{"id":2092,"date":"2011-12-16T18:57:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/?p=2092"},"modified":"2020-04-21T21:29:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T21:29:17","slug":"karamah-hosts-town-hall-with-adams-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/karamah-hosts-town-hall-with-adams-center\/","title":{"rendered":"KARAMAH Hosts Town Hall with ADAMS Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, December 16, KARAMAH hosted a town hall with the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) at the ADAMSCenter. The town hall meeting, called Shari\u2019ah Law: Legal, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Religious Freedom and Respect for the U.S. Constitution<\/em> attracted approximately 200 Muslim, Christian, and Jewish community members to discuss Islam in theU.S. and recent anti-Shari\u2019ah campaigns. The event featured three experts on Islamic, Christian, and Civil Rights law who led the conversation by making brief statements and answering questions from audience members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This town hall, which is the fifth in KARAMAH\u2019s series, resulted in a lively and frank discussion about the status of Shari\u2019ah in theU.S., how Muslims practice Shari\u2019ah, and the impact of anti-Shari\u2019ah movements on American-Muslims and society at large. Rev. Dr. Richard Jones opened the town hall by reminding the audience that he is \u201cin communion with Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, who set off a fierce public discussion in 2008 when he suggested that in the United Kingdom \u2018a higher level of public legal regard\u2019 might be paid to Shari\u2019ah.\u201d Afterwards, Rev. Dr. Jones   noted the influence that two Muslim scholars had on him \u2013 Dr. Adam El-Sheikh and Dr. Taha Jabir al-Alwani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his initial remarks, Rev. Dr. Jones stated the three beliefs that guided his views on the role Shari\u2019ah should play in theU.S.legal system. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)      The belief that all citizens should live under the same law<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)     Americais composed of many different communities that provide norms for their members<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3)      Many communities that Americans are members of have overlapping jurisdictions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of these beliefs, Rev. Dr. Jones stated that the challenge we now face is how to reconcile jurisdictions that seem to overlap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Rev. Dr. Jones\u2019 remarks, Imam Magid, Executive Director of the ADAMS Center, spoke about what is Shari\u2019ah and the role it should play in the U.S. Imam Magid began by explaining that Shari\u2019ah is not simply a penal code, but that it guides all of the actions of a Muslim\u2019s life. This includes things such as prayer and giving to charitable causes. To help explain Shari\u2019ah further, Imam Magid explained that there are five principles that guide Shari\u2019ah \u2013 also known as Maqasid of Shari\u2019ah. These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)      Protection of all human life<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)      Protection of all people\u2019s faiths \u2013 especially religious minorities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3)      Protection of legal property\/ownership<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4)      Protection of all children<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5)      Protection of all people\u2019s honor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this, Imam Magid stated how Shari\u2019ah is practiced in theU.S.The primary example given by Imam Magid was officiating marriages. Just as Christian and Jewish clergy officiate marriages under their religious laws, Muslim clergy officiate marriages under Islamic law. Beyond this example, Imam Magid stated a simple rule that American-Muslims should follow, stating, \u201cA person should not violate the laws of the land where he lives. This is an Islamic principle.\u201d  He also stated that Shari\u2019ah should never be imposed upon any individual who does not subscribe to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Engy Abdelkader, a member of KARAMAH\u2019s Board of Directors and a lawyer in New Jersey, spoke about the civil rights and constitutional implications of anti- Shari\u2019ah legislation that have passed in at least three states in the U.S..  Ms. Abdelkader began by explaining why anOklahomajudge issued an injunction preventing the state constitution from being permanently amended to prohibit state and federal judges from even considering Shari\u2019ah when adjudicating cases. The federal district judge agreed that such a prohibition would most likely result in violations of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  Beyond that, Ms. Abdelkader explained how so-called anti-Shari\u2019ah bills would strip American Muslims of many rights in cases involving religious employment discrimination claims, foreign child custody decrees, commercial business transactions, and more. Ms. Abdelkader concluded by remarking that theU.S.is an international \u201crole model and example\u201d emphasizing the need for the U.S. to continue being an international leader on religious freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following these statements, panelists took questions from the audience and continued to discuss these issues amongst themselves. By the end of the evening, the panelists all agreed on the importance of fostering deeper understanding of all religions and expanding interfaith efforts to stand for religious freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SnAXJqzrC34\n<\/div><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, December 16, KARAMAH hosted a town hall with the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) at the ADAMSCenter. The town hall meeting, called Shari\u2019ah Law: Legal, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Religious Freedom and Respect for the U.S. Constitution attracted approximately 200 Muslim, Christian, and Jewish community members to discuss Islam in theU.S. and recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karamah.org\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}