When the miserable Bundy family of failed cowboys took over the game preserve in Oregon with their idiotic standoff, it was the beginnings of social media and one of the hilarious comedy hashtags created was #Shania Law. #Shakira Law is the same, only the Salsa version. When you consider that half of America elected a three-time wife-cheating, charity-cheating, tax-evading, nasty, rude, sociopathic, infantile, trash-talking, insulting, bragging, and compulsively lying, malignant narcissist as President -- not once, but twice, there you have it. Racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and homophobia (I sadly discovered) is all part of the American landscape. The difference now is we have an endless stream of media trash talkers unleashed to promote the worst of it -- since the deregulation of broadcasting, which began under Reagan and ended under Clinton. It was an equal opportunity mistake. I applaud Qasim Rashid for trying to fix things. He has patience that, at my age, I no longer care to muster. Bravo, Qasim!
Thank you for continuing to educate us. Giving your email correspondent more credit than perhaps might be warranted, I think they were trying to give you some benefit of the doubt but they were swimming through so much misinformation they didn't know how to do that. Your response -as always - speaks with clarity and precision, rationality and, yes, not a little humor if not sarcasm. Keep it up tho. You are making a difference.
I’m so grateful that you shared this. I’ve seen and heard “Sharia law taking over America” comments a lot lately in my social circles. Sadly, many of my Christian family and friends (I would characterize their doctrine as Christian National/MAGA now though) are the ones amplifying the racism. I’m sharing this where I can! Unfortunately, over the past few years, I’ve limited my contact with many who really need to understand this. I hope the few I have not culled will read this. Thank you Qasim.
I’m a 72-year-old white atheist female who lives in Dearborn. I’ve been asked several times what it’s like to live here with “all those Muslims.” My response: I love living here. It’s like living anywhere else, except cleaner, safer, more peaceful and with better food. 💙
Thank you for this wonderful article. Ignorance is darkness. Knowledge is light. I can’t imagine not wanting to be in the light, and yet so very many people condemn themselves to the dark by choosing willful ignorance. Please write more like this one.
The strongest part of this is how absurd the panic sounds once somebody actually explains what Shariah is instead of letting cable-news goblins define it as “Muslim stuff that scares your aunt on Facebook.”
If your political movement has to convince people that Muslims privately following dietary rules, marriage customs, prayer, inheritance practices, and religious ethics is somehow the opening act of The Handmaid’s Tale: Halal Edition, you may not be defending Western civilization. You may just be running a fear-based fundraising operation with worse lighting. Pasted text
And yes, I fully support banning Shakira Law. Nobody’s hips should have that much evidentiary authority. 😂
Hi, this is not a rebuke or a challenge in any way, but did you see the AUGUST 6Th "End Times?" There is a doctoral thesis with illustrations, actually writtent in the form of beautiful poetry, but nonethelss it declare "Jihad of the Sword." Is this document real? It's hard for me to imagine poetry that good in a forgery or false propaganda document. I don't want to write about it if it is a fake. I don't have any problem with your understanding of this and thank you for clarifying some of this. But others seem far more conservative, perhaps from local tribal customs, as in Afghanistan, or from a more fundamentalist and absolutist interpretation, the same way as there are vioent and reactionary people claiming to be Christians and Jews. Good piece and I will try to find someone I am not actually reading so I can become a paid subscriber. Thank You!
I wonder if you can clear up my confusion. In your paragraph “In closing, I can promise everyone reading this that ‘Shariah Law’ will never ‘take over’ America—but I make no such promises about Shakira Law.”
You did not qualify the difference between the 2 laws. Could you explain the difference?
Thank you for this article. It did clear up a few points I did not previously completely understand. For myself, I have long understood the majority of any major religion are over all nice people doing their best, but failing occasionally, as humans do.
The extremists of all of them tend to be hateful and often violent.
Many indigenous people in America say ‘We are all one.’ How can I hate someone who is my cousin if I understand that?
I read several of your linked articles and enjoyed them as well. Thanks, again.
One question, as I lost my copy of your holy book (thank you for providing an online copy!) What does it say about variances of bodies and genders and non hetero relationships? Judaism recognizes that it happens. Christian Nationalists refuse to acknowledge a body can even be born Intersex. (For me, science matters as well as theology.)
Not sure if your request for clarification is serious or sarcastic, but just in case: the original message Qasim received misspelled Sharia as “Shakira.” Sharika is a popular singer, and one of her songs is “Hips Don’t Lie,” leading to various snarky remarks in the comments. 👹
Definitely a real inquiry. I knew I had heard that term before but it did not register as I never heard of her. I listen mostly to old jazz and classical music.
