Ontario's Shariah blues

Marches are due to be held today in at least 11 cities in Canada and Europe against proposed Shariah (Islamic law) tribunals in Ontario. Today's Globe and Mail has a front page story titled 'A Muslim woman's sharia ordeal', and a comment on the issue by Margaret Wente. It is the latter I will focus on here (unfortunately, it is only available online to subscribers, so those who are not, grab a copy of the Globe and Mail and find it there.)

Wente and others may be rightfully concerned. To a layman, and going by contemporary instances of Islamic states (Afghanistan under the Taleban and Wahhabi Saudi Arabia), the very mention of Shariah conjures up images of a society where harsh punishments, honour killings and women covered from head to toe and deprived of education and work opportunities are the norm.

Naturally, more than just superficial knowledge is expected from journalists and policy makers who are taking a position on the matter in an effort to sway public opinion. From the reasons Wente provides in her criticism of Shariah-based arbitration in Ontario, it seems she fails to rise above this level.

Wente's attack rests on the following: the fact that some Muslims in Canada (including social activists and women's rights groups) are opposed to the proposed tribunals, the negative reaction of some liberal groups in Europe, and lastly the existence of unofficial application of Shariah in Canada (an instance of which is the lead story mentioned earlier) which has shown itself to be unfair to women. Of the three, only the last appears to be an actual reason against Shariah; the first two in and of themselves are merely reactions of others which need to be substantially backed.

Wente herself states a counter to her third point:

'Bad things like this won't happen, we're told, once Muslim arbitration courts are supervised by the state.'

This seems to me to be a very good reason why official, government-backed tribunals need to be in place so that 'Shariah' that is loaded with cultural biases of foreign-educated religious leaders does not find a way to permeate itself in Muslim communities in Canada. Wente and those who want to promote women's rights should consider whether the proposed tribunals will, rather than being detrimental to women's rights, not benefit Muslim women by eliminating the need to go through unofficial channels should they seek religious arbitration.