Archbishop says Sharia 'unavoidable' in UK laws due to influx of Muslims in Britain

LONDON (RNS) — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has triggered a storm of controversy by suggesting that Britain should adopt some aspects of Islam’s tough Sharia law into its legal system.

In a BBC radio interview Feb. 7, Williams said the 1.6 million Muslims now living in Britain make that prospect all but “unavoidable” and that “as a matter of fact, certain conditions of Sharia are already recognized in our society.”

He suggested that parts of Sharia dealing with marital disputes and financial affairs could be incorporated into British law. But he pointedly rejected draconian punishments, such as the public beheading or hanging of murderers and drug traffickers, that are practiced in some Islamic societies.

“Nobody in their right mind, I think, would want to see in this country a kind of inhumanity that sometimes appears to be associated with the practice of law in some Islamic states [with] the extreme punishments, the attitude toward women as well,” he said.