Long-term strategy to defeat ISIS-style terrorism: Contradictions between Shariah law and the Quran

Part 2 of 3

A good way to examine the enormous rift within Islam is to select a major issue, such as the treatment of women, and then compare the moral (or immoral) prescriptions, proscriptions and attitudes under various Shariah laws, with what is clearly stated in the one and only Quran.

Let’s examine three particular aspects of the question: 1. marriage equality; 2. punishment for adultery; 3. the right to an education. In general, Shariah law is surprisingly hostile toward women, who should be covered up, kept at home and refused an education, work opportunity or a driver’s license. This is quite unlike the actual teaching of the Prophet and the Quran, which respects the abilities and rights of women.

Sharia law encourages polygamy. Men are entitled to four replaceable wives. They can divorce any of them just by saying so three times on the doorstep. In contrast, and contrary to popular belief, the Quran does not promote polygamy for Muslims. Yes, it is true that the possibility of having up to four wives is indeed mentioned in the Quran, but this is not stated as a recommendation for such marriage, but merely as a reference to storied historical facts mentioned in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible — a sacred text that is revered in Islam.

But in the Quran, the Islamic conditional authorization of polygamy only comes up under the heading of “Widows and Orphans.” It refers to the possibility of taking on up to three more wives of brethren fallen in battle, together with their children, provided, however, that one’s estate is then equally divided among all four wives, and per stirpes among their children. 

This explains how, in accordance with the Quran, but contrary to Shariah law, polygamy  been outlawed in several Islamic countries, such as Morocco. Monogamy is consistent with the Quran, while polygamy is not, except for humanitarian reasons — namely the care of widows and orphans.

According to some prescriptions of Shariah law, if a woman commits adultery, she is to be put in a bag and publicly stoned to death. (And yes, sometimes they actually do this. Curiously, the treatment of adulterous males is left somewhat ambiguous.) Reference is then made in the Shariah text to a specific verse in the Quran on adultery.

But when you check out the Quranic reference, you read that the Quran simply endorses the view of Moses that adultery is wrong, and if a woman commits adultery she should be told she has done wrong and she should repent.  Nothing in the Quran suggests that she should be put in a bag and stoned to death. The Shariah law is deceptive on this point, and on many others.

Even the Shariah proscription of education of women is a direct violation of the Quran. According to Shariah law, women do not need or deserve to be educated.

The education of women is mentioned only once in the Quran, and it goes like this: “Any man who gives his daughters an education has a special place waiting for him in Heaven.” So, what are the self-appointed, fundamentalist, ISIS-style believers doing when they shoot a 14-year-old girl in the head because she has the temerity to walk to school to get an education? If you ask me, under both the Holy Quran and the Bible, these evil-doers are themselves going straight to Hell, and we should say so loud and clear.

Shariah law contains numerous exhortations to hate, violence, retribution and punishment, which can be and are being used by ISIS-style militants to promote and justify terrorism. Nearly every act of violence perpetrated by terrorist extremists and fighters for the Caliphate and the so-called Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, and which is neither Islamic, nor a state) under the banner of Shariah law, and leveled against imagined unbelievers, is in direct violation of the Holy Quran. 

Thus, the Prophet Muhammad in the Quran expressly forbids the killing of innocents, forbids killing by fire, forbids poisoning with chemicals, forbids torture, and forbids mistreatment of prisoners — all acts routinely performed by ISIS-style terrorists.  The Quran even specifically forbids the piratical taking of hostages for ransom, which is practically a national sport in some countries. 

We in WHO have made successful use of this last provision banning hostage-taking for ransom as the winning argument to free hostages taken in the Middle East. Examples include six Doctors Without Borders workers kidnapped and taken out into the Ogaden desert by renegade Somali tribesmen, as well as a dozen International Red Cross workers taken hostage for ransom by warlords up in the mountains of Afghanistan. The hostages were all successfully found and released.  Not a dollar was paid, not a drop of blood was shed. The Quran was the winning weapon.

Part 3 next time. 

Sharon, Conn., resident Anthony Piel is a former director and general legal counsel of the World Health Organization.