Sharia law 'unavoidable' in Britain: Archbishop

Sharia law 'unavoidable' in Britain: leader of Anglican church

Thu Feb 7, 12:01 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - The head of the Anglican church said Thursday the adoption of parts of sharia law in Britain looked "unavoidable", calling for "constructive accommodation" over issues like resolving marriage disputes.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, told BBC radio that people should approach Islamic law with an open mind, while stressing there was no place for "extreme punishments" and discrimination against women in Britain.

He conceded some people may be surprised by his comments but underlined the importance of making all communities in Britain "part of the public process" in order to limit any oppression.

The issue of Muslim integration has been particularly sensitive here since the 2005 bombings in London in which four young British Muslims killed themselves and 52 others on the public transport system.

"There is a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law as we already do with aspects of other kinds of religious law," he said.Williams went on to say it would be "quite wrong" to sanction a system which gave people no right of appeal.

"But there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we understand them."

He added: "It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of sharia are already recognised in our society".

Williams called on people to look at sharia "with a clear eye" and not imagine, either, that we know exactly what we mean by sharia and just associate it with... Saudi Arabia or whatever.

"Nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that has sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states: the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women."

Williams, whose comments come ahead of a lecture he is due to give Thursday night entitled "Islam In English Law", has consistently called for Christian and Muslim leaders to work together. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080207/wl_af...aw_080207170103