From the Middle East, Islamic Law Enforcers Are Now Patrolling Europe
Fears of "Sharia Police" making their way to the West emerged after ultra-conservative Muslim men were seen patrolling the streets of European cities. The vigilantes are being likened to the Mutaween, the notorious religious police of some Islamic states that enforce the strict implementation of Sharia law.
In Europe, the "Muslim patrols" target immigrant women from Islamic countries who have adopted Western lifestyles. Such patrols are evident in Germany where 36,000 immigrants from the Muslim-majority Russian state of Chechnya have arrived over the past five years.
Last March, a video of an armed man in a hood circulated, warning Chechen women and gays who "do unspeakable things." Having sworn to the Quran, they go out to the streets after those "who flirt with men of other ethnic groups and marry them" and "Chechen women who have chosen the wrong path."
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A Muslim woman had an unpleasant personal experience when the group savagely mauled a non-Chechen man she was walking with down the street. "Why does my private life concern [them] at all?" she asked. "I don't know them. I don't want to. I'm not their sister or daughter. My private life is no one else's business," the woman added.
The vigilantes were obviously emboldened by a court ruling late last year, clearing a group of men of wrongdoing for patrolling the streets with the words "Sharia Police" emblazoned on their orange vests. It added that the vigilante patrol was a simple exercise of "freedom of speech."
Daniel Akbari, a former Sharia defense lawyer, explained the nature of these groups and the motivation it gives its members. What they do, he said, adheres to the three basic mechanisms for spreading Islam, namely, proselytizing, jihad and the enforcement of Sharia.
For Muslims, Sharia can be enforced both privately and collectively. What the "Sharia Police" are doing is to enforce it privately as they assume they have control of the neighborhoods. The Sharia mission is supposed to be implemented by phases, but the vigilantes apparently couldn't wait.
