AltMuslim has more commentary and perspective on Hizb ut-Tahrir in the wake of the group’s interview with Obama’s Muslim policy advisor, Dalia Mogahed, on a UK talk show called Muslimah Dilemma.
Mogahed expresses her anger about her treatment here.
Rather than read more commentary about the incident, why not watch the Youtube clip of the show here and form your own impressions.
I watched the show and did not find the Hizb ut Tahrir hosts to be nearly the cartoon bad guys Mogahed’s recollection of the experience led me to believe – though I did find Nazreen Nawaz’s (HT rep) narrative about current problems in Muslim majority countries to be evasive, and the vision of the problem-free life of the Caliphate unbelievable. Basically, every controversial incident in Muslim majority countries is a result of not following Shariah. All the self-identified Islamists whose understanding of Sharia has devolved into aggression, harsh punishment and repression of women are just wayward in their understanding of shariah. But the Caliphate is going to get everything right…
She says Shariah comes directly from Allah (swt) as a way of explaining that you can’t go wrong with Shariah – problem is, the Shariah is being delivered and implemented by imperfect humans who are as at risk of being influenced by racism, classism, tribalism, greed, corruption, sexism, etc as any other human – but that part of the Shariah equation is elided, as so much else is in her comments.
Removed to the plain of equivalency with other human-administered systems of justice, in example after example it seems too swift, too certain, too unrecoverable and brutal in its punishments (your amputated hands and feet will mark you with your crime for life), and too little interested in the redemption of those it punishes. In a religion that is thick with reminders (ritual) to return to God, it seems discordant to say that the ideal Islamic society removes that option from people by way of capital punishment.
