Sharia...Poisoning Islam Slowly.

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN NIGERIA
A HISTORICAL SURVEY
Paper given at Conference on Sharî`a in Nigeria
Spiritan Institute of Theology, Enugu
22-24 March 2001
This survey is very comprehensive and authoritative. I have extracted 3 paragraphs on sharia which will convey some useful thoughts re-inforcing the need for an Australian Islam, which reflects Australian conditions. (Mike Davis)




…The Sharî`a cause, always supported by Saudi Arabia, has long been a convenient device to rally popular support for politicians of questionable character. But which popular support? Sharî`a, understood in its most radical sense, has appealed to the young Muslim intelligentia, that is, university students and their academic leaders, many whom learned their ideas from studying in Saudi Arabia or going there on pilgrimage. It also has appealed to the unemployed urban poor who have been persuaded that it is the simple answer to their problems. Whipped up by religious fervour, they are willing to overlook the oppressive policies of their leaders once they don the mantle of a champion of Sharî`a. The Muslim business community may support it under pressure, but their heart is against it, because it spells turmoil, and that hurts business.
The proponents of Sharî`a in the north (of Nigeria) are loud in emphasising that Sharî`a is only for Muslims. They cannot be sincere, because it is well known that the Sharî`a which they propose contains many provisions discriminatory against Christians. Harassment of Christians in the North has been on the increase. Christians are fully sensitized to the danger Sharî`a poses for them, since full Sharî`a puts them firmly in a second-class status in society. The case of St. Dominic's Church, Dashi, outside of Gusau, is a case in point. The governor broke into the church and declared it an Islamic school. Under criticism from CAN, he denied that he did so. Then the church was quietly destroyed one night. The Zamfara government defended this action on the false basis that all the people there had become Muslims. (45) Besides frustrations of their right to worship, Christians are forced to abide by the Muslim code prohibiting alcoholic beverages.
There is considerable debate within the Muslim world about the meaning of Sharî`a, and many Muslims are opposed to the variety that is advertized by Saudi Arabia and pushed in Nigeria. (46) They see the Saudi call for God's rule as opposed to man's rule as the antithesis of democracy. This is because the slogan "God's rule" is really a cover for rule by the Sharî`a professionals, who dictate their interpretation of God's law, rather than allow people to follow their own conscience. Moreover, religious people have yet fully to realize how religious agitation is often a cover for other non-religious interests, such as economic, political and ethnic causes. (47) It may be that Nigerian Muslim society, like Iran, needs a heavy dose of Sharî`a to get a taste of what it is really like. Then, as now in Iran, there will be agitation to throw off the rule of Sharî`a dictators.