Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joined Maria Bartiroma this morning on Sunday Morning Futures. Kareem responded to the recent comments by Dr. Ben Carson that he would not accept a Muslim president.
Kareem insisted that Sharia Law can only take effect in an Islamic State.
Kareem added that Sharia Law does not condone rape or murder.
Maria Bartiroma: We know that Sharia law means killing homosexuals, women are subserviant to men. Tell me about Sharia Law.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Islam does not OK the things that you just mentioned, killing people, rape, all of these things that have been associated now with Sharia law. That’s crazy. None of the people that have that criticism of Sharia Law have checked out the law. Because it’s not even for non-Muslims. Sharia law is for ruling an Islamic state.
Here is what is widely recognized as the tenets of Sharia Law:
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Laws and practices under Sharia
Marriage
A Muslim man can marry only a Muslim, Christian or Jewish woman. He cannot marry an atheist, agnostic or polytheist.[1]
A Muslim woman can marry only a Muslim man. She cannot marry a Christian, Jew, atheist, agnostic or polytheist.[2]
The minimum age of marriage for females is nine, for males is twelve.[3][4]
A Muslim minor girl’s father or guardian may arrange the marriage of a girl, without her consent, before she reaches adulthood.[5]
An adult man cannot marry an adult woman without her consent. An adult woman requires her wali’s – father or male guardian – consent to marry, in following schools of sharia: Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali and Jafari.[5]
A marriage is a contract that requires the man to pay, or promise to pay some Mahr (property as brideprice) to the woman. The married woman owns this property.[6][7]
A man can divorce his wife any time he wants, without reason. A woman cannot divorce her husband without reason. She may file for divorce for reason, such as he is impotent, missing or biologically related to her.
A Muslim man can marry four Muslim women with their permission, only if he can support them financially and equally. A Muslim woman can marry only one Muslim man.
Crime and punishment
Sharia recognizes three categories of crime:
Hudud: crimes against God with fixed punishment
Qisas: crimes against Muslims where equal retaliation is allowed
Tazir: crimes against Muslims or non-Muslims where a Muslim judge uses his discretion in sentencing
Hudud crimes are seven:[9] theft, highway robbery, zina (illicit sex), sexual slander (accusing someone of zina but failing to produce four witnesses), drinking alcohol, publicly disputing Imam, and apostasy (leaving Islam and converting to another religion or becoming an atheist).
Sharia requires that there be four adult male Muslim witnesses to a hudud crime, or a confession repeated four times, before someone can be punished for a Hudud crime.[9]
Murder, bodily injury and property damage – intentional or unintentional – is considered a civil dispute under sharia law.[10] The victim, victim’s heir(s) or guardian is given the option to either forgive the murderer, demand Qisas (equal retaliation) or accept a compensation (Diyya) in lieu of the murder, bodily injury or property damage. Under sharia law, the Diyya compensation received by the victim or victim’s family is in cash, and the amount depends on the gender and religion of the victim, for an equivalent crime and circumstances.[11] Muslim women receive less compensation than Muslim men, and non-Muslims receive less compensation than Muslims.[12][13]
The penalty for theft
Theft (stealing) is a hudud crime in sharia, with a fixed punishment. The punishment is amputating (cutting off) the hands or feet. However, before a person is punished, two eyewitnesses must testify that they saw the person stealing.[Qur’an 5:38]
The penalty for zina
Sharia law states that if either an unmarried man or an unmarried woman has pre-marital sex, the punishment should be 100 lashes.[14][15] If a married man or a married woman commit adultery, the punishment should be 100 lashes and then stoning to death.[16] There are some requirements that need to be met before this punishment can happen. For example, the punishment cannot happen unless the person confesses, or unless four male eyewitnesses each saw, at the same time, the man and the woman in the action of illicit sex. Those who accuse someone of illicit sex but fail to produce four eyewitnesses are guilty of false accusation and their punishment is 80 lashes.[17] Maliki school of sharia considers pregnancy in an unmarried woman as sufficient evidence that she committed the hudud crime of zina.[18][19] The Hadiths consider homosexuality as zina, to be punished with death.[20]
The penalty for apostasy
Sharia law does not allow Muslims to leave Islam, in order to become atheist or convert to other religions. This is strictly forbidden, and is called apostasy. In Muslim theology, apostasy is a crime against God. The punishment for apostasy is death for Muslim male apostates. The major schools of sharia law differ in their punishment for female apostates: Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali sharia requires execution of female apostates, while Hanafi and Jafari sharia requires arrest, solitary confinement and punishment till she recants and returns to Islam.[21]
