It’s a question that keeps popping up in one shape or another.
We want to set the record straight. Once and for all.
Our response?
Yes. And No.
That’s a semantic oxymoron we hear you say?
Well, we’ll resolve this oxymoron by the end – keep reading!
Before we get into it, we must admit that if this belief was true then we are doing a really poor job at executing our “secret plan”, given that the history Australia shares with Muslims started in the early 1700s with Muslim fishermen from Indonesia and then with permanent settlement of Muslim Cameleers from the 1860s (1).
Now coming to Shariah, first of all, know the definition of the word.
The word Shariah literally means “A path to life-giving water.”
And, this is precisely what the root of the Hebrew word ‘Torah’ i.e. Yarrah also means. How many Australians are scared of the word ‘Torah’ as real as anti-semitism is?
Shariah is not a dogmatic, radical, or violent ideology promoting misogyny, as some “experts” in the media would have you believe. Instead, it deals with inherently personal matters that are privy to the realm of being between God and man – matters such as worship (ibadah) and behaviours of morals and manners (adab) and beliefs (i’tiqadat).
Now the media is not the only one to blame. Many Muslim countries have used ‘Shariah’ as a political tool to legitimise unjust and authoritarian governments, hence perpetuating false ideas about a path focused on building a personal relationship with God.
In fact, all the hallmarks of Shariah, such as the freedom of religion, speech, expression, and thought, are very much ingrained within our constitution of Australia making it much more “Shariah-compliant” than any present “Muslim country”.
Hence, any nation that suppresses anyone in the name of Shariah is as justified as the slave owners who claimed their right to slavery was based on the Bible.
If there’s one thing you learn from us about ‘Shariah law’ then know that Shariah itself forbids compulsion. This is demonstrably proven through the life of the founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad.
The Qur’an clearly says, “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:257).
Far from imposing Shariah, the Quran does not promote ANY specific form of government. It requires that ‘we the people’ choose the form of government for ourselves. One that is based on (adl) “absolute justice.”
The Holy Qur’an says, “Verily, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others; and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency and manifest evil and transgression. He admonishes you that you may take heed” (16:91).
And by this fundamental principle of “absolute justice”, the ruling of the Jewish King Solomon, who was a just monarch, falls in accordance with the principle of Shariah law.
So coming back to the said oxymoron, we plead:
- No, because the concept of territorial expansion is totally alien to Islam.
- And yes, because we plan to win the hearts of our fellow countrymen and women.
References:
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.1996.tb00692.x
