Demystifying Shariah

What It Is, How It Works, and Why It's Not Taking Over Our Country

By: Sumbul Ali-Karamali

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A direct counterpoint to fearmongering headlines about shariah law - a Muslim American legal expert tells the real story, eliminating stereotypes and assumptions with compassion, irony, and humor.

Through scare tactics and deliberate misinformation campaigns, anti-Muslim propagandists insist wrongly that shariah is a draconian and oppressive Islamic law that all Muslims must abide by. They circulate horror stories, encouraging Americans to fear the "takeover of shariah" law in America and even mounting "anti-shariah protests"...with zero evidence that shariah has taken over any part of our country. (That's because it hasn't.) It would be almost funny if it weren't so terrifyingly wrong - as puzzling as if Americans suddenly began protesting the Martian occupation of Earth.

Demystifying Shariah explains that shariah is not one set of punitive rules or even law the way we think of law - rigid and enforceable - but religious rules and recommendations that provide Muslims with guidance in various aspects of life. Sumbul Ali-Karamali draws on scholarship and her degree in Islamic law to explain shariah in an accessible, engaging narrative style - its various meanings, how it developed, and how the shariah-based legal system operated for over a thousand years. She explains what shariah means not only in the abstract but in the daily lives of Muslims. She discusses modern calls for shariah, what they mean, and whether shariah is the law of the land anywhere in the world. She also describes the key lies and misunderstandings about shariah circulating in our public discourse, and why so many of them are nonsensical.

This engaging guide is intended to introduce you to the basic principles, goals, and general development of shariah and to answer questions like: How do Muslims engage with shariah? What does shariah have to do with our Constitution? What does shariah have to do with the way the world looks like today? And why do we all - Muslims or not - need to care?

©2020 Sumbul Ali-Karamali (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Taking something as complex as the Sharia and exploring it succinctly, lucidly, and without oversimplification is where this book excels. Well-suited - and highly recommended - for general readers (both Muslim and non-Muslim) with an interest in Sharia.” (Booklist, starred review)

“With clarity and wit, [Ali-Karamali] describes shariah’s origins, central texts, methodologies, and schools of thought, exploring something that was never a code of law, but rather a system of interpretation designed to evolve and be flexible ... This is a remarkably nuanced and thought-provoking history.” (Publishers Weekly)

"Refreshingly, she shies away from giving a simple definition, instead characterizing Shariah as a broad and in some ways all-encompassing system of Islamic wisdom...Ali-Karamali’s explanation of Shariah is a useful counter to the perceptions of many in the West.... Her book is significant in a time of continued misconceptions about Islam." (Kirkus Reviews)

The Gateway to combat prejudice

Brilliant book, it has reconfirmed what I saw in Islam little other half a decade ago, that it is, at its core, a tolerant and beautiful Religion. It brought to light the reasons for current situation of the Religion and Sharia, and the frustration of our current media's vilification of a Religion that has been targeted for hate for ages. If you want to know what True Islam is, this is the best start to such a journey.