1. Rights and the Good Life

The Issue / Event:

In October 2003, an organisation called the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice was established in Ontario by a 30 member council to serve as an arbitration body for Ontario’s Muslim communities. The institute is classified in Islamic law as a Darul-Qada, or judicial tribunal. Its main function is to arbitrate on matters of family law and inheritance law based on the principles of Islamic law, also known as Sharia. In effect, cases will be decided by a Muslim arbitrator, with the judgements being enforced by the local Canadian court. Amongst protests but also protestations of support by various Muslim organisations, including women’s organisations, in June 2004, Ontario’s former Attorney-General Marion Boyd was asked by the government to review the existing Arbitration Act. The Boyd Report concluded in December 2004 that the Arbitration Act should continue to allow disputes to be decided using religious law. Given the co-existence of Jewish family law with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it did not seem obvious that the same could not apply to one of Canada’s fastest growing religious populations.

579,640 Muslims were enumerated in the 2001 census, more than twice the number in 1991. Around 61 per cent, or 352,500, live in Ontario, and make up about 3.1% of Ontario’s total population. The Jewish population of Ontario is ca. 190,000.(1)

Positions that have been taken:

What is Sharia law?
There is no single, authoritative interpretation of what constitutes Sharia law, whether the laws are divine or man-made, and whether the laws are to remain static or are to reflect the evolving nature of the jurisprudence.(2) Further concerns have been voiced regarding the scope of Sharia law, which technically covers all aspects of law, including criminal law.(3)

The second major aspect of the debate has revolved around the issue of the protection of women’s rights. Here, the camp is split between the critics of Sharia law who see it as potentially threatening those rights that are formally entrenched in the Charter, and those who believe that Sharia law is fair and protective of women’s rights.(4ab)

Questions for consideration:

References:

(1) Statistics: Canada, Census of Population, modified 25.01.2005
(2) Extract from Canada prepares to enforce Islamic law?Judges will give legal sanction to disputes between Muslims
On WorldNetDaily, Friday, November 28, 2003:‘One of the obstacles to establishing the system, the Law Times said, has been the Muslim communities' lack of unity and organisational strength. Muslims in Canada come from many different countries and different schools of Islam. Also, there are few Islamic legal scholars, known as ulama, in North America, which are essential to adjudicating complex issues.’
(3) Extract from Islamic group against Ontario use of Sharia law, Canadian Press, Sunday August 22, 2004:
‘A Canadian Islamic group is trying to prevent the word shariah from being included in Ontario's Arbitration Act on the grounds it creates a "slippery slope" that blurs dangerously the lines between family and criminal law…But the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada is worried that including the word shariah in the legislation would enshrine in law so-called shariah tribunals, which they say are a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.’ 
(4a) Extract from Life under sharia, in Canada, By Margaret Wente, Saturday, May 29, 2004, Reprinted from the globeandmail.com: ‘…Many Muslims, including many women, are enthusiastic about giving Islamic law an official place in Canada, and they emphatically deny that it will harm women's interests. On the contrary. They insist that under Islam, a woman's rights are protected. "We follow the Islamic law, secure with a perfect sense of equality between the sexes," wrote Khansa Muhaseen and Nabila Haque in a letter to the Toronto Star, where the sharia debate has been raging fiercely.’

(4b) Extract from Position statement on the proposed implementation of sections of muslim law [Sharia] in Canada
Canadian council of muslim women, May 25/2004:‘The Canadian Council of Muslim Women, a pro-faith national organisation, makes a clear statement that we are not against Sharia, correctly defined, but what we are against is the application of Muslim family law. We know that there is no uniform understanding, interpretation or application of the law which is complex, applied differentially in different countries, and in some instances the practices are detrimental for women. It is difficult to comprehend how it will be applied in Canada.   CCMW holds that human rights as declared in the United Nations Universal Declaration are consistent with the ideals of Islam, and as believing Muslim women we can adhere to the Quran and to the U.N Declaration…As Canadian Muslim women we uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and expect it to apply to us as fully as to any other Canadian.’

Inter alia, Yaacob Ibrahim, Peter Riddell, Shad Saleem Faruqi, Sharon Siddique, Perspectives on Doctrinal and Strategic Implications of Global Islam.  In: Trends in Southeast Asia Series (11/2003). ( http://www.iseas.edu.sg/112003.pdf)