barnabasaid

The magazine of Barnabas Fund HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

• North Korea: JULY/AUGUST 2007

hope behind the veil

• Shari`a in the West: how it’s developing and why no one needs it
• The Other Nine: what you can do to help the One in Ten
 From the director
Where are The Other Nine?
On May 14th I was at the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office in London
to present Barnabas Fund’s petition on
“The Right to Justice” to Susan Hyland,
barnabasaid
head of the Human Rights, Democracy
and Governance Group. I shared with
JULY/AUGUST 2007 Ms Hyland some of the examples of
anti-Christian violence from the past
Contents month.
On April 13th an Indian Christian
To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments
names have often been changed or omitted. Thank you from a Muslim background was
for your understanding. abducted on his way to a prayer
meeting. His severed head was later
3 Project News found in a plastic bag near a mosque.
Self-sufficiency for converts around On April 15th a bomb exploded
at the Bible Society bookshop in
the world Gaza. On April 18th, three Christian
workers had their throats slit at a
6 Country Profile: Christian publishing house in Turkey.
North Korea On April 23rd a suicide car bomb
exploded in a Christian village in
Secrecy, suffering, courage and northern Iraq. At this time in parts
Christian faith of Baghdad Christians were being
given an ultimatum: convert to Islam,
Information pay jizya tax, flee or be killed. On
pull-out May 7th Christians in two Pakistani
towns received letters telling them to
Shari`a and Muslims in the West close their churches and convert to
Islam within ten days or face violent
11 Newsroom consequences. On May 11th rioting to
“We are not here to protect Iraqi protest about a church building project
Christians,” say coalition forces in an Egyptian village resulted in
Christians injured and their homes and
businesses set on fire.
14 Harvest Ideas Ms Hyland listened sympathetically,
A Harvest Supper with a difference indicated the British government’s
concern and said that the government
15 The Other Nine will make appropriate representations
as necessary. I pray that these
Being there for the One in Ten representations will make a difference,
and would like to express my thanks to
16 Barnabas Reps all of you who signed this petition.
Do you have 15 minutes a month to According to statistics from
help the persecuted Church? Operation World and the World
Evangelical Alliance, as many as
17 Stepping into the 200 million Christians live in areas
where they are a minority and there is
Shadows frequent persecution, discrimination or
oppression because of their faith, often
A new expanded edition of this between Christ and Satan (v. 4-6) and
leading to poverty and deprivation.
popular book
This is around 10% of the estimated
world Christian population of two
18 In Touch billion. So one in ten Christians alive
today is living under pressure because
Your letters, your comments of his or her faith in the Lord Jesus.
If one in ten Christians lives with
20 Campaign Update discrimination and persecution,
Presenting the petition in the UK what about the other nine? Most of
those reading this magazine will be
Cover: A North Korean child. Turn to pages 6-10
among the other nine, those who live
to read about the brutal persecution of North
Korean Christians, and how Barnabas Fund is in contexts of religious liberty and
helping them. Photo: WFP/ Michael Huggins material sufficiency, where the worst
we can usually expect is teasing and
the distress of seeing our Lord mocked
and belittled by those who do not love
Him. True, things are getting more
difficult in some Western countries,
and there are incidents of repression
and discrimination of those who are
faithful to Christ, which would never
have occurred 10 or 20 years ago. But
by and large we, the other nine, enjoy
equality and freedoms which are way
beyond the experience of the one in ten.
Furthermore Western Christians live in
relative affluence compared with the one
in ten.
We at Barnabas Fund have been
receiving frequent requests from
Western Christians, moved by the plight
of Christian minorities, pleading, “What
can we do in response to the growing
persecution, marginalisation and
deprivation of our Christian brothers
and sisters?” In response to these
requests, Barnabas Fund has launched a
new campaign to enable the other nine
to use their freedom to help the one
in ten. You can read more about it on
page 15. The Other Nine campaign asks
Christians to get their whole church or
fellowship fully involved in praying for
and supporting the persecuted Church,
the one in ten. We provide resources,
information and suggestions to help you
share with your church your compassion
and concern for persecuted Christians.
The Apostle Paul, who well knew
what it was to be persecuted, wrote: “We
are hard pressed on every side, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck
down but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians
4:8-9) He also knew that in the face of
these difficulties he could never give up.
“Since through God’s mercy we have this
ministry, we do not lose heart.” (v. 1) He
saw that he was involved in a conflict
in this conflict Christ the Lord was, is
and will be victorious. Paul’s testimony
was of God’s power at work to bring His
people through their times of trial, and
to reveal Jesus in their lives (v.10). His
words can help guide our intercessions
as we pray for the one in ten, just as
much as they can help sustain the
other nine in their own difficulties and
pressures of life.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
International Director
 Barnaba
s
this Chris Fund has helped
tian bak
ery build to fund
ing

