The Constitution might be sliding down a memory hold in most classrooms, even as it makes a comeback outside of them, but from coast to coast, Shariah law is on the rise, at least in public schools.
The system of law that pervades the Middle East is treated with kid gloves in California and Texas, as Accuracy in Academia has discovered, even as its less savory aspects are played down, when they are acknowledged at all. Moreover, these two states, it bears repeating, are the largest markets for textbooks.
Now, it seems, the New York regents are following suit, using a highly biased text as their guide. In the New York Post, Yoav Gonen quoted from that book.
“Some of the finest centers of Moslem life were established in Spain,” Daniel Roselle wrote in A World History: A Cultural Approach. “In Cordova, the streets were solidly paved, while at the same time in Paris people waded ankle-deep in mud after a rain.”
“Cordovan public lamps lighted roads for as far as ten miles; yet seven hundred years later there was still not a single public lamp in London!” What this leaves out is more interesting. Cordoba was “the capital city of the Moorish conquerors of Spain and the site where they triumphally transformed a Catholic church into a massive mosque,” Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. of the Center for Security Policy notes.
“Wherever they went, the Moslems [sic] brought with them their love of art, beauty and learning,” Roselle claimed. “From about the eighth to the eleventh century, their culture was superior in many ways to that of western Christendom.”
This would have been about the time these cultured conquerors were spearheading the slave trade and spreading Shariah far and wide. Nonie Darwish, who lived under this system of laws in her native Egypt, delivers an extensive description of its precepts on Front Page magazine.
Here are her top 20 aspects of Shariah:
1- Jihad, defined as “to war against non-Muslims to establish the religion,” is the duty of every Muslim and Muslim head of state (Caliph). Muslim Caliphs who refuse jihad are in violation of Sharia and unfit to rule.
2- A Caliph can hold office through seizure of power meaning through force.
3- A Caliph is exempt from being charged with serious crimes such as murder, adultery, robbery, theft, drinking and in some cases of rape.
4- A percentage of Zakat (charity money) must go towards jihad.
5- It is obligatory to obey the commands of the Caliph, even if he is unjust.
6- A caliph must be a Muslim, a non-slave and a male.
7- The Muslim public must remove the Caliph if he rejects Islam.
8- A Muslim who leaves Islam must be killed immediately.
9- A Muslim will be forgiven for murder of: 1) an apostate 2) an adulterer 3) a highway robber. Vigilante street justice and honor killing is acceptable.
10- A Muslim will not get the death penalty if he kills a non-Muslim, but will get it for killing a Muslim.
11- Sharia never abolished slavery, sexual slavery and highly regulates it. A master will not be punished for killing his slave.
12- Sharia dictates death by stoning, beheading, amputation of limbs, flogging even for crimes of sin such as adultery.
13- Non-Muslims are not equal to Muslims under the law. They must comply to Islamic law if they are to remain safe. They are forbidden to marry Muslim women, publicly display wine or pork, recite their scriptures or openly celebrate their religious holidays or funerals. They are forbidden from building new churches or building them higher than mosques. They may not enter a mosque without permission. A non-Muslim is no longer protected if he leads a Muslim away from Islam.
14- It is a crime for a non-Muslim to sell weapons to someone who will use them against Muslims. Non-Muslims cannot curse a Muslim, say anything derogatory about Allah, the Prophet, or Islam, or expose the weak points of Muslims. But Muslims can curse non-Muslims.
15- A non-Muslim cannot inherit from a Muslim.
16- Banks must be Sharia compliant and interest is not allowed.
17- No testimony in court is acceptable from people of low-level jobs, such as street sweepers or bathhouse attendants. Women in low level jobs such as professional funeral mourners cannot keep custody of their children in case of divorce.
18- A non-Muslim cannot rule — even over a non-Muslim minority.
19- Homosexuality is punishable by death.
20- There is no age limit for marriage of girls. The marriage contract can take place anytime after birth and can be consummated at age 8 or 9.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org.
