Question

“Law”by Joseph Lowry and “why Shariah?” by Noah Feldman illustrate the constitutions, judicial institutions and certain legal cod “Shariah Law” in Arb world.

Arab Legal System

• Arab legal system forms part of the civil law system that is dominant in most of the developing world.
• Arab legal system is similar in terms of structure and systems as the French legal system due to the French legal influence on Arab countries which date s back to 19th century. Notably, development of the Arab legal system is traceable to the European colonization, imposition and imitation of the European legal system and structure (Lowry ).
• Islamic Sharia system has little influence in the legal system that is practiced in most of the Arab countries. Although the Sharia law continues to attract significant political and cultural legitimacy in the Arab world, it is only limited to laws that cover issues related to families- (family law).
• Although a small number of countries in the gulf claim to base their law systems on the Islamic law, their law is however to some substantial degree inclined to the civil law practices of most countries within the European Union. Equally, since most of the Arab countries were ruled by autocrats, their legal systems are also to a large degree influenced by the controlled powers of the executive (Lowry ).

Ottoman legal system

The ottoman legal system had great impact on the Arab legal system largely because practices of the rulers including region and cultural practices and were imposed on inhabitants of today in the Arab world.

• While the Ottoman legal system was based on Islamic law it was also influenced by contribution of independent scholars who formulated some pieces of legislation which were later adopted by the courts.
• Using sophisticated rules and techniques which were used to deliver rules in the Quran and prophetic tradition commonly known as Hadiths, the law scholars combined and documented the rulings in a systematic way which were then adopted by judges in defining and passing rules civil cases (Lowry 76).
• Higher education legal opinion in the ottoman legal system was given precedence over those deemed to be of lower educational opinion by the state. The state equally had control of the legal colleges in the empire with the ar. Shaykh al –Islam being the empire chief legal officer (lowry 76-77).

Contemporary Arab legal system

• The contemporary Arab legal system dates back to 1949 when Abd al Razzaq-al sahnruri an Egyptian legal scholar drafted the Egyptian civil code.
• The Egyptian civil code was developed in respect to address challenges in the Islamic civil law and also to reconcile the contemporary influences of the European civil law on the Islamic law.
• The interpretation of the Egyptian civil law was considered critical by the Egyptian courts and its extensive persuasion by abd al Razzaq-al sahnruri was considered a persuasive authority by Egyptian courts.
• abd al Razzaq-al sahnruri was instrumental in development of the Iraq civil code of 1951 and the unification of Liberian civil code of 1954. He also contributed immensely in the development and reorganization of courts in Kuwait legal system. His civil code also served as basis of the Qatar’s civil code of 1959 (Lowry 81-82).

Courts and other institutions

• In the Arab world, legal system judiciaries differ from each other basically in terms of structure of appellate courts constitutional review and role of Sharia court.
• Notably, most of the courts that hear criminal cases the organized based on regions and courts in the higher tier, review decisions made the lower courts. The courts of cassation are the apex appeal courts and unlike the immediate appellate courts they have limited jurisdiction to review of cases which are brought in front of it. This is based on the fact that their decisions depend entirely on records established by lower courts to make decisions (Lowry 82-84)

Sharia law

• Although most of the Arab countries proclaim Islam as the official state region, it is not obvious that the constitutional provisions are based on Sharia law. Remarkably, with an exception of Saudi Arabia nearly all Islamic states give precedence to the civil law even those that grant very major role to Islamic law.
• Arab codes refer to Islamic law as sources of their law provisions, for instance where the Arab civil codes do not have substantive regulations then Islamic law is brought to play as a reference source.
• Arab civil codes that continue to refer predominately to Islamic law include provisions that relate to family law such as marriage, divorce, penal codes and torts.

• Although Islamic law has relatively minimal influence in financial decisions, its doctrines continue to inform some aspects I commercial law in most of the Sharia leaning Arab legal systems.
• Although the Sharia law is a highly controversial topic which is highly opposed by most western countries, it is ironical that some of their past civil law practices were inclined to the Shariah law. For instance, until the 8th century, the laws of most European countries authorized torture as an official component of the criminal-justice system. Equally for sexism, the common law long denied married women any property rights or legal personality apart from their husbands (Noah, 2008).
• Sharia offer the most moderate and humane legal doctrines available anywhere in the world. In fact, even in western countries such as Britain when the court invokes severe penalties on for a handful of offenses, it rarely acknowledges the high standards of proof necessary for their implementation. This is unlike the Sharia law which typically provides a high stand of proof before one can be held guilty of an offence. For instance, before an adultery conviction can typically be obtained, the accused must confess four times or adult male witnesses of good character must testify that they directly observed the sex act
• Although some acts in Sharia law in the past were obviously inhuman such as stoning of adulteries, and cutting of thief’s hands, today there has been significant improvement in regard to these laws. This has lead the laws to be appealing to the populace in most o the Arab countries. For instance, in Arab countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan 66 percent of Egyptians, 60 percent of Pakistanis and 54 percent of Jordanians hold the view that Shariah should be the only source of legal provisions in their countries (Noah, 2008).
• To Muslims believers Shariah law is a doctrine which is deeper and fused with metaphysical purpose. It is held by Muslim believes that under the Shariah all human beings and governments are subject to justice under rule of law. this is an averse to westerner’s believers that who believe that Shariah law is a legal system that is dotted with acts such as oppression of women, stoning of alleged adulterous among other inhuman acts.
• Although Shariah” connotes a connection to the divine and a set of believes that are in an accordance to the will of God, western countries believe that Muslim advocate for Quran as their legal code. However, this is not entirely true since Muslim personalities such as Politician’s have in the past opposed the use of Quran as legal code and adoption of this stance would shallowly define how legal system should operate.
• Sharia Law can be regarded as a higher law which equally integrates worldly commands. For instance, prohibits lending money at interest, prohibits Muslims from drinking alcohol among other rules. However, some of the principles are undoubtedly old fashioned. For instance, the act making it difficult for women to initiate divorce without forgoing alimony gives double standards for men and women.