North Korea
hope behind the veil
A North Korean Christian was suspended upside down and ordered to deny his beliefs. When
he refused the warder began to stab him and pushed him to the ground. Still the Christian would
not deny Christ. Finally the warder ordered 6,000 other prisoners to walk over him, trampling
him to death.

Very little is known of the totalitarian state of North Korea, which has been veiled in secrecy
for over half a century, but reports of the tremendous courage of its Christians emerge from time
to time. One of the few countries to remain under communist rule, what little is known about
North Korean society is often learnt from those who have escaped the oppressive regime to seek
freedom in South Korea or China. What has become clear is that life for North Koreans is made
up of misery, hunger and oppression by the State, and Christians are singled out for particular
persecution. Despite such hardships, the Christian faith is growing as courageous believers
endure hideous suffering and even martyrdom for the Lord they love.

Land of conflict and of administered by the US. Though

Christianity
For centuries the Korean
Peninsula was fought over by its
larger neighbours, China, Russia
and Japan. Korea was absorbed
into the growing Japanese
empire in 1910 and remained
under Japanese control until
Japan surrendered at the end of
World War II in 1945. Korea was
immediately seized by competing
occupying powers. The USSR
took control of the north, while
south of the 38th parallel was
this division was intended to
be temporary, it resulted in the
two separate countries of North
Korea and South Korea which
we find today.
Until the division into North
and South, Korea had enjoyed
a diverse religious background,
which included Confucianism,
Daoism and Buddhism.
The Christian faith was first
introduced by missionaries in
the late 18th century. Though
the Korean government banned
the spreading of Christianity,
continued missionary activity
over the next century meant that
by 1863 there were an estimated
23,000 Christians in the country.
Korean government policy
ordered harsh persecution of
Christians. Yet by the late 19th
century Korea had become one of
the most “Christianised” nations
in Asia. Pyongyang (which
later became the capital of
North Korea) was an important
Christian centre, with Christians
comprising one sixth of its
population. After a great revival
in 1907 Pyongyang became

