About a week ago, one of CNN’s lesbian commentators, Sally Kohn (right), tweeted the following in response to Donald Trump‘s latest call for ideological screening of immigrants from Muslim countries and many who are already here. Trump had specifically mentioned sharia law in his speech, which called for “extreme vetting” of any Muslim attempting to enter the United States.
Hey @realDonaldTrump, many *progressive Muslims* — the ones we should support in ideological fight against extremism — believe in Sharia!!
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) August 16, 2016
@Coondawg68 @sallykohn which is to say, she's reinforcing the bigotry of low expectations.
— H.E.Pennypacker (@hePennipacker) August 18, 2016
@Coondawg68 Obviously @sallykohn is most in favor of sex with 9 year olds, very progressive aspect of sharia law. pic.twitter.com/kMjaLwcpfK
— OverTube (@_OverTube_) August 17, 2016
@Coondawg68 @sallykohn @realDonaldTrump The "moderate" Muslims who don't actually throw homosexuals from the roof. They just watch & cheer.
— Chris Clinkinbeard (@Clinkin53) August 16, 2016
@Coondawg68 @sallykohn when she says "progressive Muslims" she means progressive by their standards, not progressive by ours or even hers.
— H.E.Pennypacker (@hePennipacker) August 18, 2016
@sallykohn @realDonaldTrump let me know how Sharia treats gays and get back to me about how much you love it.
— Ayn Rand Paul (@McCarthyKnew) August 16, 2016
@mckelvey_ian @PolitiBunny @sallykohn Don't think Sally would fare very well under Sharia.
— High Altitudes (@highaltitudes) August 16, 2016
CNN Not long after, a sarcastic petition was launched by Change.org users who felt that Kohn, who is openly gay, should go try living under Sharia law for a week. Rather than let the petition get to her, Kohn has now doubled down on her stance.
Today, she released a column called, “Trump doesn’t understand what Sharia is.” Operating under the belief that “understanding the truth about Islam is the best way to fight extremism within it,” she explained what Sharia law really means and how a Muslim can be progressive and still adhere to it.
Please read and share, y'all. My latest on some basic, important facts about what #sharia is — and isn't. https://t.co/YKX3KTwccY
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) August 25, 2016
It’s clear that Donald Trump has no idea what Sharia is. Earlier this month, Trump proposed what he described as “extreme vetting” to ban immigrants who “believed Sharia law should supplant American law.” But while this irrational fear-mongering might play well to some of his supporters, it is detached from reality.
Perhaps Trump isn’t interested in the truth. The rest of us should be, though, because understanding the truth about Islam is the best way to fight extremism within it. The alternative is to misunderstand and misrepresent the majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, the very people who have the greatest stake in the fight. Remember, the vast majority of victims of Islamic extremist attacks are Muslims.
So, what exactly is the truth about Sharia, and how does that help us combat extremism? In short, there is a difference between personal, spiritual Sharia and the political incorporation of Sharia into law. And within both, there are progressive interpretations as well as more fundamentalist conservative interpretations. So the word Sharia doesn’t mean one thing. (There is no such thing as progressive anything in Islam)
“Every practicing Muslim — whether traditional or conservative or progressive — in some way follows Sharia,” says Wajahat Ali, a Virginia-based writer and creative director of Affinis Labs. “There’s no book called Sharia. You can’t rent it. It’s subject to human interpretation and is malleable, thus explaining how Muslims have existed for 1,400 years in nearly every society.” (And why they have been driven out of civilized societies for 1400 years. There’s no such thing as a little sharia)
Sharia means “the path” in Arabic and basically the spiritual or moral code of Islam. But as Ali notes, “because it’s based on subjective interpretation, it’s been used and abused by folks with varying agendas.” (The rules of sharia law haven’t changed, they are constant) 
“Essentially any Muslim who is practicing at any level is following some part of Sharia,” agrees Raquel Saraswati, a lesbian feminist Muslim. “I don’t drink. I don’t go to clubs.” She says she also doesn’t watch certain music videos. (And she can be killed under sharia for her lifestyle choice although lesbians fare better than gays under the sharia)
“I also pray according to the rules and a whole host of other things. So basically I’m engaging with Sharia every single day.” Some of Saraswati’s gay Muslim friends, she says, are far less observant on a daily basis but might fast for Ramadan, for instance. (Gay muslims are considered apostates and subject to the death penalty no matter now observant they are)
Critics of Sharia often miss these nuances, assuming for example that those who practice Sharia believe adulterers should be stoned and gay people thrown off roofs.
