Islamic law is now the most widely used religious law, and one of the three most common legal systems of the world alongside common law and civil law (Roman law). The way in which Islamic law addresses women is particularly troubling. In Islamic (Sharia) law, a Muslim man can marry a child as young as one year old and have sexual intimacy with this child. They can consummate the marriage by age 9. The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy. Even though a woman is abused she cannot obtain a divorce. To prove rape, the woman must have four male witnesses. Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives at will and he does not have to say why he has beaten her. Also, the husband is permitted to have four wives and a temporary wife for an hour (prostitute) at his discretion.

This atrocious attitude toward women could not be more different than the gospel’s. Men and women are equal under the gospel of Christ. Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye is all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Although women are to be in subjection to their husbands (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22), Paul told husbands, “… love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” and “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:25, 28).

In the West, Muslim men are starting to demand Sharia law so the wife cannot obtain a divorce and he can have full and complete control of her. It is amazing and alarming how many American sisters and daughters attending universities in the U.S. are now marrying Muslim men and submitting themselves and their children unsuspectingly to the Sharia law.

Author Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Sharia law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two. She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before immigrating to America in 1978, when she was eight years old.

Her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel. He was a high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza. When he died, he was considered a “shahid,” a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.

But Darwish questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing, leading her to eventually leave the Muslim faith. In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping Sharia law — what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.

For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose Sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed. Westerners generally assume all religions encourage a respect for the dignity of each individual. Islamic law (Sharia) teaches that non-Muslims should be subjugated or killed in this world.

While Westerners tend to think that all religions encourage some form of the golden rule, Sharia teaches two systems of ethics — one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims. Building on tribal practices of the seventh century, Sharia encourages the side of humanity that wants to take from and subjugate others. While Westerners tend to think in terms of religious people developing a personal understanding of and relationship with God, Sharia advocates executing people who ask difficult questions that could be interpreted as criticism.

It is hard to imagine, that in our day and age, Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam or choose to stop being Muslim should be executed. Sadly, while talk of an Islamic reformation is common and even assumed by many in the West, such murmurings in the Middle East are silenced through intimidation.

While Westerners are accustomed to an increase in religious tolerance over time, Darwish explains how income from oil exports is being used to grow an extremely intolerant form of political Islam in parts of the world. While some Muslims may be peaceful, there is an army that is willing to shed blood in the name of Islam. While America is expunging the Bible from all public sites and erasing God from the lives of children, some Muslims are in a constant mode of jihad on America.

Kyle Campbell