What We Know About Sharia Law | Melanie Phillips — Transcript

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1. 0:00So, we come to Sharia courts.
2. 0:02And
3. 0:03uh
4. 0:04Islam in Britain has very much uh it's
5. 0:08it's advanced has very much depended
6. 0:10upon
7. 0:11uh the orthodoxy of the day
8. 0:14uh in British elites, uh which is that
9. 0:18uh
10. 0:20Britain and the West have no right to
11. 0:23say that their way of life is superior
12. 0:25to any other. That is racism.
13. 0:27As a result, it will not say it will not
14. 0:30it will not uphold its own core values.
15. 0:33And in my view, Sharia courts and Sharia
16. 0:37law in Britain is a direct onslaught on
17. 0:41its the one of its key core values,
18. 0:45which is that there is a rule of law,
19. 0:48and that law is one law for all.
20. 0:51That is absolutely fundamental to
21. 0:54Britain. I think it's fundamental to
22. 0:56Western democratic society. One law for
23. 1:00all. Once you don't have If you have
24. 1:02different laws for different groups,
25. 1:04it's finished. It's not a society
26. 1:06anymore. It's a set of competing tribes.
27. 1:09Now,
28. 1:12Sharia courts, I don't know how many
29. 1:13Sharia courts there are,
30. 1:15uh but I'm prepared to believe it's
31. 1:17several dozen. I just don't know.
32. 1:20Uh but to me, uh Sharia law is itself
33. 1:23inimical to British core values.
34. 1:26Uh why? Because um Sharia law uh not
35. 1:31only divides
36. 1:33um those who practice it from those who
37. 1:35don't,
38. 1:37uh but it does something much much more
39. 1:38fundamental. Sharia law does not accept
40. 1:42or the Islam does not accept that there
41. 1:45can be any superior form of law to
42. 1:47Sharia.
43. 1:48Uh because Sharia is the um immutable
44. 1:51word of God.
45. 1:52And consequently, secular law cannot be
46. 1:55superior.
47. 1:57Now, people say of the Sharia courts,
48. 2:00"Look,
49. 2:01Jews have their own religious their own
50. 2:02their own religious courts, so why can't
51. 2:06Muslims have their religious courts?"
52. 2:08And the answer to that is there is an
53. 2:10absolute difference between the two.
54. 2:12Uh Orthodox Jews, observant Jews,
55. 2:15uh live by uh Jewish laws.
56. 2:18Uh so when it comes to marriage,
57. 2:20divorce, other matters,
58. 2:23uh you know, you're married according to
59. 2:24Jewish religious law, you're divorced
60. 2:26according to Jewish religious law in
61. 2:28Britain. However,
62. 2:30when you're married or when you're
63. 2:31divorced in Britain as a Jew, you do so
64. 2:34under the umbrella of the domestic law
65. 2:38of the land. So you are married uh your
66. 2:41marriage ceremony, your Jewish marriage
67. 2:43ceremony incorporates
68. 2:45the uh
69. 2:47re- requirements of British law.
70. 2:51Uh similarly with divorce, uh you are
71. 2:53bound by the rules of divorce
72. 2:57that obtain in uh
73. 2:59that have been passed by Britain's
74. 3:01Parliament. In other words, when it
75. 3:03comes to marriage, divorce, other
76. 3:05matters, Jewish religious courts operate
77. 3:09more as kind of um
78. 3:11uh
79. 3:12uh
80. 3:12uh
81. 3:13administrative tribunals which um
82. 3:16uh
83. 3:17regulate life according to Jewish law,
84. 3:20but within the parameters set by English
85. 3:24law.
86. 3:25Um
87. 3:27Sharia courts, that doesn't happen.
88. 3:30Uh they do not accept
89. 3:32the superiority of the secular law.
90. 3:35Therefore,
91. 3:37immediately, you don't have one law for
92. 3:39all.
93. 3:40Jews are under one law for all. It's an
94. 3:42absolutely cardinal principle of Jews
95. 3:44around the world.
96. 3:46Uh
97. 3:46the law of the land is the law.
98. 3:49You always are underneath the law of
99. 3:52land.
100. 3:53Sharia means you're never underneath the
101. 3:55law of the land. You might go along with
102. 3:58it for various reasons, but you're not
103. 4:01bound by it. You're bound by Sharia. So,
104. 4:04to me, Sharia is in itself subversive of
105. 4:09democracy. It is inimical to democracy.
106. 4:12It is inimical to the core value of
107. 4:14Western society that there should be one
108. 4:16law for all.
109. 4:18Now, this is unsayable. I just said it
110. 4:19to you.
111. 4:21I don't think there's anybody in Britain
112. 4:22saying this. I can't think of anybody
113. 4:25who's saying this. There's not There's
114. 4:27no discussion about it.
115. 4:29Um it it's off the table because to
116. 4:32speak about it makes you immediately an
117. 4:35Islamophobe, a racist because in the
118. 4:38minds of many people Islam is a race,
119. 4:41but let's put that
120. 4:43piece of ignorance to one side. You are
121. 4:45certainly Islamophobic, and you are
122. 4:48divisive, and you are cruel, and all all
123. 4:51the rest of it. And, most important for
124. 4:54the point of view of governments,
125. 4:56it's dangerous to say it
126. 4:59because you may be killed, we may be
127. 5:02killed, we may be blown up. There is
128. 5:05violence behind this demand.
129. 5:08And so, no one No one speaks about it.
130. 5:10Um I'm not aware of anybody speaking
131. 5:12about it elsewhere. I mean, I'm I I I
132. 5:14know one or two politicians who are
133. 5:16considered extreme have raised it, but
134. 5:18it's not part of
135. 5:20the discourse
136. 5:22at all. And yet, to me, it's
137. 5:24fundamental. You have a burgeoning
138. 5:26population,
139. 5:28not all of whom
140. 5:29adhere to this at all. There are many
141. 5:31many Muslims in Britain who
142. 5:35pose no problem or threat to anybody
143. 5:37because they are here because they they
144. 5:39they they want to be part of Western
145. 5:42life, and they they adhere to all its
146. 5:44its precepts. So, you know, it's
147. 5:47important to bear that in mind, but
148. 5:49there's a very large number who refuse
149. 5:51to do that and who want to live
150. 5:53according to Sharia principles. And
151. 5:55those numbers are increasing. And so,
152. 5:57you have an
153. 5:58a situation in which part of the country
154. 6:01which is no doesn't doesn't regard
155. 6:03itself as bound by English law, by the
156. 6:07domestic law,
157. 6:08um is increasing.
158. 6:11And no one's talking about it.