New and exciting kinds of funny happened on Monday. Within one country, we can find two different legal systems. Laws that would lead to the violent and brutal killing of people. Shock! Horror! What is the world coming to?! Ahh… Now it makes sense. It is in a place where people have more guns than sense.
Of course, I’m not referring to Pakistan. I’m describing America.
In Texas and 36 other American States, there are laws in place that can – and do – lead to state-sanctioned killing. In Texas alone there have been over 400 people put to death. If you commit a crime in New Jersey, the worst case scenario is that you end up in prison. However, if you cross an imperceptible line into Pennsylvania… too bad. The local wali (Governor) of the state wants to cook you in an electric chair.
The same legal system also allows states to decide who can go to school and what is studied, how much money the government will take in taxes (in Washington, for example, there is no income tax), what the speed limit is, whether prostitution is legal or not, set the age of consent for sex (anywhere from 14 to 18 years), and whether gay marriage is recognized. In fact, when it comes to prostitution, there are multiple laws within the same state, varying from county to county.
You would be forgiven for thinking that this might lead to a measured response to the events in Pakistan, but no. Instead we read headlines like “Sharia to be law 80km from Islamabad“.
A region of Pakistan known as Swat Valley has been allowed to establish what is being described as “sharia”. Instead, this punitive system is anything but sharia. It is a means for punishing people for their actions. Without the correct education and social system in place, this can only be described as oppression. So, in a nutshell, the Pakistani government has gone from oppressing its people, to… harshly oppressing its people.
To further prove that it isn’t the true Islamic legal system – a system in which the commandments of Allah are paramount – the so-called sharia can be overridden by the people of the national government. That’s not Islam, that’s just secularism!
Take a guess what the American government thinks about this, the same people that have been dropping bombs on Pakistan. Surely they would hate the “Islamization” of a country bordering Afghanistan, China, India, and Iran? Nope. As reported by the Telegraph:
On Tuesday night however, US officials in Islamabad privately backed the deal as an attempt to drive a wedge between Swat’s Taliban, which is focused on its demand for Sharia law, and the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud.
So-called “sharia” is being used to divide Muslims. The Swat Valley isn’t even going to be allowed a military, so at any time they can be removed at the behest of the American government. In fact this is part of the plan since the establishment of “sharia” is only in exchange for a ceasefire with the Pakistani Army. Notably, this is in same region (the “NWFP”) that the Americans are bombing, most recently killing at least 26 people on Saturday.
What have the people of the Swat Valley achieved? No sharia, no military, overruled at any time by a kufr legal system, and the two groups of people who were on the brink of unity are instead being divided. The Pakistani government is just allowing its enemies to chop each others hands off.
“Do you then believe in a part of the Book and disbelieve in the other? What then is the re ward of such among you as do this but disgrace in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection they shall be sent back to the most grievous chastisement, and Allah is not at all heedless of what you do.” [Surat al-Baqara, verse 85]
The only upside of this debacle is that it is a sign that the people of Pakistan do want to be ruled by Islam, even if they aren’t getting it just yet.