And clearly some Muslims believe this and cite “Sharia.” But Fred Phelps, founder of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, also thought gays should be put to death. Death is, after all, mentioned as a punishment for homosexual relations in the Bible. But thankfully, not all Christians follow such beliefs. Remember, Phelps was a Christian, but so was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (Phelps might have said that but he hasn’t killed anyone for being gay, nor does Christianity command it. Muslims kill gays on a regular basis because the quran orders it)
But the reality of these flexible concepts doesn’t stop many people conflating Sharia with the most extreme interpretations of Islam. (Sharia is not an “interpretation of Islam,” it IS Islam which is inherently extreme by its teachings) Newt Gingrich, for instance, has said that every Muslim in the United States who believes in Sharia “should be deported.”
In doing so, he seems to demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of Sharia, along with Trump and his right-wing allies, by essentially suggesting that any Muslims who want to make Sharia “the official law in their country” are tantamount to violent extremists. (They ARE!)
This is not only factually wrong but “utterly stupid and childish,” says Abdullahi An-Na’im, professor of law at Emory University and author of the important book “Islam and the Secular State.” (There is no secular state in Islam. It might start out that way as in Turkey after Attiturk, but eventually the secular laws are replaced by the religious laws, which is happening in what used to be “secular” Turkey today)
So what about Muslims who say they want Sharia law? They’re not all necessarily extremists, as the anti-Muslim American right has claimed. An-Na’im suggests that what they are really talking about is “Sharia as an ethical normative system underpinning the laws that are enacted through constitutional institutions — much in the same way that Americans consider Christianity as underpinning American law and culture.” (Yes, sharia is what makes Islam so extreme and violent, and totally incompatible with democracy)
That doesn’t necessarily mean following the most violent or severe interpretations of Christianity — thankfully stoning is not enshrined into US law (although we do execute more people than virtually any other country). But when we talk with pride about our Judeo-Christian values-inspired Constitution, we can understand how Muslims would want the positive moral values in their faith to be an inspiration for secular law. (“Secular sharia” is an oxymoron)
Sharia law can also mean what it does in England, where Sharia councils in some places hold sway over things such as marriage and divorce for British Muslims. Yet those councils are ultimately — and rightly — subject to the secular laws of the state.
In fact, the British government has launched a review of the workings and decisions of Sharia councils to ensure they adhere to British law, an inquiry being led by noted Muslim scholar Mona Siddiqui and also advised by two imams. This suggests a potential model for how Sharia can work within the context of secular government and pluralism. (These 100+ sharia courts in the UK are only subject to British law while Muslims are in the minority. As soon as their numbers are big enough, sharia will be the law of the land )
In other words, the version of Sharia implemented by right-wing extremists in ISIS and Saudi Arabia is reprehensible but is not the sole definition of Sharia. (Yes, it is. There is no such thing as sharia-lite)
Pointing out that there is more than one interpretation of Sharia, and that all Muslims are not violent extremists, is in no way, shape or form meant to defend or excuse countries such as Saudi Arabia and the unjust hatemongers who run them. Their policies toward women, the LGBT community, Christians, Jews and many others are inhumane and unacceptable. (You have just described sharia and there is nothing humane about it)
I’m not arguing that we should in any way give Islamic fundamentalists a pass. What I am arguing is that we should intensely focus on the actual problem — extremist interpretations of Islam advanced by Saudi Arabia and ISIS — rather than smearing all of Islam and, in the process, alienating the moderate Muslims who are the most important voices in transforming their own faith. (Islam is Islam, there are no extremist interpretations, just literal ones. Read the quran sometime, Sally, there is only one Islam. To deviate from it is to be considered an apostate)
And yet it’s hard to focus on real solutions when we’re so distracted by fear-mongering. According to a 2011 poll, for example, 1 in 3 Americans believed that American Muslims ultimately want to establish Sharia as the law of the land in the United States — in other words, not just local councils, but overriding the Constitution. (They DO and surveys conducted by Pew have proved they do) Nearly 6 in 10 of those who described Fox as their most trusted news source believed this is the true agenda of American Muslims, the same poll showed.
