The modalities of applying sharia in the West (with the Netherlands as case study)

Abstract

The on-going dialectic of Muslim desires regarding the rules of Islam ('Sharia'), followed by Western responses and, in turn, Muslim counter-responses, is what creates the dynamic that makes up ‘Sharia in the West’. This article discusses the third tier of the Sharia-dialectic, that is the manners in which Muslims respond (in terms of Sharia) to the Western responses regarding Sharia. It will be shown that the Muslim responses are quite diverse and at time squite innovative. This sheds a new light on our understanding of 'Sharia'.