6 Barnabas AID JULY/ AUG 2007


known as “the Jerusalem of the
East”.
North Korea under Soviet
rule soon began to adopt
communist policies, bringing it
into direct opposition with the
US-administered South Korea. In
1948 North Korea established the
Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK) headed by Premier
Kim Il-Sung. A deep distrust
developed between North and
South Korea, which soon erupted
into warfare. The Korean War
lasted from 1950-1953, when an
armistice agreement was signed.
There is still no comprehensive
peace agreement between the two
countries.
Christians... were labelled
as “counter-revolutionary
elements”
Kim ll-Sung and the
purging of religion
Kim Il-Sung had been
recruited by Stalin to establish a
communist North Korean state.
On taking the premiership of
North Korea in 1948 he sought
to develop a Marxist-Leninist
political model which centred
on the principle of autonomy
and self-reliance, called Juche
(pronounced “joo-cheh”). Part
of the process was a brutal
suppression of all religious
activity and rival systems of
thought and belief. Christians,
Buddhists and followers of
other religions were labelled as
“counter-revolutionary elements”.
“We purged the key leaders
above the rank of deacons in
Protestant or Catholic churches
and the wicked among the rest
were put on trial. The general
religious people were… put into
prison camps [and given a chance
to reform]…We learned later that
those of religion can do away
with their old habits only after
they have been killed.”
Kim Il-Sung¹
The Juche belief system led to
the construction of a very rigid
social class system, with 51 layers
North Korea: hope behind the veil
of privilege and status. People
were categorised according to
Juche and their family background and
also their perceived loyalty to the
“Kimilsungism” state. Christians and followers
of other faiths were classified
Over time Juche has into the lowest levels, viewed
developed into a quasi- as “irredeemables”. People in
religious personality cult these low categories suffered
centred on Kim Il-Sung, in education and employment.
who was venerated almost Some were forcibly relocated to
like a god. When he died remote and desolate areas, where
in 1994 Kim Il-Sung, “The they were deliberately left to
Great Leader”, was assigned starve.
the post of president for
“eternity”. His son Kim
Jong-Il is the current head of
state, and has been absorbed Religious intolerance
into the personality cult as The DPRK claims that there is
freedom of religion within North
“The Dear Leader”.
Korea. Its constitution even
The Kim dynasty is includes articles which defend
portrayed as the ultimate religious liberty. But this is not
source of power, virtue, the reality of life in North Korea.
spiritual wisdom and truth. While in the late 20th century
Facts concerning their lives the government sanctioned
have been altered to back the opening of three churches
up the image of divinity.
For example, Kim Jong-Il
in the capital Pyongyang, it is
believed that these are merely
was born in a Soviet army
camp in Siberia; however
“show churches” for international
visitors.
the “official” history teaches The Christian presence in
that he was born on North North Korea is sustained through
Korea’s holy Mount Paekdu, many hundreds of underground
and that at his birth a star churches. The punishments for
shone, lightning flashed and being a Christian and taking part
a double rainbow appeared. in religious activity outside of the
A North Korean scholar government-sanctioned churches
says that the two Kims are range from fines to imprisonment
like God and Jesus Christ.² and even execution.
People are encouraged to
Just being related to Christians
sing their praises and pray can also bring persecution.
to them. Any dissent is
Imprisonment in North Korea’s
ruthlessly repressed.
Continued overleaf
A delivery of equipment for the new Christian bakery funded by Barnabas Fund
JULY/ AUG 2007 Barnabas AID 7
North Korea: hope behind the veil
Human rights abuses in
prison camps
Prison camps in North
Korea are notorious for
their brutality. Prisoners are
subjected to forced labour,
or used as test subjects for
chemical and biological
experiments. Most are kept
in starvation conditions, glad
even to eat the raw flesh of
rats they catch. Sometimes
they are confined for days in
punishment cells which are
24 inches wide and 44 inches
high. Unable to stand upright,
sit or lie down, when finally
released they are usually
permanently crippled. Some
die soon afterwards.
But the worst tortures are
kept for Christians. A former
North Korean prison guard
reported that Christian
prisoners are singled out for
extra harsh treatment, and are
regarded by the authorities as
insane. For example:
• A group of elderly
Christians were ordered
to renounce their faith
and accept Juche instead.
When they refused the
security officers ordered
molten iron to be poured
over them one by one.
• A woman was repeatedly
kicked and her injuries
left unattended for days,
because a prison guard
had overheard her praying
for a child who had been
beaten.
Order your copy of the DVD today
A short DVD presentation on North Korea is available
from Barnabas Fund entitled:
“North Korea: Hope Behind the Veil”
Contact the UK office or your national office
for a free copy.
8 Barnabas AID JULY/ AUG 2007
North Korean steamed bread. This bread is distributed
free to the hungry
notorious prison camps will
usually mean brutal treatment
and torture, frequently to the
point of death.
Only legally documented
foreigners are allowed to own
Bibles, and they must take them
out of the country again when
the leave. Any North Korean
citizen found to own a Bible
is imprisoned, and sometimes
executed.
A closed door policy, first
adopted by Korea in the 19th
century, has led to a lack of
accurate figures, but it is believed
that one in five Christians in
North Korea is in a prison
camp, and that as many as 400
Christians are executed in a year.
Growth in the shadow of
persecution
With the introduction of Juche
and the purging of all religious
activity from North Korea, the
number of Christians initially
declined. Many Christians were
executed or worked to death
in labour camps, while others
escaped the country to live as
refugees in China or South
Korea. Many of the Christians
who stayed in North Korea were
too frightened to pass on their
faith even to their own children.
Yet a Christian presence has
remained, and from the small
amount of information which
does leak out from behind the
veil of secrecy it appears that
the Church is growing. In 1989
there were an estimated 11,000
Christians in North Korea. By
2004 this had risen to as many as
100,000, and by 2006 the estimate
was somewhere between 200,000
and 400,000 Christians.
One of the reasons for this
church growth, humanly
speaking, may be the discontent
with the current regime which
keeps North Koreans in desperate
poverty. Poor economic policies
and a lack of agricultural
equipment and fertilizers have
led to chronic food shortages. In
addition North Korea spends a
disproportionately high share of
its GDP on the military. (North
Korea has the fourth largest army
in the world but its population
is only 23 million.) Despite
international food aid, much of
the population continues to live
with malnutrition and is close to
starvation.

