The sharia law debate rumbles on. Thom Dyke reports
This time last year saw headlines in both the legal and popular press dominated by the issue of sharia law in the UK. The controversy was sparked off by a speech made in February by the Archbishop of Canterbury, suggesting the adoption of certain aspects of sharia was “unavoidable”. The resulting barrage of criticism precluded almost all sensible discussion of the issues. However, now the media furore has subsided, where does the sharia debate stand?
The speech itself
In the aftermath of the Archbishop’s speech, most critics chose to ignore the detailed substance of his argument, in favour of attacking any moves which would give a greater role for Islamic law. Others took the easier approach of constructing their own straw man versions of the argument. Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservatives’s shadow community cohesion minister, said: “Williams seems to be suggesting that there should be two systems of law, running alongside each other, almost parallel, and for people to be offered the choice of opting into one or the other… that is unacceptable.”
This was a patent
