Religious Minorities under Islamic Law and the Limits of Cultural Relativism

Abstract

Non-Muslim minorities within an Islamic state do not enjoy rights equal to those of the Muslim majority. Some apologist Muslim writers have tended to misrepresent Shari'ah, the historical religious law of the Muslims, in order to minimize the seriousness of discrimination against nonMuslims. Such an approach is futile not only because the misrepresentation can easily be exposed, but also because current public opinion is unwilling to tolerate any degree or form of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. On a practical level, although most of the constitutions of modern Muslim states guarantee against religious discrimination, most of these constitutions also authorize the application of Shari'ah. As such, these constitutions sanction discrimination against religious minorities. This is inconsistent with the constitutions' own terms. The existence of such contradictions, and the underlying tensions they reflect, call for urgent and candid discussion of this problem. Moreover, the constitutions of some Muslim countries, such as Iran, have already openly approved of discrimination on grounds of religion.' If the current trend towards what is commonly known as Islamic fundamentalism continues, it may not be long before other Muslim countries follow suit.