You said - "attempts are being made to reinterpret old rulings, although often, conservative people get the upper hand and progress is slow." This would surely be the stopper to your unreasonable ideas.

If you believe there is value in some integration or duality of the two legal systems - ours and Shariah - then the onus is on you to bring forward a concrete proposal for legislation that has the complete acceptance of idiots such as the Australian imam who claimed that women who wear tight clothes deserve to get raped. Until you can show that your brand is the community accepted one, we would be buying nothing but trouble to even talk about such a nonsensical proposal.

God knows, we already have enough problem with people who want greater recognition of traditional Aboriginal law that allowed an Aboriginal elder to forcibly rape his child bride.

Perhaps you could go back to academia and leave the rest of us peasants to just get along with a law system that has evolved from one that protected only the wealthy and well-born to one that is reasonably fair to everybody. Not like most world-wide examples of Shariah law.

Regards

Kevin

Kevin,

this is unrelated to the current topic. you asked me to address some issues relating to multiculturalism. where did you list those issues? what issues are they?

regards

Leigh, if you think the idea of personal law is nonsense, i suggest you tell that to jewish and muslim community leaders who work together in areas such as burials, animal slaughter and a certain other surgical procedure that i dare not mention. you will see that both islamic and jewish law requirements are specially catered for under NSW and Commonwealth law.

i know this might shock some of you, but australia is not an exclusively christian state.

Irfan

I, not Kevin, asked you to simply give your definition of Australian Multi-culturalism. I have no other issues.

regards

Though I don’t much like to argue the same side as Coach – he of the constant anti-muslim invective – the proposition of introducing Shariah law into Australia is a truly misguided attempt to facilitate happy multiculturalism.

That said, I am not against “enabling” laws – laws along the lines of exceptions to things like; e.g. food standard laws (if that so applies) to allow muslim Australians to practice their faith, so long as everyone is aware of the risks and possible consequences etc etc.
But only to the extent of them being “opt in” laws – e.g. you could still buy food elsewhere – with no coercive effect. And these would exist within the normal framework of Australian laws, subject to the Court’s approval and by change via simple majority in Parliament. (In other words, not really Shariah law at all.)

The strongest argument against bringing Shariah law to Australia in any form is contained in Hussein’s article:

“There is little demand among Australian Muslims for the Shariah to be introduced in Australia”

I can think of 2 reasons why this might be so:
They think Australian law leads to a better society, or
Like most Australians, they don’t care that much about being political activists, they just want to get on with their lives as best they can.

Though some Muslims might want to change divorce laws, the same can probably be said for the majority of divorced Australian men.

As for those – like Coach – who appear to argue against the very existence of Islam in Australia, what would you do?
Make it illegal?
Expel or imprison all those who refuse to surrender their beliefs?

Oh! Jamila: Going by your name I would say that you are an oppressed islamic female. First of all are you participating in "al-taqiyya" that is are you placating the unbelievers by half-truths and outright lies? Moslems are allowed/commanded to do so when, in their eyes, it's necessary you know.
Utterly pagan, barbaric female mutilation,"honour?" killings, amputations, and stoning is only? practised in Nigeria and Iran - oh yes! but they are in the koran. You add that the above are only a 'small' part of brutal uncivilised sharia law that is unless it's to happen to you or I of course. And 'often?' - how often? the penalty is o/turned by a higher court.
We only have the word of a pagan religion that is allowed/commanded to lie when necessary to unbelievers that the state of women was much better in far off times.They were definitely NOT in the time of big mo in the beginning of your pagan religion- and that's history as well as a part of your terrorist h/book - the koran
You say these amputations, female mutilation etc are not in any way endorsed by islam nor are kidnappings, be-headings, cowardly suicide bombings, the murder of so-called unbelievers, and rampant lying. Here we have it again - except for some hotheads islam is a religion of peace.
It beats me how any educated woman can remain a pagan moslem when they are discriminated against. A woman's word worth half of that of a male. Very few women will make it to paradise - this from big Mo. numbat