Bread making in the Christian bakery
Even apart from the effects of
poverty, life in North Korea is
extremely harsh, with every area
strictly controlled by the state.
A recent visitor said: “Most
people dress in black or grey.
Only the red flag of the party and
the occasional coloured child’s
coat breaks the monotony of
dullness. There is little music
to be heard… The houses are
A former police official who
escaped North Korea claimed
that his fellow officials are
particularly anxious to catch
Christian believers because
they fear that “Christianity
will defeat Juche”.
A 21-year-old woman who
converted to Christianity
while in China returned to
North Korea in 2000. She was
soon arrested for evangelising.
While in prison she was not
cowed by the harsh treatment
but instead sought to share
the love of Jesus Christ with
her jailers. She defended
her actions by saying that
she prayed for North Korea
because she loved her country
and the Korean people, which
should not be considered a
crime. Unexpectedly she was
told “You have committed a
crime related to religion, but
the general forgives you.” She
was released.
North Korea: hope behind the veil
dilapidated and the demeanour
As well as returning North
of the people appears to be
Korean converts, many South
oppressed.”
Korean Christians are also
crossing the border to bring
humanitarian relief to the
Taking the Gospel back to suffering North Koreans and
share their faith.
their homeland Continued overleaf
Large numbers of North
Koreans have fled to China
or South Korea where many
find shelter with churches and
other Christian humanitarian
Five Principles of Faith
organisations. The love and care Many North Korean Christians
which they are shown is seeing daily recite the Lord’s Prayer
many come to faith in Christ, and five principles of faith. The
despite years of indoctrination expectations of suffering within
against Christianity. their faith life are evident in
Amazingly after the risk they these principles:
have taken to leave North Korea, 1. Our persecution and
some of these refugee converts suffering are our joy and
are choosing to return to North honour.
Korea to take the Gospel back 2. We want to accept ridicule,
to their homeland. To return scorn and disadvantages with
to North Korea is dangerous. joy in Jesus’ name.
Returning refugees picked up by
the authorities are questioned 3. As Christians, we want to
wipe others’ tears away and
about the extent of their contacts
with South Korean missionaries, comfort the suffering.
whether they have read the 4. We want to be ready to risk
our life because of our love for
Bible and whether they attended
church. To admit to any of our neighbour, so that they
these activities would lead to also become Christians.
imprisonment or execution.
Despite knowing the dangers
5. We want to live our lives
according to the standards set
these courageous Christians still in God’s Word.
choose to return.
Supported by Barnabas Fund, this bakery provides jobs for North Korean Christians
JULY/ AUG 2007 Barnabas AID 9
North Korea: hope behind the veil

