in the United States who select a few objectionable fiqh rules to argue that Sharia itself is offensive. In both cases, linguistic sleight of hand is used to manipulate an unknowing public. Muslim Americans could counteract this dangerous dynamic by being more careful when we talk about Sharia. As a start, I recommend these three guidelines: 1) Do not use “Sharia” for “fiqh.” Use the word “Sharia” only to refer to the concept of perfect, divine Law of God in Islam; use the word “fiqh” when referring to the humanlycreated doctrinal rules created by Muslim religious legal scholars as the result of their Rather than being a threat to American efforts to understand and articulate Sharia; rule of law, the insights of Islamic legal 2) Remember that fiqh is pluralistic. Remind yourself and others that fiqh theory could provide valuable insight into (human articulation of Divine Law) is pluhow to honor multiplicity without giving ralistic, made up of multiple variations of equally-legitimate schools of law and their up individual values. respective doctrines, all of which are available to individual Muslims to choose from as they seek to live by Sharia (Divine Law); 3) Do not refer to the laws in Muslim-majority countries (even those calling themselves “Islamic states”) as “Sharia.” Even if a Muslim government draws from fiqh rules to legislate a law, that law is still a political selection from among multiple fiqh choices, all of which are equally valid. It cannot be said to be conclusively dictated by Sharia itself. Can Sharia benefit America? Census projections estimate that by mid-century the U.S. will no longer be a whitemajority country. Americans are facing big questions about whether to balance their multicultural, multi-religious, multiracial, multi-ideological, and multi-gendered realities, or establish one homogeneous standard to which all are held. Seeking out realistic ways to embrace diversity without losing cohesiveness as a nation is going to be an ongoing challenge. What if, in undertaking that challenge, Americans found that Sharia—the very thing that has been so demonized in American public discourse lately—could actually help Americans navigate their pluralistic future? Rather than being a threat to American rule of law, Islamic legal theory could provide valuable insight into how to honor multiplicity without giving up individual values and identities, or unity of the whole. A quick look back at both Muslim and American history indicates that both have been at their worst when they insisted upon rigidity and sameness— especially when the government tries to enforce it. And both histories illustrate that societies can thrive when they are not scared by difference—they might even be at their best when they find ways to understand and learn from the reality of human variety. As Americans wrestle with multiculturalism and diversity, it might be worth the effort for Muslim Americans to learn enough about Sharia to show that help sometimes comes from where you least expect it. When it comes to dealing with diversity, America could learn a lot from Islamic law, if only it could stop painting it as something that it is not.
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Asifa Quraishi-Landes is a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and an associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin, where she teaches courses in American constitutional law and Islamic law. For more, see her full report “Sharia and Diversity: Why Some Americans are Missing the Point” at www.ispu.org.
Islamic Horizons May/June 2013
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