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Why it's not enough to counter fear of 'Sharia law' by insisting Islam is 'feminist'

Ruby Hamad

When it comes to Islam, independent senator Jacqui Lambie is actually right about one thing, but it's not what she thinks it is.

The heated altercation between Lambie and Muslim youth advocate Yassmin Abdel-Magied on Monday's Q&A; program didn't come entirely as a surprise. The more the likes of Lambie lash out at Australian Muslims due to their fear of the way Islam is practised and enforced overseas, the more pressure and pain Muslims here feel to defend their faith and humanity in the face of those who are determined to deprive them of both.

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Q&A;: Lambie ignites fiery exchange

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie took on seemingly every other panellist during a heated discussion that ranged from childcare to sharia law. Vision: ABC TV

It's unreasonable to expect any member of a marginalised group to maintain a level head and a calm tone when being told they should be deported for practising their faith. Admonishing them not "to shout at each other," as host Tony Jones did, and to hold both women accountable for expressing their opposing views in an "appalling" "shouting match" as some quarters of the media later did, is not only unfair given the unevenness of the playing field, it ensures that such interactions will never develop beyond superficial arguments.

The question is not whether Islam as a faith system is compatible with "western values" – it is. We know this by the fact that devout Muslims have been living in the west for centuries. But what progress can we hope to make when it is clear that "Sharia law" means something completely different to Muslims and to non-Muslims?

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It is clear to me that when Lambie talks of "Sharia law" she is referring to the regressive dogma enforced in the criminal codes of some Muslim-majority countries, while to liberal Muslims like Abdel-Magied, Sharia is about private, personal ethics.

It shouldn't be that difficult to make a distinction between the two and it could be as simple as qualifying the difference between criminal Sharia law, or hudud, and the private moral code.

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As long as we fail to make this simple but vital distinction, Muslims will continue to be demonised and the real issue will continue to be missed.

That issue is the very real discrepancy between how Islam is practised in places that (for now anyway) enshrine freedom of the religion within the context of civil law, and the way it is enforced in many Muslim-majority countries, where criminal Sharia law is used as a pretext for control over the masses.

What accounts for this discrepancy? Abdel-Magied puts it down to culture and politics, claiming the subjugation of women is a result of patriarchy, not Islam, because as she sees it, "Islam is the most feminist religion."

That Islam is feminist may be true in theory, and in the context of when Islam was formed. Unfortunately though, the interpretation of Islam increasingly followed in many parts of the world means this is simply not the case anymore.

This has to be acknowledged because, although we can argue theology all day, concerned and fearful non-Muslims are not looking at the theory or history of Islam – they are looking at the law in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran and Pakistan, all of which claim to be Islamic, and they use this as a basis to attack Islam as a faith. As such, the status of women in these countries makes any claim to feminism easy for critics to dismiss as near-delusion.

Religion is not separate from culture. It changes, modifies, and in some cases regresses as the culture does. And there is no doubt that mainstream Islam is regressing in a world where Saudi Arabian Wahhabism is fast becoming the accepted mainstream version of Islam. This isn't just about the specific culture in that part of the world, but about the dissemination of this particular culture's interpretation of the religion.

Muslims can't afford to deny there is a problem here. Regressive applications of Islamic law are spreading across the Muslim world as more turn to these unforgiving interpretations, from Aceh in Indonesia to Brunei to parts of rebel-held Syria.

To think that this interpretation cannot spread here in one form or another is disingenuous; we see it happening, for example, when Islamic conferences issue promotional posters with female speakers replaced with shadowy figures. And while that particular insult to women was swiftly rectified when the Muslim community loudly demanded the poster be changed, it doesn't mean the underlying problem has been addressed.

Does this mean that Lambie is right? Of course not. There is no chance of criminal Sharia being introduced here. But there is a danger that the practice of Islam may become more fundamentalist as more people accept this interpretation, which consolidates the application of Islam in Muslim-majority countries.

It also means that arguments over faith versus culture are moot. As are those over whether Sharia conflicts with Australian law. Clearly, criminal Sharia does, whereas the personal moral code does not.

But as long as we argue over these semantics, we will not address the pressing question over which interpretation of Islam will win. That of liberal Muslims like Abdel-Magied, for whom Sharia is a personal matter? Or that of the one Lambie fears, where Muslims are subject to crude and draconian criminal law?

Muslims need to assert their right to be and practise their religion, but we also must admit it is getting harder to hold on to this feminist vision of the religion that Yassmin clings to.

There is a battle for the soul of Islam. And it is vital that Muslims acknowledge the dangers – and equally vital that the likes of Lambie accept that in this battle liberal Muslims are not the enemy. They are the key to Islam's future and the hope that it can once regain the progressive nature that made it so appealing to early Muslim women who flocked to hear and accept the prophet's radical revelations.

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