Demystifying Sharia with Sumbul Ali-Karamali
06/23/21 • 37 min
This week we are joined by author, former lawyer, and expert on Islamic law, Sumbul Ali-Karamali, to discuss the decidedly unscary Sharia law.
Sharia is essentially a mass of religious guidelines, meaning the path to the watering place literally and the path to righteousness religiously. Essentially, early Muslims interpreted their holy text, the Quran, to determine rules for how to live, called fatwas. The collection of fatwas (fiqh) along with the Quran and Sunnah (practices of Muhammad) equal Sharia. Like many religious texts it is ancient, up to interpretation, and complex, even to our dear host and many other Muslims. Given that scholars interpreting the texts were not governing the people, it was never rigid top-down rules from those in power. (Wager a guess at how often Islamic legal scholars have reached a consensus on the interpretation of religious text as it relates to law.)
Sumbul, who recently published her third book, Demystifying Shari’ah, shares the inspiration for the book (with a cameo by Rush Limbaugh) and the co-occurring explosion of anti-Sharia sentiment in public discourse. She breaks down the key facts in a digestible manner, including the fluidity of Sharia, the five pillars, the immutable goals that every Islamic law has to comply with—which closely resemble our far subsequent Bill of Rights—and the important revelation that no religious law can ever take over the United States because of our Constitution.
We touch on Sharia as it relates to modesty/dress, the colonization of Muslim lands, and behaviors like prayer, divorce, and murder, which are actually ranked by levels of allowance. Asad and Sumbul share the common ground of their parents effectively being the ones to lay down the law when growing up, something most children can relate to. We are surprised to learn that even nonfiction authors can get heckled at public readings. We are not surprised to hear about Fear, Inc., the extreme right-wing lawyer responsible for anti-Sharia legislation in 14 states, and the co-opting of Islamic terms by the mainstream media. Naturally, there’s an aside on Star Trek (check out our most recent blog post for more on that!).
Find out more about Sumbul on her site and get answers to all the questions you’ve ever had about Sharia in Demystifying Shari'ah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It's Not Taking Over Our Country. Also check our her first two books, the post-9/11 award-winning The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing and Growing up Muslim: Understanding the Beliefs and Practices of Islam for ages 10 & up.
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week we are joined by author, former lawyer, and expert on Islamic law, Sumbul Ali-Karamali, to discuss the decidedly unscary Sharia law.
Sharia is essentially a mass of religious guidelines, meaning the path to the watering place literally and the path to righteousness religiously. Essentially, early Muslims interpreted their holy text, the Quran, to determine rules for how to live, called fatwas. The collection of fatwas (fiqh) along with the Quran and Sunnah (practices of Muhammad) equal Sharia. Like many religious texts it is ancient, up to interpretation, and complex, even to our dear host and many other Muslims. Given that scholars interpreting the texts were not governing the people, it was never rigid top-down rules from those in power. (Wager a guess at how often Islamic legal scholars have reached a consensus on the interpretation of religious text as it relates to law.)
Sumbul, who recently published her third book, Demystifying Shari’ah, shares the inspiration for the book (with a cameo by Rush Limbaugh) and the co-occurring explosion of anti-Sharia sentiment in public discourse. She breaks down the key facts in a digestible manner, including the fluidity of Sharia, the five pillars, the immutable goals that every Islamic law has to comply with—which closely resemble our far subsequent Bill of Rights—and the important revelation that no religious law can ever take over the United States because of our Constitution.
We touch on Sharia as it relates to modesty/dress, the colonization of Muslim lands, and behaviors like prayer, divorce, and murder, which are actually ranked by levels of allowance. Asad and Sumbul share the common ground of their parents effectively being the ones to lay down the law when growing up, something most children can relate to. We are surprised to learn that even nonfiction authors can get heckled at public readings. We are not surprised to hear about Fear, Inc., the extreme right-wing lawyer responsible for anti-Sharia legislation in 14 states, and the co-opting of Islamic terms by the mainstream media. Naturally, there’s an aside on Star Trek (check out our most recent blog post for more on that!).
Find out more about Sumbul on her site and get answers to all the questions you’ve ever had about Sharia in Demystifying Shari'ah: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It's Not Taking Over Our Country. Also check our her first two books, the post-9/11 award-winning The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing and Growing up Muslim: Understanding the Beliefs and Practices of Islam for ages 10 & up.
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
Building a World without Hate with Rais Bhuiyan
Rais Bhuiyan is a Bangladeshi American who was shot by a white supremacist as retaliation for the attacks of September 11th, four months after arriving in the United States. He joins us on this episode of American Muslim Project to share his remarkable story and mission to promote empathy and compassion.
Rais was thrilled to start his own American dream in Dallas after being granted a visa from the State Department’s lottery. He relays how his life instead became an “American nightmare” as Mark Anthony Stroman went on a killing spree, murdering two other South Asian men and nearly killing Rais in an attempt to hunt Arabs. We talk about that horrific day and how he called out for his mother, like George Floyd. Miraculously Rais lived, but the incident cost him his home, fiancé, job, sense of security, and the sight in his right eye. We learn of the hospital discharging him after he regained consciousness because of insurance and the Red Cross only allotting him a week’s worth of groceries.
Instead of campaigning for personal justice, however, Rais engaged in a fight for clemency for his attacker. Joined by a team backed by Amnesty International, Rais describes why and how he petitioned to save Stroman’s life, going all the way to the Supreme Court and also taking on the lethal injection manufacturer in Denmark. Discover how his request for mediation with his attacker played out and both of their transitions after the crime. At the same time, Rais founded World Without Hate, a nonprofit working to prevent and disrupt the cycles of hate and violence through storytelling and empathy. He shares the promise he made to Allah for letting him live and the Quran verse that inspired him.
Find out how the campaign played out and about the mentorship Rais now has with Stroman’s son. Check out his website and follow World Without Hate @worldwithouthate and @WWHforgive as they work toward a 9/11 hate crime resolution, among other projects. If nothing else examine your own ability to forgive, then spread the ultimate story of compassion to better this country—ours and Rais’s—that he still somehow manages to love.
American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC.
Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble
Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt
Music by Simon Hutchinson
Hosted by Asad Butt
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Next Episode
Recommendations
This week’s special episode includes recommendations (and previously unreleased audio) from six past guests about who and what you should be following, listening to, watching, and reading.
From episode 13’s Dr. Shaista Khilji, Pakistani-born George Washington University professor, prolific writer, and cofounder of the Humanizing InitiativeShaista’s recommended books:
From episode 20’s Qasim Rashid, Pakistani American human rights lawyer, writer, political candidate, human rights activist, and author of the recent Hannah and the Ramadan Gift
Qasim’s recommended Twitter accounts:
Salaam Bhatti/@salaam
Simran Jeet Singh/@simran
Lexi Alexander/@Lexialex
From episode 17’s Serena Rasoul, Palestinian American actress, writer, and founder of Muslim American Casting
Serena’s recommended books:
The Woman from Tantoura: A Novel of Palestine
The Butterfly's Burden (poetry)
Films:
Projects/series:
American Muslims: A History Revealed
From episode 8’s Afroz Khan, Indian American engineer and the first Muslim woman to serve on the Newburyport (MA) city council
Afroz’s recommended shows:
From episode 5’s Razi Jafri, Indian American filmmaker, photographer, and co-director and co-producer of Hamtramck, USA
Razi's recommended artists:
Filmmakers:
From episode 2’s Shahjehan Khan, Pakistani American actor, musician, behavioral health consultant, and co-founder of The Kominas. Shahjehan’s recommended shows can be found on his episode page.
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