Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sharia's Encroachment into American Courts

Another look at Islamic Lawfare in America. If the government does not take steps NOW to stop the Islamic incursions into the West, it will be too late to avoid open warfare in the streets.

FROM AMERICANTHINKER.COM:

Sharia's Encroachment into American Courts
By Janet Levy

Currently an estimated 2.6 million observant Muslims reside in the United States. Many live their lives according to sharia law, the moral and religious code of the Islamic faith. When Muslims bring legal disputes into U.S. courts, a legal dilemma often arises, pitting individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and laws against Islamic sharia law.

Increasingly, U.S. courts have yielded to sharia. In effect, our judicial system is failing to adhere to the very beliefs on which this country was founded. Sharia advocates are overturning our long-held legal traditions to follow precepts laid down by a faith that represents less than one percent of our population and whose beliefs are at odds with U.S. legal and spiritual history.

American law reflects Judeo-Christian values and traditions. These have always operated under the precept, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto G-d the things that are G-d's." This separation, which created the historic distinction between religious leadership and secular authority in the United States, is now being threatened, as sharia has encroached into the American legal system, and Muslim advocacy groups have increased pressure to institute sharia. Two notable cases illustrate this trend.

Hosain v. Malik

Under U.S. law, child custody cases follow the legal standard of "the best interests of the child." This can mean joint custody of children by both parents, full custody solely by the mother or father, or, if both parents are unfit, custody by relatives or guardians. Under sharia or Islamic doctrine, however, fathers receive sole custody when children reach seven years of age, regardless of family circumstances.

That's exactly how Hosain v. Malik was decided in 1996 when an American court in Maryland awarded full custody of a daughter to her father, enforcing a court order from Pakistan, an Islamic country that follows sharia law. Although the mother in the custody battle was never deemed unfit and the daughter was actually afraid of her father, an alleged substance abuser and batterer, the U.S. court enforced sharia requirements. Further, the child's attorney was not present at the custody decision to advocate for the child, and no input was sought from the daughter, as is standard in U.S. custody cases.

In the Hosain v. Malik case, the husband's attorney cleverly twisted the "best interest of the child" requirement and argued that in Pakistani culture, the well-being of the child is facilitated by adherence to Islamic teaching, which mandates custody to the father. In this case, the child was sent back to Pakistan with the father, violating the child's human rights to enjoy a relationship with her mother and violating the mother's rights as a woman. Further, the father accused his ex-wife of adultery, which meant that if she returned to Pakistan she could face imprisonment, lashing, or even death by stoning under sharia.

Article continues HERE.