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| Along the Way 11-5-10 |
 If you heard a collective sigh of relief from the electorate earlier this week, perhaps it came from the nation’s midsection where last Tuesday 70% of Sooner State voters approved Referendum 755 (Entitled “Save Our State”) banning international and Muslim Shari’ah law in Oklahoma state courts. The fact that such a referendum found its way on the ballot reveals much about our fear of and misunderstanding of Muslims in general and Shari’ah in particular. Shari’ah, the guide to how the Muslim should live, is based on centuries of oral and written interpretation of the Quran. How Shari’ah is understood is the focus of a fierce debate among liberal, moderate and fundamentalist Muslims. As far as Shari’ah ever becoming law in Oklahoma, even in its most benign form, I’m not too worried. Muslims constitute .004 of the population of Oklahoma!! The Muslim population of the entire United States is only one half of one percent. We might as well have a referendum making it illegal for citizens to cut down trees on the moon. American citizen, resident of New York and Muslim Harold Moghul writes, “Shari’ah is an ideal. Shari’ah…is never fully conclusive, because Islam recognizes no central authority to define those readings once and for all. Thus Islam’s decentralization, its many competing discourses, all pushing and pulling around a body of texts that are nearly universally agreed upon—but over whose interpretations most debates never end. “What most Americans don’t realize is that we already have interpretations of Shari’ah law in our country; or, at least, interpretations of the personal, moral, and ethical components of the law, operating off of individual choice and will. When Muslims pray, they are following interpretations of Shari’ah. Fasting in Ramadan. Giving in charity. Even a smile, the Prophet Muhammad said, is charity.” The fundamentalist Taliban and their brutal Al-Qaeda cronies use Islam and Shari’ah as an excuse for their ruthless violence. Torture, brutal death, harsh judgment, forced amputations and the hateful treatment of Muslim women by their husbands: every democracy would wisely, quickly, decisively ban such heinous activity, and in that sense I stand firmly with what I suspect to be the motivation of the Oklahoma voter. But these things are already against the law. Tuesday’s vote in the state where the “corn grows as high as an elephant’s eye” reveals an electorate influenced by foreboding rather than understanding. In the wake of this week’s election, be prayerfully supportive of our newly elected and returning leaders. In our own congregation we are proud of re-elected State Senator Buddy Carter and newly elected Chatham County School Board Member Julie Wade. Our nation faces many challenges, but this nation, populated by good people of faith - Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and others – has always found a way, led by God, to work for the common good and the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Creede Hinshaw P.S. We’ll have inspiring worship services this All Saints Sunday. If you have not yet completed your pledge card, please do so this week. Thanks in advance! |
