A growing Muslim population is ratcheting up pressure to apply Islamic Shariah law in Europe, Truth That Transforms TV reports on its nationwide broadcast Sunday. Experts and public officials in Europe—now 7 percent Muslim—describe how law and society are changing as Islam exerts its influence.
In Britain, there are some 85 Shariah courts, which hand down rulings at odds with Western law in divorce, child custody and alimony cases, according to a 2009 Civitas study. The presence of such courts—many in mosques—rankles Parliament member David Liddington.
“My view on the application of Shariah law is that there should be one system of law that applies to every citizen living in the United Kingdom,” says Liddington on the upcoming edition of Truth That Transforms with Dr. D. James Kennedy, which will air Sunday.
As Muslim jurists apply the harsh standards of Shariah law inside Islamic enclaves in Britain and elsewhere, the rights of women and free speech are curtailed.
Doug Murray, the founder and director of the Center for Social Cohesion, a British think tank set up to deal with radical Islam, charges on Truth That Transforms that some imams encourage brides to marry in a Muslim ceremony, outside of British law, which leaves them with no legal protection in the event of divorce.
“This is a profoundly wicked thing to do,” Murray said. “A profoundly wicked thing to cast women in 21st century Britain into penury and outcast status, because of some bigoted leader’s ideas.”
Free speech is also at risk as Islam expands in Europe. Dutch authorities charged Dutch politician Geert Wilders with a hate crime after he produced the online movie Fitna, which shows verses from the Quran with scenes from 9/11, the Muslim terrorist bombing in Madrid and elsewhere. Death threats followed the movie and Britain refused to let the Dutch politician enter the country for nine months because of his criticism of Islam.
A Dutch tribunal acquitted Wilders this past June, an outcome which Wilders has called one of several developments in Holland that have begun the “roll back [of] the process of Islamization in the Netherlands.”
But author Georges Houssney, who grew up in Lebanon and has evangelized Muslims across the Middle East for 40 years, says the best way to defeat radical Islam is to win Muslims to faith in Jesus Christ. The author of Engaging Islam, Houssney says many Muslims are “disappointed with Islam” because it “has not given them the heart satisfaction that they need. It hasn’t filled the thirst for truth—for an intimate relationship with God.”
Since 9/11, Muslims have flocked to Christian faith, says Houssney. “We have seen more Muslims seek out Christ and Christianity than ever before. And it’s been a massive exodus away from Islam into the church throughout the world.”
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