Quote:
Originally Posted by Jets4Life
Just Google Sharia Law and the father's name. Sorry if it came across as somehow xenophobic, but I was under the impression that they were fanatics, who somehow interpreted one piece of the Sharia Law out of context, and were convinced that killing his daughters would be acceptable. I have to admit I know little about Sharia Law, but I was basing my assumptions on other cases of people doing horrible things, and justifying it by some biblical scripture that was probably taken out of context.
It's not anti-Muslim or Afghan. In 1994, a Jewish soldier shot 30 Palestinians dead in the West Bank after an extremist Orthodox Rabbi suggested God would reward him for his actions. Ditto for the man who assassinated Yitzak Rabin. If you look at Christianity, there are too many examples to cite where fanatics have taken a verse of the Bible out of context, and used it for violent purposes.
So once again I apologize if I had assumed the family had taken a rule from Sharia Law out of context. That is what I initially heard.
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I googled "Shafia AND sharia law" as you suggested and the first two results were from the following totally illegitimate websites:
www.shariafreeusa.com
www.nosharia.ca
There were a few results from legitimate media sources on the first page however. I think that you raise a good point though: it largely is the media to blame for the sort of hysteria over "sharia law" that has resulted in several US states enacting legislation prohibiting sharia law from being enforced by their courts.
In any event, the Shafias may well have found some justifiication for their actions in some extreme interpretation of sharia law (although the Shafias have never admitted to actually killing their daughters, so have never themselves made this sort of justification for their actions.) However, its worth noting that the Shafias are Pashtuns, a society with a deeply held patriarchic tribal culture. Any interpretations of "sharia law" held by the Shafias were more a product of this culture, in combination with some sort of socoiopathy, than anything else.
To me, the real issue is just this idea that sharia law (and muslim culture in general) is some threat to Canadian society and the Canadian justice system. Its not. Sharia law was never an issue at this trial. Even Pashtun culture was never an issue at this trial. The only issue was whether or not the Shafias committed an offence pursuant to the Criminal Code of Canada. The jury decided that they did and they have been punished to the fullest extent possible in Canadian law. The system worked just as it should.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts. I apologize if I came across as an #######. I've done work with Calgary's muslim community in the past so this is a bit of a sensitive topic for me.
Incidentally, I know one of the two Crown Prosecutors who had carriage of this file in Kingston. I would just like to say that this case was a tremendous amount of work, with 7 weeks worth of evidence, and I would like to thank the Crowns, the OPP members who investigated, the trial judge, the witnesses, and the jury members for all of their hard work in ensuring that the justice system did in fact work as it should and these brought these murderers to justice.