Page 94 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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Homosexual acts are illegal under most interpretations of Sharia Law. However, the prescribed penalties differ
from one “fiqh” school of jurisprudence to another. For example, these Muslim-majority countries may impose
the death penalty for acts of sodomy and homosexual activities which include the countries of Iran, Nigeria,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia. In contrast, in some Muslim majority countries such as Indonesia, Egypt and Iraq same-
sex sexual acts are illegal, but there is no specific penalty. Nevertheless, in Turkey and Jordan homosexual acts
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between consenting individuals are legal.
Many human rights activists and leading organizations have criticized the Islamic position and stance on human
rights. In 2009, the journal Free Inquiry summarized this criticism in an editorial making the following statement:
“We are deeply concerned with the changes to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by a coalition of Islamic states within the
United Nations that wishes to prohibit any criticism of religion and would thus protect Islam's limited view of human rights. In view
of the conditions inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Syria, Bangdalesh, Iraq, and
Afghanistan, we should expect that at the top of their human rights agenda would be to rectify the legal inequality of women, the
suppression of political dissent, the curtailment of free expression, the persecution of ethnic minorities and religious dissenters — in
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short, protecting their citizens from egregious human rights violations. Instead, they are worrying about protecting Islam.”
Several predominantly Muslim countries criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived
failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries. Iran claimed that the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian traditions. The claim
was that if it were to be implemented by Muslims it would trespass the Islamic law. Therefore in 1990, the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, a group representing all Muslim majority nations, adopted the Cairo
Declaration on Human Rights of the Islamic law.

It is because Sharia Law is against the Constitutional Rights of our nation that many objections have been voiced.
It is because these freedoms and rights are expected by U.S. citizens. Warnings of a looming Islamic takeover
have come from Republicans running for president. “I believe Sharia is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the
United States and in the world as we know it,” Newt Gingrich said in July 2010 reported by Fox News.

Walid Phares, one of Romney’s key terrorism policy advisers and a Fox News regular during the Presidential
Elections has been touting the “mortal threat” posed by Islam. Commenting on the danger of Sharia in 2012, he
said, “The most concerning to me is not the actual Sharia document. What is concerning to me are the networks that are using it.”
He explained, these networks are not only spreading Sharia but seeking to exert political influence at home and
abroad. “This influence that the Islamists have in the United States is an issue,” he continued and said, “and it should be an
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issue raised in the debate, including in this very hot presidential contest this year.” It never did became a subject of debate

The real mortal threat is war with the Islamic nations, who would like to force Sharia Law in the United States.
The cry for Jihad or the Holy War is real amongst the Middle East countries. They would love to attack the
Judeo-Christian nations of the world. They believe in a one-world religious conversion to Islam. In most
interpretations of Sharia, conversion by Muslims to other religions or becoming non-religious, is strictly
forbidden and is termed apostasy. Non-Muslims, however, are allowed to convert into Islam. Muslim theology
equates apostasy to treason, and in some interpretations of Sharia, the penalty for apostasy is death. During the
time of Muhammad, treason and apostasy were considered one and the same. However today, many scholars
differentiate between treason and apostasy, believing that the punishment for apostasy is not death, while the
punishment for treason is death.

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"Laws: Iran, GayLawNet". Gaylawnet.com.
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Paul Kurtz, Austin Dacey, and Tom Flynn. "Defaming Human Rights". Free Inquiry. February/March 2009, Vol. 29, No. 2.

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Abed Awad, June 13, 2012 | This article appeared in the July 2-9, 2012 edition of The Nation.