Mohamad Omar Nachawati
Eric Cartagena, CLTD I wonder how much bipartisan support would there be for a constitutional amendment that made the commandments of Allah the supreme law of the United States of America.
Claire Khaw do you have any suggestions for how support for such a proposal can be amplified, especially among thought leaders in government, corporate and academic institutions? I think we all agree that status quo is utterly indefensible.
Nihad Awad & company feel free to voice your opinion on this matter. Would the Council on American-Islamic Relations National Headquarters be FOR or AGAINST a constitutional amendment that made the commandments of Allah the supreme law of the United States of America?
Claire Khaw
I do believe that the Republican Party is more likely to support this sort of thing than the Democrats.
Perhaps putting this idea to Trump at his website at https://www.45office.com/info/share-your-thoughts would result in its being amplified by Trump and his advisers, because they will discuss it amongst themselves even if they hate it.
Jordan Peterson too could perhaps be financially incentivised into discussing this proposal as a thought experiment.
I am sure rabbis as well as secular Jewish public intellectuals such as Ben Shapiro would have a few things to say about this too.
A federal referendum would be the best way of legitimising this proposal, but this would be unprecedented since America has never had a federal referendum.
Mohamad Omar Nachawati
I don't agree with you on Trump. Maybe with some of his misguided supporters, but I've found that many of them are really hard to get through to. Trump was one of the reasons that motivated me to leave life in America and take up residence in Turkey back in 2019 (and I've been here ever since).
Jordan Peterson financially incentivised? I've been following him for a while now, and I was originally impressed with his courage to stand up to secular humanism-based "human rights" legislation in Canada back in 2016. Though, it seems that he lost a lot of cred with his benzodiazepin fiasco and also with his recent poorly received message to Muslims. In any case I do wonder how much his rate (if any) would be to take up the issue for serious discussion.
Claire Khaw
Trump and Peterson may not be exactly as we would wish, but who could or would fill their shoes? We can only work with what is available.
Mohamad Omar Nachawati
Not a federal referendum, but perhaps a joint resolution affirming that the supreme ethical values and principles upon which the nation is established are none other than the commandments of Allah as revealed in the Qur'an.
If that could be achieved, then I'd think the door would be wide open to serious deliberation in Congress on an actual amendment.
For those who might find this to be a tiny bit out of the ordinary, consider that on March 20, 1991 Congress essentially affirmed that the Seven Noahide Laws are the supreme ethical values and principles upon which the nation was founded. Despite these laws not being recognized by name in the Qur'an, I fail to see how one could say that adherence to the commandments of Allah as revealed in the Qur'an would not fulfill the Seven Noahide Laws.
Claire Khaw
Would you happen to know if there is a comprehensive list of the Commandments of Allah? A rabbinical contact of mine is asking.
Mohamad Omar Nachawati
Codification of the commandments of Allah is an interesting topic.
Since any codification would necessarily entail interpretation of scripture, I understand it to fall under the umbrella of fiqh. If you read books on fiqh, they are typically categorized by topic, but I have yet to come across anything comprehensive and concise enough to be considered a code of Islamic law.
The closest thing to one that I'm aware of would be the the Mecelle or Al-Majalla (also know as the Ottoman Courts Manual). However, the Mecelle is not comprehensive, and it appears to lack the necessary rigor, i.e. each law needs to be indisputably traced to its legal authority (i.e. the verses of the Qur'an that contain such commandment).
Here is a link to a non-authoritative version of the Mecelle - Ottoman Courts Manual (English)
Claire Khaw
I am appalled at this omission!
Mohamad Omar Nachawati
again it could be that ones exist, but I have just not come across them.
In any case, while I see it to be useful, I don't see it as strictly required. Though, what appears to be necessary is a mechanism (e.g. a supreme court) to invalidate laws that contradict what are understood by the consensus of the governed to be the commandments of Allah revealed in the Qur'an, and a mechanism to compel the government to uphold those commandments.
No comments:
Post a Comment