Where do such beliefs — and fears — stem from? They result from hearing someone like Gingrich say Sharia “is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.” And people like Michele Bachmann describing Sharia as something that “must be resisted across the United States.” (They are right)
What the American people aren’t hearing is basic facts about Islam, including about how charitableness is one of the five main pillars of Sharia. (Charity for muslims only)
Islam isn’t inherently in conflict with democracy and freedom; fundamentalism is. (NO, Islam is inherently fundamentalist, there are no moderate versions of Islam, only the literal one. Some individual Muslims might be considered “moderate” but in Islam, they are also considered apostates and we know what happens to them) We must support Muslims and people of faith everywhere who oppose fundamentalism and support democracy, tolerance and pluralism. We must support moderate Muslims, rather than attacking Sharia. (Muslims who don’t want you to attack sharia are not moderate at all)
“In the hands of terrorists, Sharia can be developed into a highly threatening, militant notion,” Bernard G. Weiss, a scholar of Islam at the University of Utah, told The New York Times in 2011. “In the hands of a contemporary Muslim thinker writing in the journal Religion and Law, Sharia becomes an essentially pacifist notion.” (Not in your wildest dreams, Sally)
Sadly, the fact that there are many interpretations of Sharia (NO, there aren’t), just as there are many interpretations of Jewish and Christian moral codes, gets lost in the weeds of right-wing generalizations and fear-mongering. (Not fear-mongering, truth-mongering)
Meanwhile, tolerant, democratic, pluralistic Muslims across the United States and around the world — including, yes, feminist, pro-gay, progressive Muslims — are following interpretations of their faith that we not only shouldn’t sideline but should actively encourage. (Please name all these so-called “progressive” Muslims…or are you afraid to list their names in public because they will be killed?)
Despite what Donald Trump may wish, facts matter. Or they should, anyway. And we — and the people we elect — should get the facts straight about Sharia and Islam. It’s in all our interests. (You have the right to your own opinion, Sally, but not your own facts)
Sally. Sally. Sally. Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re stupid than to open it and erase all doubt. CNN=Clinton News Network.
I commented on her tweet of her article, and a few of her followers came at me with lame insults, childish name-calling, and absolutely no intelligent debating skills. Absolutely pathetic.
Cuz that’s all they got. Just like any anti-Trumper you see, they just throw out the word racist and that’s automatically supposed to end the conversation. When they’re pressed for specifics they’re stuck and turn into petulant children. Adults can’t have have a two way dialogue with angry children throwing tantrums.
Seems that Trump didn’t become a racist in the eyes of Democrats “until” he got the Republican nomination!
women should be banned from politics and voting, before they destroy our western civilization.
The Suffragettes, all women, suffered indignity, imprisonment and torture to get the vote for both men and women. Men were allowed to vote if they owned property and land, so those suffering poverty and oppression had no voice until the Suffragettes made huge sacrifices for them.