The faith that will not be repressed

It appears that while all religious activity
is subjected to repression by the Kim Jong-Il
Jobs for North Korean Christians through
government, Christianity is particularly feared.
A former police official who escaped North
Korea claimed that his fellow officials are
particularly anxious to catch Christian believers
because they fear that “Christianity will defeat
Juche”.
Christians in North Korea have persevered
through more than 50 years of persecution,
poverty and severe hunger. They continue to
pray that the Church will be restored within
North Korea. A North Korean Christian,
speaking of their hopes for the future, said “We
well know where all the churches destroyed in
the past were. We will build every one of them
up with the consent of God.” Despite every
effort of the Korean regime, what tremendous
faith, courage and hope are shining out from
behind the veil.
1. Goh Tae Woo, Bukhanui jonggyo jeongchaek (North Korea’s
Policies on Religion), reported in Thank you Father Kim Il-Sung:
Eyewitness accounts of severe violations of freedom of thought,
conscience and religion in North Korea, U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom, (November 2005), p.2.
2. Kongdan Oh, quoted in Peter Carlson, “Sins of the Son”,
Washington Post, 11 May 2003, www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/
wp-dyn/A40505-2003May10?language=printer, viewed 9 May
2007.
Barnabas Fund’s aid
Barnabas Fund is working to help Christians
in North Korea. Two Chinese Christian women
manage a bakery in the north of the country
which employs mainly Christians. The bread
they produce is distributed free to the poor and
hungry in the region, often to children.
Barnabas Fund gave grants to help towards
the building costs of a second bakery. The vision
is to see a network of these bakeries across
the country, bringing both employment for
impoverished Christians and practical love and
care in the name of Jesus Christ to the many
starving North Koreans.
Barnabas Fund hopes to be able to continue
partnering in this pioneering work. It costs
approximately £98 per day to run the bakery,
producing 2,500 steamed bread rolls a day and
giving employment to approximately 30 staff.
Project ref: 86-642

Quick Facts
• In the 19th century Korea was an
important centre of Christianity. It was
the second most Christianised country
in Asia after the Philippines.

• The Korean Peninsula was separated

into North and South Korea at the end
of WWII. North Korea was dominated
by the USSR, the South by the USA.

• In 1948 Kim Il-Sung became president.

He introduced the Juche regime of self-
reliance, and outlawed all religions. Many children receive free bread from the Christian bakery

• Juche, or “Kimilsungism” has developed

into a personality cult, in which the Kim
dynasty is revered. Belief in Juche is
mandatory.

• All religious activity is suppressed,

but Christians come under particular
persecution as the Christian faith is seen
as a threat to the Juche ideology.

• The Juche tenet of self-reliance, poor

economic policies and a famine in the
1990s have left much of the country
facing starvation.

• Barnabas Fund is funding a project

employing Christians in a bakery which
gives away its bread to the poor.

10 Barnabas AID JULY/ AUG 2007

This series of pull-out supplements is intended to provide background information for Christians seeking to understand
the nature of Islam and its contemporary expression. One aspect of this relates to understanding the reason for the
oppression and persecution of Christians in various Islamic parts of the world, and another to the growing challenge

Pull-out supplement
which Islam poses to Western society, culture and Church.