Once again, someone who has probably never met a Muslim, can suddenly tell you that (Islamic) Sharia Law is coming! We all know it is a dog-whistle. You have taken the time to educate your readers about this several times but the cult doesn't bother with research. Thank you for this article - which I am saving so I can read your paper! Jesus teaches us to love EVERYONE like He loves us! Again, He does not say "just Christians" etc. Hopefully Shakira Law won't be instituted because my hips are too old to move like that!
Nice, thought provoking essay. Unfortunately, some (muslim) countries have exploited Sharia to control their populations (including parts of Nigeria), but so have Christian countries (look at the US now; Spain during the Inquisition). That is not the "fault" of the religion but those currently using it. I hope your essay is widely ready and encourages a more tolerant view of devout (true) muslims who have my respect.
By "some" I think we both can agree the common denominator are insecure men, Muslim and Christian, who are using it as a means of power. Patriarchy is often the source of all these problems.
It's all so weak isn't it? I keep coming across that same characteristic in so many strands of what the Trump administration is doing.
I mean all you have to do is a quick online search (preferably with a moderately clean search engine) and the facts are there, though not as nicely laid out as Qasim has provided them.
Germans in the 30s did not have access to the sum of almost all human knowledge available to them at the reach of a couple of clicks.
It's quite clear that those who believe the disinformation and misinformation do so as a choice. Because they're racists. That's what it all boils down to.
Shakira law on the other hand... that sounds a bit dodgy to me!
Here in the U.S., a handful of hateful men have formed the "Anti-Sharia Caucus" within our Congress! I don't know if they really believe what they're saying, but they probably do. But part of American politics on the right today is candidates for office finding a group or groups of people to demonize, and run on promises of punishing us. It whips the less educated, and people less likely to research on their own and apply logic, into a frenzy, and it wins votes. It's part of how Trump got a second term.
Thank you for this! A few of us are having conversations about this very thing ... we are Roman Catholics NUNS 😁 and remember when JFK was running and everyone was up in arms because he was Catholic ... and would he try to enforce the Catholic faith - Canon Law - same as Sharia Law - Islamic Shariah. As well as all up in arms when a Mormon ran for office ...AND former President Barack Obama, who faced suspicion despite being a Christian ... so basically it is motivated on religious prejudice and NOT the actual HUMAN running for office. Keep saying it Qasim ...! Thank you!
When the miserable Bundy family of failed cowboys took over the game preserve in Oregon with their idiotic standoff, it was the beginnings of social media and one of the hilarious comedy hashtags created was #Shania Law. #Shakira Law is the same, only the Salsa version. When you consider that half of America elected a three-time wife-cheating, charity-cheating, tax-evading, nasty, rude, sociopathic, infantile, trash-talking, insulting, bragging, and compulsively lying, malignant narcissist as President -- not once, but twice, there you have it. Racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and homophobia (I sadly discovered) is all part of the American landscape. The difference now is we have an endless stream of media trash talkers unleashed to promote the worst of it -- since the deregulation of broadcasting, which began under Reagan and ended under Clinton. It was an equal opportunity mistake. I applaud Qasim Rashid for trying to fix things. He has patience that, at my age, I no longer care to muster. Bravo, Qasim!
Thank you for continuing to educate us. Giving your email correspondent more credit than perhaps might be warranted, I think they were trying to give you some benefit of the doubt but they were swimming through so much misinformation they didn't know how to do that. Your response -as always - speaks with clarity and precision, rationality and, yes, not a little humor if not sarcasm. Keep it up tho. You are making a difference.
I’m so grateful that you shared this. I’ve seen and heard “Sharia law taking over America” comments a lot lately in my social circles. Sadly, many of my Christian family and friends (I would characterize their doctrine as Christian National/MAGA now though) are the ones amplifying the racism. I’m sharing this where I can! Unfortunately, over the past few years, I’ve limited my contact with many who really need to understand this. I hope the few I have not culled will read this. Thank you Qasim.
I’m a 72-year-old white atheist female who lives in Dearborn. I’ve been asked several times what it’s like to live here with “all those Muslims.” My response: I love living here. It’s like living anywhere else, except cleaner, safer, more peaceful and with better food. 💙
Thank you for this wonderful article. Ignorance is darkness. Knowledge is light. I can’t imagine not wanting to be in the light, and yet so very many people condemn themselves to the dark by choosing willful ignorance. Please write more like this one.
The strongest part of this is how absurd the panic sounds once somebody actually explains what Shariah is instead of letting cable-news goblins define it as “Muslim stuff that scares your aunt on Facebook.”
If your political movement has to convince people that Muslims privately following dietary rules, marriage customs, prayer, inheritance practices, and religious ethics is somehow the opening act of The Handmaid’s Tale: Halal Edition, you may not be defending Western civilization. You may just be running a fear-based fundraising operation with worse lighting. Pasted text
And yes, I fully support banning Shakira Law. Nobody’s hips should have that much evidentiary authority. 😂
support Shakira law, cowards!
