European and American experts say changing Malta's divorce ban would show weakness to radical Muslims, who could capitalize on the island's drift toward secularism to push for Islamic laws, the US-based Catholic News Agency reported today.
"Forced secularism is a gift to the radical Muslims," Stephen Schwartz, a U.S. author and researcher on the Islamic world was quoted as saying. "They have the perspective that confusion and secularization is good among the Christians."
"Everybody has reason to be worried about radical Islam, and this is an issue of radical Islam," said Schwartz, founder of the Washington-based Center for Islamic Pluralism. "My opinion is: Malta should not change its divorce laws."
Schwartzargued that 'de-Christianizing' Malta's laws could give Islamic extremists a foothold to agitate for the practice of Islamic law.
"The moderate would say, 'Let Malta be Malta – don't change the divorce law,'" he stated. On the other hand, "a radical would see as much confusion as possible among the non-Muslims as good for the Muslims."
Schwartz, who belongs to the moderate Hanafi school of Islam, believes that preachers from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia may be planning to spread radical Islam in Malta — under the guise of helping Libyan and Tunisian refugees.
"If you had an influx of poor refugees from Tunisia and Libya [into Malta], the Pakistanis would be in there – swooping down like hawks,using 'aid money' as a pretext," he warned.
"Radical preaching of Islam is going to be a serious problem in Malta," Schwartz stressed. "The refugee population will be vulnerable to radical preachers."
Schwartz's concerns are echoed by a leading European expert on culture and religion.
"The idea that Muslims in Malta may benefit from the divorce law is not among the main topics on the agenda," said Massimo Introvigne, founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions in Turin, Italy. "Nonetheless, some portions of the Muslim community are quite quick in taking advantage of legal innovations which have nothing to do with Islam."
Introvigne said radical Muslims had already taken advantage of liberalizing trends in other European countries to push for a recognition of Sharia law.
He pointed to a case several years ago in the European Court of Human Rights. Muslim organizations petitioned the court to recognize polygamy in the United Kingdom, arguing that laws against the practice violated their religious liberty.
At the time, the UK had not yet introduced its same-sex "civil partnerships," and the Muslim organizations lost their case.
However, same-sex partnerships have since been legalized in the UK, so the Muslims are once more pursuing their claim. "That time, we lost the case because it was said that in the UK there is traditionally only one form of marriage. But now that there are two, with the inclusion of same-sex marriage, why not three?"
A similar situation could follow for Malta, if it chooses to permit divorce, Introvigne said.
"Some Muslim organizations may eventually take advantage of this for recognizing the practice of 'repudiating' women, which prevails under Islamic law." The practices involves automatic divorce, by a husband's decree.
"I'm personally very much against the referendum on divorce in Malta, and I feel very strongly in favor of those who resist it," Introvigne said. "I see the merit of those who are afraid that recognizing divorce in Malta may open the way for Islamic divorce."
Introvigne said that Europe has followed a pattern of first legalizing divorce, then abortion, then same-sex marriage. Eventually, countries have no grounds to object when radical Muslims push for the practice of Sharia law as a form of legal "diversity." That idea has already met with approval in some places in the UK and Australia.
Full story at
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/if-malta-votes-divorce-some-fear-the-winner-will-be-radical-islam/