It is unfortunate to note that the mere mentioning of certain Islamic terms would send shivers down the spine of some people. Mention the word “Sharia”, for example, and it will have the effect of yelling ”fire!” in a crowded theatre. This is largely attributed to inadequate knowledge of Islam and years of negative stereotyping propagated by certain media outlets. Sometimes, the anti-Islamic bias is so conspicuous that one cannot help but suspect a carefully executed conspiracy.

Take, for example, the case of the widely publicized Nigerian court order. As reported by Canadian news agencies, a 17 year old Nigerian girl was sentenced by an Islamic court to 100 lashes for having had premarital sex, and 80 lashes more for falsely accusing her father’s friends of paying her to have intercourse.

No one can argue that if those reports were accurate, then we all have a moral responsibility to stand up for justice and make our voice heard. The fact of the matter is, however, that the media reports were sensational to say the least. They lacked in objectivity when they falsely accepted the ruling of the Nigerian court as a reflection of Islamic Law (Sharia). Moreover, they were not very clear in regards to the evidence collected in the case. In addition, all the reports agreed that the girl never had any legal representation.

Common sense dictates that before one makes a judgment, all sides of the story have to be examined. One has to tread carefully to avoid committing injustice, while trying to fight for justice. Based on the media reports, it is clear that there have been many lapses of justice. The men who engaged in the sexual act have gone scot-free which is totally against Islamic Law. The reports were not all consistent in regards to the details of the case. Most of them suggested that the girl was a victim of sexual assault. An objective examiner of Sharia can find that it does not impose punishment on a rape victim.

Meanwhile, a Canadian newspaper reported that a Sharia court in Nigeria had ordered seven commercial sex workers to be given five strokes of the cane for prostitution. They were sentenced to one-month imprisonment with an option of N 1,000 fine. In another case, four prostitutes were exempted from the lashes on grounds of old age and one for being a nursing mother. The same judge had also ordered a man caught in a room with one of the convicts be given 10 lashes and in addition, pay N 2,000 fine or spend six months in jail.

If these accounts were true, the courts that passed such judgments can never claim applying Sharia despite the fact they are referred to as Islamic courts. Indeed such judgments make a mockery of Islamic Law. Let us not overlook the fact that even in a judicially advanced country like Canada, judges often fail to accurately apply the law. We should remember that water is essential for life. However, it is not the fault of water if some people drown in it.

Why is it that Canada is the only country championing the cause of the Nigerian girl? It seems that Canada’s human rights interest is quite selective. One wonders, how and why there was a cold silence in the face of the atrocities committed in Chechnya. No one said anything when the legs of a Muslim woman were tied to two armored vehicles and then split in half.

In Iraq, over half a million children have been killed as a result of the imposed embargo. Everyday, people are dying in the hundreds because essential medications are banned from entering the country. An entire generation in Iraq is being wiped out. Farmlands and livestocks have been bombarded with radioactive depleted uranium warheads, rendering the fields non-productive for centuries. Radiation continues to take its toll on civilians and livestock. Thus an entire nation is being strangulated into a slow and cruel death.

The Canadian government has formally lodged a complaint with the Nigerian authorities, protesting what it called an abuse of the young mother. Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center condemned the judgment of the Nigerian court. How they got their facts is beyond me.

“Women advocates are surprised though that the same religious law rationalizes and justifies teenage marriage in so far the father consents.” Not only this statement is irrelevant to the Nigerian girl’s ordeal, it is utterly false. Even though certain cultures may condone such a practice, Islamic Law prohibits marriage without the consent of the girl.

Why didn’t the media consult with Canadian Muslim scholars in regards to what Islam really teaches about crime, immorality and punishment? Why isn’t it important to get the answers from the source in order to get a better understanding of how religious laws should be interpreted? Perhaps an honest answer would never be volunteered.

As Dr. M. Elmasri, a prominent Canadian Muslim scholar, pointed out “we are living in the midst of a West-is-best culture that tends to dismiss anything remotely outside our comfortable North American world view. When applying Islamic Law within a given society, complete justice must be sought, including comprehensive court hearings. No punishment should be enacted if prevailing evidence shows that a breakdown of human knowledge, or living conditions, etc. has occurred to mitigate the original circumstances of the alleged crime.”

Although Sharia prescribes harsh punishment for serious crimes, it also demands the exhaustion of all available means to collect evidence. With adultery, for example, four witnesses are required. Being an impossibility in most cases, one concludes that evidence is sacred before punishment is imposed. In the case of adultery, however, if the four witnesses are not available, and the accused is a liar, the curse of God is invoked upon him/her. And this is the severest of all punishments.

Often, countries like Saudi Arabia are attacked for their harsh punishments based on Sharia. The reality is, however, that Saudi Arabia has the lowest crime rate in the entire world. Any criminal who wants to break the law has already accepted the risk. In the west we continue to debate whether our laws favor the criminals and do not give much consideration for the interests of the victims. While in the United States it is quite fine to fry a man by electricity, we frown upon the kind of capital punishment endorsed in a country like Saudi Arabia.

Islam is not the only religion that has a Sharia (religious law). In Leviticus 20:10, one reads “And the man that committeth adultery with (another) man’s wife, (even he) that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

I applaud the Canadian Government for requesting the Nigerian government to immediately halt the proposed punishment. However, I suggest that a team of Canadian Muslim scholars be sent to Nigeria to investigate the circumstances of the case and prepare a report for further action.