In wishing to ban women from politics and voting, you would have countries stuck in the past and run by wealthy men. Just like all Muslim countries.
men lead. women follow. thtas just how it works. whether its in the military, at home, relationships, the building of nations, and science. dont get me wrong, there are exceptions, but thats generally the rule. once u let women lead and put them in charge, its a recipe for a disaster. we can see this in Germany today, and well see it here in America if Trump loses, god forbid.
Uhmmmm Tut, you are following one quite powerful female here at BNI Bonni is de boss of this amazing site, and I for one would follow Mrs. Emma de Lacruz into hell with a water pistol should she choose to arttack it. The Christ equalized women and men, do you think the next life will have SUBSERVIANT people in it? “On earth as it is in heaven”…. Leadership has NOTHING to do with sex, color, or original nationality, quality of character is what’s most important. Frankly I would still like to see Sarah Palin run for Pres. I base that somewhat on how much the MSMs hated her, and I HATE them!!!!!
King Tut,
Chauvinist crap. There are also a lot of weak men in the world, like weak women. Likewise there are a lot of tough strong women in character like tough strong men. It is not about sex, it is all about strength of character.
Once years ago in a 70’s street fight a woman covered my back, from attack whilst a man ran for cover.
Nancy Wake in the French Freedom Resistance was so tough against the Nazis in WWII that the Gestapo called her the “White Mouse” – she was at the top of the most wanted list, to be killed. She survived and lived after the war to 98. She was reported by men in the French Resistance as being able to kill a German with her bare hands & in battle equalled five men for aggressive combat skills. And that is factual history.
Tut, tut, King T. I have met plenty of men who had a lower IQ than mine and I would never follow them. More men are criminals and murderers, too.
As for Germany having a woman, Merkel, in power, there are plenty of men around her who side with her communist views. Some of these men are heavy drinkers, which, to my mind, makes them incapable of thinking clearly. They are also communists, a cult that only helps those at the top.
I do like many men, but they are all decent and not the boozers found in the EU or the insanely cruel psychopaths found in the Muslim cult.
“how a Muslim can be progressive and still adhere to it.”
Progressive is not part of the Koran. Regressive is the ONLY thing that the evil book represents. If this idiot female homosexual thinks she will push izslime around like she does Christianity the utter fool has another think coming. There is NO forgiveness, no leeway, no opportunity for dialogue. But hey the pathetic ignorant bitch is getting her freaking mug in all the “news” and thats what she/it really wants anyway. TRUTH be damned!!!!!
Well she looks like a moron and under sharia law she should be thrown off the nearest tall building. If sharia law and Islam is so great why are the filth fleeing their own countries and why hasnt there been peace in the middle east for centuries? Doh youve got to be a complete moron if you cant see the obvious aye. When did the human race get to be so thick
you can start moon forehead
IT should be stoned to death by the Muslims it admires.
I love English. D’s response, REVERSE SHARIA. Particularly, the Benefits Scamer’s Special, the loss of a hand might make you think twice, but if a Muslim Male had several wives, HE would probably go for it. Wives & Hands are replaceable.
Someone else offered that Libtard Hollywood type, Emma Watson, a whack of money if she would spend a week in a mooslim country, with no body guards…{it was a substantial piece of coin…}
I don’t know if she is still running her yap about the wonders of islam, but she hasn’t taken up his offer…the sow bellied, hypocrite bitch, extraordinaire…
{I can’t remember who it is, but a legitimate news person, (?) }
It absolutely boggles my mind just how ignorant and stupid are those that defend this shit.
I was at a social function a few days back, and the subject of the mooslim invasion of Europe came up. It wasn’t the time or place to escalate the discussion, but one fellow there, {a nice person, over 60, and a practising Methodist from the U.S. of A.}, said he has a friend from a country in Africa who is a mooslim, and just a “marvelous person”, and he had known him for decades. They were best pals…
I cocked my head and smiled…and said I would love to meet this fellow for a chat…{which will never happen due to proximity}…
I then asked this fellow, the Methodist, if he had ever read a koran, and he answered no…then I asked him if he knew what the Sunna was, or the Hadith…and, you guessed it, he had never even HEARD of them, and of course, The Reliance of the Traveller was also met with a blank, “what the hell are you referring too”, stare.
