Why Sharia law conflicts with American values and the Constitution (Opinion)
Saying that Sharia Law is not compatible with American Values and Laws is not a radical statement, it's just a statement of fact and common sense.
Sharia Law, and the punishment and subjugation that comes with it, is simply not compatible with our Constitution and the American way of life.
And no, the First Amendment does not require us to treat political Sharia as a protected religious practice.
Religious freedom is not the same as political Sharia
Let’s be clear about the distinction; Individual Muslims have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else, to believe, to worship, to live their private faith without interference from Government.
The challenge we are facing as Americans is that Islamists are conflating private religious beliefs with radical political ideology.
Of course, they are forgetting that the First Amendment is a restriction on government action, meaning the state cannot tell you what religion to practice.
That's very different than allowing practices that are horrifying to civilized people and illegal under our laws.
Sharia and the radical Islamists pushing it do not recognize the equality of citizens under the law, it sets up outright discrimination and punishment for non-Muslims.
The Arabic word used is “Kafir," which translates to “concealer," as in one who conceals the truth of Islam.
The Koran covers the subject of the "Kafir" saying that these non-believers may be hated, enslaved, tortured and worse.
Sharia prescribes punishments; amputation, flogging, stoning that our Eighth Amendment rejects as cruel and unusual.
Sharia does not protect the freedom to leave the faith or to criticize it. Blasphemy can carry the death penalty as a punishment.
That is not a fringe interpretation; it is rooted in the sources and still enforced in multiple countries today.
We only have to look at the treatment of women and girls to highlight how incompatible Sharia Law and the Islamification of American communities is something we need to stop.
Under classical Sharia rules of guardianship and qiwamah (kee-WAH-mah) the husband is the authority and the wife’s primary duty is obedience.
Male guardians hold significant power over marriage decisions, have multiple wives, and even Inheritance favors men over women.
A woman’s testimony is often valued at half that of a man’s in certain cases. These are not modern progressive readings; they are the framework.
In practice, this produces systems that reduce women to legal dependents. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, women need a male mahram (mah-RAHM), essentially an escort just to leave home in many circumstances, secondary education for girls is banned, and public life for women is non-existent.
In Yemen, strong male-guardian rules control marriage, travel, and basic decisions. In Iran, married women generally need a husband’s permission to obtain a passport and travel abroad.
These are not ancient history, they are current reality under Sharia-influenced governments.
Child marriage is not an American value
And then there is child marriage.
The most authoritative hadith (ha-DEETH), which is the interpretation of the Koran, is a marriage taking place when the girl is six-years-old, with the marriage consummated when the girl is nine.
This is not ok. It's called child rape.
Today, several countries allow this. Afghanistan under the Taliban has no fixed minimum age and ties marriage to puberty.
Yemen has no legal minimum age. Iran sets the civil age at 13 for girls and permits younger with guardian and court approval, down to roughly nine years in some cases.
Sudan allows Muslim religious marriages starting at puberty.
Northern Nigerian states applying Sharia often follow the same puberty standard. That is not America’s standard.
We do not treat nine-year-old girls as ready for marriage. We protect children. Full stop.
The persecution of Christians under Islamist rule
The Islamist record gets darker still. In places where Islamist ideology holds power or operates freely, Christians are systematically slaughtered.
In Nigeria, groups like Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, and Fulani militants have massacred thousands of Christians in repeated attacks on villages and churches.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Islamic State-affiliated fighters behead and massacre Christian communities.
In Somalia, al-Shabaab enforces strict Sharia and targets Christians and converts with death.
Under the Taliban in Afghanistan, conversion from Islam is punishable by death, and the remaining Christian community lives in constant fear.
This is not random violence, it is the logical outcome of an ideology that rejects equal citizenship for non-Muslims.
Florida is taking a different approach
Unlike New Jersey, which has politicians running scared of saying anything that the radicals might deem 'offensive,' Florida has taken a hard look at the networks promoting this ideology.
Governor Ron DeSantis and state officials have moved to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a terrorist organization, citing its documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and its long record of defending Islamist positions.
The process is contested in court, but the state has formally put CAIR on notice that its activities and associations will no longer receive a free pass.
Let's face it, political Islamists have been explicit about their goals.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s own internal memorandum described a “civilization-jihadist process” aimed at destroying Western civilization from within and establishing Islamic governance.
Iranian regime leaders have chanted “Death to America” for decades as state policy.
Jihadist ideologues frame the United States as the primary obstacle to establishing a global order under Sharia.
That ideology does not seek coexistence under our Constitution, it seeks to destroy and then replace it.
Religious freedom in America has never meant the right to impose a parallel legal system that subordinates women, endangers children, criminalizes dissent, or celebrates the slaughter of Christians.
You can believe what you want, but you cannot demand that American courts or society enforce rules that violate equal protection, due process, or the basic rights of girls, women, and religious minorities.
We can welcome peaceful Muslims who accept the Constitution as supreme legal structure of our land.
We cannot and should not grant protected status to a political-legal project that rejects the foundational equality and individual liberty that define this country.
That is not bigotry, that is self-preservation of the American system.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.
These 31 convicted killers were pardoned by Gov. Murphy
Gallery Credit: Rick Rickman
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