Irshad Manji responds to the Archbishop
Get real, Rev. When it comes to contemporary Sharia, choice is theory; intimidation is the reality.
Ask Muslim women in my home country of Canada. Two years ago, when news broke that the government of Ontario was considering how to introduce voluntary Sharia law, the very first people to hit the streets in protest were Muslim women. Some wore hijabs; some didn’t. Some defined themselves as religious; others called themselves secular.
What united them was the understanding that in practice, Sharia would be imposed on Muslim Canadian women, most of whom are newly arrived immigrants. They can’t speak English or French, don’t know about Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and won’t be told about it.
They will be told that Allah insists they stand before a religious judge who, in turn, will present Sharia law through the cultural filter of honor — the pre-Islamic tribal tradition that turns women into property of their communities. Thanks to the tribal mindsets of Muslim today, contemporary Sharia ain’t so contemporary. That’s why it can’t be trusted as a source of justice in a pluralistic society.
Let me emphasize that these points came from devout Muslim women, many of whom led (and not just joined) anti-Sharia demonstrations in Ontario. To quote the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, “We are believing women who are committed to our faith and our members are very concerned that the use of Muslim family law will erode the equality rights of Muslim women that are guaranteed under the Canadian Charter…”