Reaction to then Reading

Although Western countries are highly opposed to the Shariah law, I find such as a stand being dishonest and egocentric. This is based in the fact that the Islamic law was developed from the ottoman legal system which was predominately inclined to western countries common law. Besides, before the 19th century some of common practices that were adopted by countries such as England were aligned to Sharia practices. For instance, until the 18th century, common laws in European countries authorized torture as an official element of the criminal justice system -a practice that was equally advocated under the Sharia. Similar, with the contributions of contemporary scholars and amendments on the Sharia law to align it to Gods will and rights of people I find such a law dotted with significant positive legal provisions and should not be blanketed as inhuman by westerners.

Question

Is the condemnation and views of the westerners regarding Islamic law genuine?

Answer 1

Reality Television & Arab Politics - Contention in Public Life

Overview

Reality Television & Arab Politics is a detailed summary of primary data collected within a period of five (5) years. Marwan M. Kraidy argues that the controversies behind Arabs’ politics, religion and culture can be understood as a social laboratory where the actors (Arabs) experiment with different forms of modernity (Marwan, 2009). He further brings in the concept of modernity in relation to continuing long-standing preoccupation of the Arabs with specific terms of engagement or association with the Western Modernity. In all these scenarios, the youth, as well as the women, take the center stage. Marwan states that the Arab entertainment attracts a huge and diverse audience that includes youth and women unlike predominantly male (adult male) audience of current affairs and news (Marwan, 2009).

Data Sources and Review

• The reading draws resourceful insights from a rich combination of ethnographic, hitherto unexamined visual and textual sources collected during an extensive fieldwork in Kuwait, Paris, Dubai, Beirut, Washington, D.C., and London (Marwan, 2009).
• As stated in the reading, the above regions are occupied by a huge number of Arab intellectuals and journalists (Marwan, 2009).
• Some of the data relate to Reality Television which over the years has sparked intense universal debate concerning the role of the Islam in the public life.
• The Television (Reality Television) is a clear indication of how the Western culture influences the Arabs political participation and gender relations.

 

Contentious Issues

• The two issues (political participation and gender relations) are all hot-button issues that are discussed passionately in private by the Arabs (Marwan, 2009).
• We are told that the disputes experienced in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Kuwait and Bahrain over the Reality TV were generally proxy battles oriented towards drawing boundaries between masculine & feminine, image & reality, authentic & foreign as well as pure & hybrid (Marwan, 2009).
• The reading basically analyzes and examines how reality television brought in or cultivated an explosive mix of politics, sexuality, and religion which in return fueled what the reading refers to as heated polemics over gender relations, political participation as well as cultural authenticity in the Arab World.

Facts, Contributions and Challenges (Modernity)

• The Latin American Telenovela, Televised Hindu Epics and Egyptian Melodrama have in several instances led to national debates (Marwan, 2009).
• In other instances, street riots contributed by the controversial Arab Reality Television have resulted in the resignations high-profile politicians. They have also compelled some of the clerics to issue the Hostile Fatwas fueling transnational wars on media (Marwan, 2009).
• It is clear from the reading that all the debates and riots are attributed to the adoption of Western modernity. Marwan M. Kraidy states that it is the Western modernity that has turned the public space into a battlefield of values and beliefs.

Monolithic Notion

• In the presence of the backdrop of the dramatic upheaval especially in the Middle East (Arab dominated region), the reading challenges the monolithic notion.
• It offers a clear and original perspective regarding the Arab Media by shifting its attention away from the Al-Jazeera’s narrow focus to what I can refer to as vibrant and broad media sphere, i.e., a sphere that compels contentious political performance and broad popular engagement.

Reaction to the Reading

The reading also tries to show the role and impact of entertainment in the modern culture and politics. It discusses whether it is possible for an entertainer to incorporate or have a well-defined ideology or political stand with or without belonging to a specific political party. It goes further and explains how the entertainers accept and disagree with political themes that are compatible/incompatible with their desires, political orientations, and tendencies. There is a clear indication that entertainment is a significant contributor to modernity in terms of culture and politics in any given country.

Discussion Question

In reference to the revolution of the Arab’s politics and culture, discuss in detail the contribution entertainment to the modern Arab. What is the relationship between entertainment and modernity in the above key societal aspects (politics & culture)?