Futher to Shari'a:
As far as the Islamic rituals (salat, zakah, fasting, hajj etc) are concerned, I don't think anyone has any problem with the orthodox Shari'ah. But as we go beyond that, enforcing the detailed Shari'ah legislation (fiqh) on a population of Muslims--even in an Islamic country, let alone in the West'”we are bound to have serious problems. Based on my study of the Qur'an and Hadith, I think the Shari'ah is not primarily based on the Qur'an. Far from that, I think the Shari'a, as we know it from the times of the ancient 'imams', is an illogical, misogynistic, and unjust system. I, as a student of the Qur'an and as a practicing Muslim, will oppose anyone who will impose it on me or my family. I would resist any system in a Muslim society that is NOT primarily based on the Book of Allah. It is precisely because of this Shari'ah, coupled with the routine evil conduct of many of our brothers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, that a recent 2010 Pew poll finds 70% Americans disfavoring Islam. When you see many unQur'anic laws in the Shari'ah that entail stoning to death for the adulterers, death sentence for apostasy, illogical inheritance laws, disallowed adoption, and ludicrous triple divorce to ruin people marriages. And then, on top of that, the Shari'ah-based draconian blasphemy laws which were unjustifiably incorporated into the Pakistani constitution in 1974 by ZAB regime against Ahmadi community, collected further scar tissue of PC 295a-c in 1985. These Qur'anically unjustifiable blasphemy laws, once instituted, cannot possibly be undone any time unless a broad-based consensus is developed against them' a Herculean job indeed. Instead of taking measure to repeal these draconian laws, they are being stubbornly defended and ferociously practiced by the Federal Shari'ah court of Pakistan, thanks to the high octane power gas being pumped through Friday afternoon mosque microphones on a regular basis in Pakistan and Indonesia.
Considering all these grim facts about this inexorable outdated and bizarre system, I don't think anyone with a clear conscience will support initiatives to enforce Shari'ah anywhere in the world.
We, as Muslims, need to take a long and hard look at our own backyard to make sure it does not contain bad weeds sown by our ancient 'imams'. When we have our own house in order, we will find that the thing we call 'Islamophobia' will magically disappear from the dictionary. The abhorred 'Islamophobia' term exists because the Islamic model we have shown to the world does not make sense to people; it has many things in it that have little to do with the 'Word of God' and much to do with the word of man.
I would be more than willing to talk about the unQur'anic Shari'ah in more detail in case this forum warrants.
In sum, I, for one, would fiercely oppose any irrational piece of legislation based on the traditional Shari'a carved out for Muslim communities in the West. Haven't we learned the consequences of having this man-made Shari'ah system in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Talibani times of Afghanistan, Swat and Wazirastan, Sudan, Iran, and many parts of Iraq? Have we become so insensitively stubborn that we have to defend a legal system that offers little more than the ancient tribal laws that neither have any practical relevance in a typical 21st century Muslim society, nor have any Qur'anic basis?
I agree that the West does need to be educated about Islam. But, I believe, more than the West, we the Muslims also need to educate ourselves about the real Islam---the Islam that Allah, the Most High, forever preserved for us and the one that is good for all times and circumstances.
Please take this write-up for my two cents' worth. I hope what I have said above will not be ignored. I believe I have to do my duty letting the world to know that what is commonly passed on as 'God's Law' in the name of the 'Shari'ah' has actually very little to do with God and much to do with man.
Ma'asslama,
Irfan