"THE SHARIA", FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND EUROPEAN HUMAN-RIGHTS LAW

Abstract

Freedom of religion and the rights of religious communities are subjects that, throughout human history, have been sources of profound disagreement and conflict. While the legal and constitutional debacles continue to be faced at a global level, religious freedom within Europe and the place of Islam within Europe are of particular contemporary interest. Amidst the wider debate of the 'war on terror', and the so-called 'clash of civilisations' the position of Muslims and compatibility of Sharia with European human-rights values has been a debate that is intense and extremely controversial. The present paper, as its title indicates, examines the complicated affair of the role and influence of Islam within Europe, and in so doing challenges many of the stereotypical arguments and myths about the Muslim faith. The first section of this paper provides an overview of the developmental norms relating to freedom of religion in the European context. The second section examines the role and contributions of Islam and Muslims to freedom of religion in Europe. The third section, while assessing the jurisprudence of European human-rights institutions, highlights the rather insular and inward-looking approach adopted by the European Court of Human Rights towards Islam. In order to provide an essential focus for the paper, it was considered appropriate to have a case-study from the United Kingdom, a country with a historic yet highly complex relationship with Islam and Muslim minorities. This is presented in section four. The final section of the paper offers a number of concluding reflections.