor,
		

			who is a Muslim inviting me to eat dinner with him, but then his income comes from a bar that he
owns, should I go? Now, there are two cases here. If his sole income comes from the bar, and other
things incidental and insignificant, then I would feel happy not to. But if he has also other
income, and the halal and haram mixed, you can at least assume that you're at agreement that is
again, if there is good purpose behind it, keep tawassul so that you might be able to advise him. So
that's your you're really another say the the four Islamic scholars agreed, meaning mazahub, saying
Merry Christmas is, to an extent considered.
		

			If my Christian friends say Merry Christmas, how do I politely respond? Well, I meant to put this in
the level of shirk, it is not really Sharia, it is interpretation of Sharia. And I disagree with
that interpretation. Unless you really believe in your heart that by saying that, actually, you're
consenting that easily Salam was God incarnate, for example. Secondly, the Christmas, even as a
celebration became much less religious than commercial, except for a few.
		

			But I would suggest, however, I have no problem at all, if somebody greets me, and he says Merry
Christmas, I can simply say, have a holiday, have a happy holiday, or if I'm initiating have a happy
holiday, because holy day these days are not holy H or l Why? The whole pie? So it has a different
concept altogether. So to push that into a matter of shake, I think it is stretching it too much.
And that is a question here about also I the way I understood it, not unsetting the other one to
respect the time,
		

			that celebration, for example, in a family where a Muslim marries for example, a Christian woman
should he goes, should we go to the celebration or taking the children?
		

			What applies in a given situation like that may not be generalized? Because we know from so many
texts that we have to keep good relationships with our family who are not Muslims. And like the
incident when the Prophet Muhammad was asked by Esma, that her mother at that time, she was
idolatrous. coming to me seeking me some help or favors. He said yes, very, very badly be
		

			treated nicely give her so there are some obligation and to boycott any visit to them in their
celebration, which is basically relaxing holidays. For a lot of people, there is no word. It might
be harsh, and might turn them against the feeling of Muslim. The same when people sometimes asked
me, well, if my mother died, and she's a Christian, should I go to the funeral?
		

			For sure you go, this is the worst reputation he gives to Islam and Muslims, by boycotting even
sending off you. You don't have to participate in the hymns or whatever or
		

			in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, amen. You don't have this you can respect people just
sent sometimes invited to, I don't think you can tell me if I went too far on this particular go to
church to talk to Christians in a church.
		

			And there are times when, as you know, they stand up and read certain things. And somebody next to
me push to the the book of prayer.
		

			For me, I don't want to make a big scene. I don't believe in that. I can stand with them. Not that
type of give any sanctity or stand out of respect to the feeling of other people. I can hold the
book of things I read without reading anything with it as if I'm just familiarizing myself, but I
don't really worship as such with them. I think we need to really reform the Muslim mind that is a
topic that's forthcoming how to deal with people without being you know, abrupt or unfriendly, but
without also being assimilated. And if you have children, explain to them this is there. And there
is you can you can actually inculcate these good values in your children. They have their own
		

			religion, and everybody is free to have that but to visiting them because our Deen is
		

			Teach us to, you know keep good relationship with your
		

			aunties
		

			and lows
		

			that are brown.