Church leader in
Shari`a and Muslims in the West Uzbekistan given
four-year sentence
Dmitri (David) Shestakov,
Aspects of shari`a (Islamic law) are increasingly being implemented in Western countries. This is particularly
marked in the UK, where the government has yielded to a number of demands from sections of the Muslim
community. Why is this happening and what are the implications? Is it really required by Islam?
Obeying shari`a is seen by Muslims as part of living
in accordance to God’s will, and in Muslim-majority
countries the state is seen as the protector of Islam.
The state enforces shari‘a (to varying degrees) and
is also closely involved in religious affairs, often
controlling mosques, clerics and Muslim charities.
With this worldview, Muslims in the West often face
a dilemma about whether to obey shari`a or the law of
the land in which they live. This can arise over issues
such as food, marriage, divorce, politics and banking.
Many Muslims in the West would therefore like to
see parts of shari`a incorporated into the civil laws of
Western states. Others demand state recognition of
separate self-governing Muslim communities in the
West.
A poll of British Muslims in 2004 found that 61%
would prefer shari`a courts to the secular court system.
A survey in February 2006 showed that 40% of British
Muslims would support the introduction of shari`a in
predominantly Muslim areas of Britain. Another poll
six months later found that 28% hoped that Britain
would one day become a fundamentalist Islamic state
under shari`a.
Examples
Canada: In 2003 some Canadian Muslims called
for Ontario’s secular legal system to enforce shari`a
decisions made by Muslim voluntary arbitration
councils. While voluntary arbitration in civil disputes
is legal in Canada, as in most Western countries,
settlements arrived at by these bodies had no legal
standing in Canadian law. In 2004 Ontario’s attorney
general recommended the use of Islamic law to settle
issues such as divorce and child custody. Finally, in
2005, following protests by Muslim women and others,
Ontario’s Premier Dalton McGuinty quashed the
move, arguing that there should be only one law for all
Ontarians.
Germany: In March 2007 a judge in Frankfurt’s
family court ruled against a Muslim woman’s petition
for a divorce from her Muslim husband on grounds
of violence and threats to her life. The judge argued
that the woman should have expected her Muslim
husband to exercise the Islamic right to use corporal
punishment. The judge even quoted from the Qur’an to
prove that Islam established the husband’s superiority
over the wife and his right to use corporal punishment.
This judgment caused a storm of protests by those who
feared it was opening the way for an Islamic parallel
society in Germany.
Sweden: In April 2006 the Swedish Muslim
Association wrote to all of Sweden’s political parties
suggesting some reforms to the legal system that would
have meant making exceptions for Muslims. Among the
requested changes was one asking that imams approve
all divorces among Muslims. Sweden’s Integration and
Equality Minister responded that there would not be
separate laws for specific groups in Sweden.
UK: At the 5th Annual Conference of the Association
of Muslim Social Scientists held in London in 2004,
Ahmad Thompson, an Islamist barrister and author
who served as advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair,
argued that the British government must safeguard
Muslim human rights by incorporating Islamic
personal law into British law. This, he said, should
include the legal recognition of Muslim marriages,
divorces and inheritance. This would mean setting up
shari`a courts whose verdicts would be recognised and
enforced by the UK civil courts.
Shari`a options to help Muslims in the West
Traditional Islam assumes that it is impossible for a
Muslim to live in a society governed by non-Islamic
law. The world is considered to be divided into two
parts: (1) the “House of Islam” (Dar al-Islam) where
Muslims have political control and shari`a is enforced,
(2) the “House of War” (Dar al-Harb) where Muslims
must fight against non-Muslims to establish Islamic
political power. Muslim scholars of old often advised
that Muslims living in Dar al-Harb should migrate