After this brief, polite exchange, he dropped the subject…but it goes to show just how blatantly ignorant these people are.
The challenge, if given the opportunity to talk with a mooslim, is to ask them specifically, just how they can rationalize SANELY, all the bullshit they are taught in these hideous books of islam. How do they defend all the crazy hate that is in their manuals…and just watch ’em squirm when the come up against someone who has a pretty good grasp of the shit that is islam.
I like these point counter point posts you do here Bonni ! saves me a lot time pecking away with my middle finger on the key board ! thus leaving myself free to cuss and put that finger to better use mainly waving it in the air at any democrats seen from my front porch going by on the main road
I like that BLR, middle finger freedom. LOL
CNN interview with Katrina.
Guys help me understand.
I am so [email protected]#$% off.
Khan is saying there is no such thing as sharia.
He calls it a “hodgepodge”.
I am beyond baffled.
The CNN puppets just go along with it.
Aggressively too.
Dismissing Katrina like shes a nut job.
I want these guys outed.
Fantastic write up.
I applaud the efforts of BNI !!!
…… and they are surely worth applauding !!
Sally Kohn is a bone head to make her original statement. Logic doesn’t sink in to boneheads. No use. These are the type of people CNN hires. Idiots.
English: Yes! I would love to see that…
We should implement reverse sharia in our infidel nations,
*Moslems must pay infidel tax.
*No Moslem can testify against non Moslems.
*All Moslems must wear easily identifiable Islamic garments,or have a crescent moon tattoed on forehead.
*Any Moslem male sexual behavior towards any non believer,will result in said male being stoned to death in public square.
*All Islamic women must not leave their house unescorted, any woman found to be unescorted, will be stoned to death in public square, any crimes commuted against unescorted women will be unpunishable as Moslem testimonies do not count.
*moslems who commit benefit fraud will have their right hands removed.
*No more Moslem places of worship to be built,and repairs of existing ones is banned.
* Any moslem who criticizes, western culture,religion, politics or any of their host nations will be dragged to the public square and stoned to death.
This is my sharia 2.0
spot on buddy…. circulate that one
English: Yes! I would love to see that…
To bad, English.D, someone on CNN wouldn’t quote your post, verbatim, to those pricks Cooper, Lemon, Cuomo, Tapper, or any of their women announcers.
Then calmly state that CNN is a total disgrace and full of shit…
{If that hideous excuse for a human being, Fareed Zakaria can call Trump a “bullshit artist” on air, he set a precedent for saying the “shit” word…LOL}
Then push their chair back from the desk, rip out their little ear bud, and walk off screen and leave the studio…
NOW THAT…that would be something to see!
Excellent idea. Suitable medicine for murderous people. Very soon they will collapse if implemented.
Eng, I LIKE your sharia 2.0 , great start maybe we could add a few things, like if muz meets non muz on street, muz must bow to the ground 5 times. Muz must bathe twice a day with soap. Mz must not look at non muz without a nice smile on ugly face. …. I can see great potential for 3.0 4.0……. Hell, we could just take the nasty Koran and reverse every murdering hate verse and that would be a good place to start the retraining process.
For me don its more like, if non muzz meets muzz,
Non muzz should SMASH muzz’s head into the ground for him, if it has to be only 5 times, 5 times shoul be enough!
One curb stomp would do it. Jaw wired shut, eating through a straw. Would shut them up for a bit. They should be OK with that. They demonstrated it in refugee camps when they sewed their lips together.
English: Your Sharia 2.0 should be seriously considered given the ridiculous state of the world around us. Especially in Europe right now.