What is Sharia law?
Sharia law provides a system whereby society is ruled according to Islamic principles. Sharia courts consider the theological issues involved in resolving cases, and administer decisions and punishments according to Islamic teaching.
Did the Archbishop of Canterbury say Sharia Law should be allowed in this country?
No.
So why all the fuss?
The Archbishop was due to give a speech on Friday night, titled ‘Civil and Religious Law in England: a Religious Perspective.’ He chose to illustrate this with reference to Sharia law and the Muslim community. His office asked the World at One if they would do an interview with him that afternoon, in which he would discuss what he was going to say. During the interview, the Archbishop made his main point in this words:
Archbishop: ... an approach to law which simply said, ‘There is one law for everybody and that is all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or your allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts’ — I think that’s a bit of a danger.
The exchange following shows why the confusion arose:
Christopher Landau: And that is why Sharia should have its place?
Archbishop: That is why there is a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law ...
Is this a yes or no in response to Christopher Landau’s question? It is hard to tell, but the BBC got 17,000 e-mails, mostly complaints, as a direct result of the interview. The Archbishop’s speech on Friday night was clearer, but by then the damage had been done.
What did the Archbishop do wrong?
The Archbishop raised the right questions, but he went about it the wrong way. It was unwise of him to step into a minefield, given the worries people have about Islam and the impression they have of Sharia law — problems the Archbishop acknowledged in his talk. He could have made his point by referring to another religion — for example Judaism — or by talking about the Christian view.
What should happen now?
We should be grateful for the opportunity this has given us to talk about the Christian view.
What is the Christian view and how should we talk about it?
The Christian view was expressed by Jesus when he was asked about paying taxes. Jesus said to them, ‘Show me a coin used for paying the tax.’ Then Jesus asked, ‘Whose image and name are on the coin?’ They answered, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.’
Jesus’ answer tells us there are two rulers in this world. There is ‘Caesar’: the government, which may or may not be religious, or even good. (In Jesus’ time, the Emperor Tiberius, the successor to Augustus, was ‘worthy but dull’. He may remind us of some politicians today.) Following Jesus’ teaching, the Church took the view that the governing authorities must be obeyed (Romans 13:1-7), and the Emperor must be honoured (1 Peter 2:13-17).
But the other ‘ruler’ of the world is, of course, God. And whilst Caesar’s image might be on the coin, we are made in God’s image. So whilst we must obey the law and the government, we are finally subject to God’s authority, not the law’s.
The result is that there will always be room for tension between the Christian community and a ‘secular’ society — between God and Caesar. After all, Jesus was crucified by the command of the Roman governor at the instigation of the Jewish authorities.
Jesus was a great lawbreaker when it came to the equivalent of ‘Sharia’ in his own day. But at the same time, he commanded us to pay taxes to Caesar. That is why there can be no simple answer to the question of how we should live with the law today.
It would have been good if Rowan Williams had talked about these things — but then maybe there wouldn’t have been so much public interest.
The debate we need to have, and which Rowan Williams was trying to start, is how do modern ‘secular societies’ cope with the fact that people’s lives are often based on and lived by religious faith. Can the law claim a ‘monopoly’ over people’s hearts and minds? Jesus said no. We must take it from there.
Revd John P Richardson
10 February 2008
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