Our subject in this issue follows on from the pull-out supplement entitled What is Shari`a? which appeared in Barnabas Aid January-February 2007.
This included details of five main areas in which shari`a is incompatible with human rights. One example is the discrimination against women in
matters of divorce, inheritance, compensation, legal testimony and other areas. This should be borne in mind when reading the article in this issue,
and considering issues such as Muslim calls for the implementation of shari`a family law in the West.
i
 back to Dar al-Islam i.e. to Muslim states. Radical
Pull-out supplement
Salafi scholars still recommend this option to Muslim
minorities today.
Other Muslim scholars, such as the influential
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, argue that Western
governments must make their laws more in line with
shari‘a. This pressure is bearing fruit. In Britain, for
instance, the government employs shari`a advisors
in various departments. It has used fatwas to gain
Muslim support for organ donations. Schools have
introduced halal food (sometimes for all pupils
irrespective of faith), segregated sports and Muslim
dress and head covering. Muslim chaplains, Muslim
prayer rooms, halal food and Muslim headcovering
have also been accepted in a variety of public services
such as the police and the prison service. Local
councils are now considering shari`a principles in their
decisions on housing, education, health and other
matters. In June 2006 the Home Office withdrew
proposed legislation banning forced marriages,
apparently for fear of antagonising the Muslim
community.
However, there are many Muslim leaders who tell
Muslims in the West to obey the law of the land so
long as it does not contradict shari`a. There are also
scholars who argue that Muslims are free to disobey
certain parts of shari`a if they are living in a situation
in the West where it is not possible for them to comply
with all the shari`a rules.
Some Muslim scholars are now trying to develop a
doctrinal shari`a basis for Muslim minorities. These
are some of their ideas:
1. Necessity
The shari`a principle of necessity (darura) states that
when emergency circumstances threaten the life and
welfare of Muslims, the unlawful may become lawful
(“necessity lifts prohibition”). This principle allows
Muslims in a non-Muslim state to ignore shari`a rules
that conflict with the law of the land. Darura is used
by many Muslim scholars to justify Muslim minorities
adapting to life in Western states, obeying Western
legal systems, and being loyal to Western governments.
Sheikh al-Tantawi of the prestigious al-Azhar
University, Cairo used this argument to justify Muslim
women in France obeying the French government’s
ban on the Islamic headscarf in public institutions.
However, once a shari`a alternative becomes legally
available, it becomes obligatory for Muslims to obey
that particular aspect of shari`a.
2. The public good
The shari`a principle of public good (maslaha) states
that certain shari`a rules may be modified, as long
as the benefit for Muslims is greater than the harm
considered to be incurred by deviating from shari`a
norms. On this basis some modern scholars argue
that socially beneficial rules appropriate to Western
contexts may be adopted even if they are not explicitly
authorised by the original sources of shari`a; the
Qur’an and hadith. Such scholars say that they are
implementing the spirit rather than the letter of
Islamic law. Democracy and human rights – which
are contradictory to traditional shari`a – are often
defended in Islamic terms by using maslaha.
ii
3. A new shari‘a jurisprudence for Muslim
minorities
The European Council for Fatwa and Research, linked
to the Muslim Brotherhood and headed by Yusuf
al-Qaradawi, is the most important body dealing
with the formal adaptation of shari`a legal theory for
Muslim minorities in the West. This organisation has
called on all Muslims in the West to abide by the laws
of their respective countries. Yet at the same time
it recommended that Muslims in the West should
form Islamic institutions to enable them to organise
their personal and family lives in accordance with
shari`a. It also recommended that they try to get the
country they live in to recognise Islam as a religion
and Muslims as a community (by implication the
first step towards autonomy under shari`a). These
contradictory statements reveal the real agenda of
the Council, which is to apply pressure on Western
governments for ever more shari`a application in their
legal systems.
An extensive alternative system of shari`a courts has
developed in the UK, which many Muslims prefer to
use rather than the British court system. This means
that there is a situation of “legal pluralism” in the UK
with unofficial Muslim law operating in the Muslim
community, mainly dealing with family matters
(divorce, inheritance, etc.). This places huge pressure
on vulnerable members of the Muslim community,
such as women and children, to abide by the verdicts
of such courts even when these are harmful to their
Case study: Vaccination and shari‘a
Some Muslim doctors and scholars oppose the
Western practice of mass vaccination of children.
In Britain Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the
Islamic Medical Association, has warned Muslims
that most vaccines include materials forbidden
(haram) by shari`a for human consumption.
These include pig products (pork-origin gelatine)
and other materials derived from animal and
human tissues as well as alcohol. According to
Katme, it is forbidden in shari`a to have any of
these substances introduced into the human
body. In addition, he says that vaccines are totally
unnecessary as God has given humans their
immune system to defend them against diseases.
Other hardline Islamic leaders around the world
add further reasons for Muslims to reject Western
vaccination programmes. These leaders claim the
vaccination programmes are part of a Western
Christian conspiracy to harm Muslims by adding
infertility agents, AIDS viruses, poisons and other
harmful substances to the vaccines.
However some moderate Muslim leaders have
voiced their opposition to these allegations, and
state that in the absence of effective alternatives
to prevent infection it is permissible by shari‘a to