Hi, this is not a rebuke or a challenge in any way, but did you see the AUGUST 6Th "End Times?" There is a doctoral thesis with illustrations, actually writtent in the form of beautiful poetry, but nonethelss it declare "Jihad of the Sword." Is this document real? It's hard for me to imagine poetry that good in a forgery or false propaganda document. I don't want to write about it if it is a fake. I don't have any problem with your understanding of this and thank you for clarifying some of this. But others seem far more conservative, perhaps from local tribal customs, as in Afghanistan, or from a more fundamentalist and absolutist interpretation, the same way as there are vioent and reactionary people claiming to be Christians and Jews. Good piece and I will try to find someone I am not actually reading so I can become a paid subscriber. Thank You!
I wonder if you can clear up my confusion. In your paragraph “In closing, I can promise everyone reading this that ‘Shariah Law’ will never ‘take over’ America—but I make no such promises about Shakira Law.”
You did not qualify the difference between the 2 laws. Could you explain the difference?
Thank you for this article. It did clear up a few points I did not previously completely understand. For myself, I have long understood the majority of any major religion are over all nice people doing their best, but failing occasionally, as humans do.
The extremists of all of them tend to be hateful and often violent.
Many indigenous people in America say ‘We are all one.’ How can I hate someone who is my cousin if I understand that?
I read several of your linked articles and enjoyed them as well. Thanks, again.
One question, as I lost my copy of your holy book (thank you for providing an online copy!) What does it say about variances of bodies and genders and non hetero relationships? Judaism recognizes that it happens. Christian Nationalists refuse to acknowledge a body can even be born Intersex. (For me, science matters as well as theology.)
Not sure if your request for clarification is serious or sarcastic, but just in case: the original message Qasim received misspelled Sharia as “Shakira.” Sharika is a popular singer, and one of her songs is “Hips Don’t Lie,” leading to various snarky remarks in the comments. 👹
Definitely a real inquiry. I knew I had heard that term before but it did not register as I never heard of her. I listen mostly to old jazz and classical music.
There is no such thing as shakira law. It was a misspelling of the writer in the original message.
Thank you! 🙏 I thought it was that, but thought maybe I had missed something.
This is a wonderful explanation, ignorance is not bliss. And Shakira Law requires you to dance when you hear music. Make music not war.
Make music not war is an excellent mantra.
Once again, someone who has probably never met a Muslim, can suddenly tell you that (Islamic) Sharia Law is coming! We all know it is a dog-whistle. You have taken the time to educate your readers about this several times but the cult doesn't bother with research. Thank you for this article - which I am saving so I can read your paper! Jesus teaches us to love EVERYONE like He loves us! Again, He does not say "just Christians" etc. Hopefully Shakira Law won't be instituted because my hips are too old to move like that!
There shall be no compulsion in shakira law as well :)
Nice, thought provoking essay. Unfortunately, some (muslim) countries have exploited Sharia to control their populations (including parts of Nigeria), but so have Christian countries (look at the US now; Spain during the Inquisition). That is not the "fault" of the religion but those currently using it. I hope your essay is widely ready and encourages a more tolerant view of devout (true) muslims who have my respect.
By "some" I think we both can agree the common denominator are insecure men, Muslim and Christian, who are using it as a means of power. Patriarchy is often the source of all these problems.
So beautiful. Thanks!
It's all so weak isn't it? I keep coming across that same characteristic in so many strands of what the Trump administration is doing.
I mean all you have to do is a quick online search (preferably with a moderately clean search engine) and the facts are there, though not as nicely laid out as Qasim has provided them.
Germans in the 30s did not have access to the sum of almost all human knowledge available to them at the reach of a couple of clicks.
It's quite clear that those who believe the disinformation and misinformation do so as a choice. Because they're racists. That's what it all boils down to.
Shakira law on the other hand... that sounds a bit dodgy to me!
Here in the U.S., a handful of hateful men have formed the "Anti-Sharia Caucus" within our Congress! I don't know if they really believe what they're saying, but they probably do. But part of American politics on the right today is candidates for office finding a group or groups of people to demonize, and run on promises of punishing us. It whips the less educated, and people less likely to research on their own and apply logic, into a frenzy, and it wins votes. It's part of how Trump got a second term.
Thank you for this! A few of us are having conversations about this very thing ... we are Roman Catholics NUNS 😁 and remember when JFK was running and everyone was up in arms because he was Catholic ... and would he try to enforce the Catholic faith - Canon Law - same as Sharia Law - Islamic Shariah. As well as all up in arms when a Mormon ran for office ...AND former President Barack Obama, who faced suspicion despite being a Christian ... so basically it is motivated on religious prejudice and NOT the actual HUMAN running for office. Keep saying it Qasim ...! Thank you!
Fantastic. Thank you.