Comment On- Sex and marriage - things you didn't know about Sharia

Faith Central - Times Online - WBLG: Sex and marriage - things you didn't know about Sharia

Reading these comments, I am struck by the common denominator, which goes beyond cultures. This is in the fact that all the people speaking are doing so in attempts to improve the human rights situation. The cases where people are abused or neglected, especially women, the 'fairer sex' are seen as the most exploitative.

Each legal system, in terms of their fair-minded proponents, evolved to do just that. The relative ease of divorce in the West is seen as a guarantee of women's safety, a kind of 'right to veto' the marriage. Yet, there is still abuse of women, when men feel insecure or threatened. In the Islamic model, divorce is harder, but there is pressure to provide for multiple wives and treat them equally. Whether this is really possible or not is hard to know, but it seems to be a solution to the same problem- in which the ideal of monogamy is hard to fully live up to.

In each culture, there is the idea that a man who plays around is 'a stud' and a woman who does so is 'a slut'. This is pretty widespread as a notion- in a post-feminist world, this needs to be questioned and it seems to be based around biological assumptions of the male as more the 'hunter', which may or may not be true.

The answer to this is, variously, multiple marriage or serial monogamy. Man is unable to be faithful to the monogamous ideals. We face the great gap between reality and ideals- surely this is an essential part of the human condition.

To simply import the legal system that has evolved under the name of 'sharia' would be horrendous. Partly because in the areas of personal freedom, freedom of religion, freedom for women, it is light-years behind the western ideals. but in the areas of family relationships, respect for the bonds of mothers and their children, I suggest that, whilst importing may be a bad idea, there are lessons to be learnt.

Why do I say this? Because at this juncture in time the Western countries really do have terrible social problems- problems with broken families, delinquent youths, street gangs, drugs, abusive employers, poverty, crime. how can anyone in good conscious deny these failings, or the moral decline that has lead to them. People are losing their sense of community responsibility and caring for one another. The deification of profit (mammon) that capitalism teaches has been allowed to spread from the free-market into areas where it no longer belongs.

Whilst I am firmly against the specter of introducing Sharia laws because of their human rights failings, I am very much in favour of the West learning from Asia's close family structures and the sense of community to be found there, whilst the Eastern countries learn Western technology and of the respect for individual rights.

We need to learn from one another and try and make a peaceful place, whilst also guarding the evolution of the UK's own 'common law' for all. Attitudes should be the focus, as should education. This, to my mind, is the progressive path.