accept the vaccines.
In several Muslim-majority regions such as
northern Nigeria and north-west Pakistan there
has been a worrying rise in polio cases as many
Muslims have refused to let their children be
vaccinated. World Health Organisation experts
fear this could be the prelude to a new polio
epidemic, just when there were hopes of achieving
its worldwide eradication.
interests and they would get fairer treatment in the
normal British courts.
Sometimes the Islamic courts deal with other kinds
of issues. For example, a stabbing case was decided
by an unofficial Islamic court in Woolwich, London.
A group of Somali youths were arrested on suspicion
of stabbing another Somali teenager. The victim’s
family told the police it would be settled out of court
and the suspects were released on bail. A council
of Muslims was convened and the assailants were
ordered to compensate their victim and apologise for
their wrongdoing.
Faizul Aqtab Siddiqi, a barrister and principal of
Hijaz College Islamic University near Nuneaton,
predicted in November 2006 that there would be a
formal network of Muslim courts in Britain within a
decade.
4. Redefining the status of the West
Some Muslim scholars have tried to redefine Western
states as part of the “House of Islam” but this has
been strongly opposed by most Muslims. Other
terms have been created to describe the West and
thus justify Muslims living there and complying with
non-shari`a norms. These include the “House of
Security” (Dar al-Aman) or the “House of Covenant”
(Dar al-‘Ahd). The implication of these terms is that,
by allowing Muslim migrants in and ensuring their
safety, Western states have in effect made a covenant
with the Muslim community, a covenant that means
Muslims must live peacefully and obey the law of the
land. The popular European Islamist scholar Tariq
Ramadan has invented another term for the West,
Dar al-Shahada (House of Witness), implying it is no
longer a House of War, but a space where Muslims
can live without guilt as long as they are free to
witness to their faith.
Shari`a - compliant economic system
The European Council for Fatwa and Research has
recommended that Muslims in the West should
press for financial institutions that conform with
shari`a economic rules. Islamic economics is defined
by a strict and literal interpretation of the Islamic
source texts on matters of trade and financial
transactions. Although traditionally there was no
all-encompassing Islamic body of economic thought,
modern Islamists have transformed the various
scattered shari`a commands on the subject into a
comprehensive and detailed economic system.
However, not all Muslims agree on the basic
principles. The main point of difference is the
interpretation of the Qur’anic ban on riba. The word
riba is understood by some Muslims as “interest” and
by others as “usury” (excessive interest amounting
to extortion and exploitation). Those who interpret
riba as “usury” explain that the Qur’an bans pre-
Islamic Arabian riba, not modern interest. They say
that the ancient riba was so high that people who
could not pay ended up as slaves. They therefore
tend to allow limited moderate interest. On the other
hand those who interpret riba as “interest” prohibit
any kind of interest as anti-Islamic and anti-shari`a.
The radical interpretation that sees all interest
as prohibited seems to have won the day, and is
assumed by most of the non-Muslim media in the
West to be the only Islamic viewpoint. It is only this
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radical interpretation which requires the creation of a
separate Islamic economic system. Having a separate
economic system tends to insulate the Muslim
minority from the non-Muslim majority, and could
become a model for the Islamising of other Western
systems and institutions.
In the last two decades there has been a spectacular
growth in Islamic finance and banking around the
world including the West. Western institutions and
governments have introduced Islamic finance and
banking into the Western system, thus unknowingly
encouraging the Islamist upsurge. The American Dow
Jones company has produced a special Islamic Market
Index (DJIM). As oil profits and other Muslim wealth
sources are put into Islamic investment products, the
Islamic financial market claims an ever-increasing
share of the global market. It is possible that Western
institutions may choose to gradually Islamise their
own systems, in an attempt to retain their share in
this lucrative market. If so, it could eventually mean
that non-Muslims have little choice but to use Islamic
financial products and systems.
In Britain the media have accepted claims by
Islamists that shari`a absolutely prohibits the taking
of any interest. Banks have joined the call for Islamic
finance. In 2003 the British Treasury Board argued
that having an Islamic financial market in London
would give the UK an economic advantage. The
Bank of England set up a working group to study the
issue and in 2003 changed the rules on stamp duty to
make Islamic mortgages more accessible. Treasury
officials also indicated that there were no longer any
objections in principle to the introduction of shari`a-
compliant financial products into the UK market. In
April 2007 the Treasury announced the setting up of
a feasibility study to look at the costs and potential
benefits of the government itself issuing Islamic
financial products.
Following these official changes in government
policy, the Islamic Bank of Britain was set up in 2004
and mainstream banks hurried to provide suitable
services. These include HSBC, West Bromwich,
Barclays and Yorkshire Building Society. All want
a share of the huge market offered by Britain’s
approximately 3 million Muslims (including 5,000
millionaires). Most of these banks have set up
internal shari`a supervisory councils to make sure
their products comply with a strict interpretation of
shari`a and they publish the names of the scholars
involved so as to reassure the Muslim community. The
efforts of the Treasury and of the Bank of England
have succeeded in creating a friendly atmosphere
for Islamic finance in the UK, thus attracting much
investment. In a 2005 survey, Islamic companies
indicated that the UK had the most shari`a-friendly
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