Guest column

Let’s keep Sharia law out of God’s nation

By Klodette Stroh
Posted 3/12/20

Childhood memories take me back to when my sister and I loved to go to our grandmother Yomi’s house on Fridays after school. We watched “Andy Griffith” and “Bonanza” …

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Guest column

Let’s keep Sharia law out of God’s nation

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Childhood memories take me back to when my sister and I loved to go to our grandmother Yomi’s house on Fridays after school. We watched “Andy Griffith” and “Bonanza” with my Uncle Georgy. It wasn’t translated to Persian, but my uncle would do his best to translate it. We spoke our mother language Aramaic at home, and studied Farsi or Persian at school.

My mother used to say that my sister and I would learn other languages, but Aramaic is the language that our Lord spoke and would be very valuable in our life. As a third-grader, I wondered what my mother meant, but today I fully understand the treasure our parents gave us.

Meshikhaye is the Aramaic word for Christian people, with very deep meaning. Meshikha means oil which is used for anointing throughout the scripture. In Aramaic, Jesus Christ’s name is Eashoa Msheekha Broonet Allah, which translates to Jesus Christ anointed son of God. As we are baptized with oil (Meshikha) and water we receive the privilege of becoming children of God. It is a privilege for us to be God’s children because it shows how much he loves every one of us.

The greatest leader the human race has ever seen and will ever see is Jesus Christ, the only son of the living God. Out of love, he healed people physically and spiritually. Most of all, Jesus was a great teacher and was called Rabbi, which in Hebrew and Aramaic means teacher. He taught people by telling stories relating to their daily life to teach them about his father and his love for all of us. I believe the Holy Spirit will dwell in any good leader who follows Jesus’s example.

As I read through the pages of America’s history, the Founding Fathers of my beloved country were all Meshikhaye (Christian) immigrants from England to America because they saw unkind and corrupt leaders who had fallen away from God’s laws.

This country was at very young stages of development when the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence. My favorite paragraph is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The newly independent states believed God would protect them in their venture to establish a just government.

My mother always said God’s favor is with people who follow his laws, and that is quite evident in our blessed America. The Founding Fathers established one nation under God and still today we see the results of their faith in God. 

It weighs heavy on my mind to hear some of our lawmakers talking about Prophet Muhammad’s book of law. I am quite familiar with Sharia law as I learned about it in Iran.

Growing up in Iran, we were taught to be respectful to Islam believers because as Christians we represented Eashoa Msheekha, or Jesus, and we had to be good examples of our Christian beliefs. At school we studied Islam’s history and beliefs.

Islam started in Arab nations that are descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael. In the book of Genesis, father Abraham and Sarah couldn’t have a child of their own. Abraham had a child with Hagar, who was Sarah’s maid, thinking they would fulfill God’s promise. Hagar had a son, Ishmael. However, it was not through human intercession to fulfill God’s plan of salvation.

God revealed his plan by blessing Abraham and Sarah with a son in their old age. They named him Isaac, and from Isaac came Jacob or Israel, and from Israel came Judah. From Judah’s bloodline is Jesus the savior.

Upon Sarah’s request, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. God still blessed Ishmael, as he had promised Abraham, and Ishmael became the chieftain of 12 tribes, which are known as the Arab nations where Islam was born.

Prophet Muhammad was a Quraysh from the clan of Hashim tribes of Ishmael. His birth story is similar to Mother Mary and Jesus. When Muhammad’s mother was pregnant, she heard a voice say: “You carry in your womb the lord of this people [Arab tribes], and when he is born, say: ‘I place him beneath the protection of the one, from the evil of every envious person,’ then name him Muhammad.” When Muhammad became a ‘prophet’ of his people, he wrote the Sharia law.

Sharia law is used to govern the lives of Muslims. These laws have been derived from multiple sources, including the Muslim holy book known as the Qur’an and the sayings of the prophet Muhammad. Under Sharia law, all human actions are regulated and categorized as obligatory, recommended, disliked or permitted. Most actions are categorized as permitted, which means that they are not encouraged or discouraged. Sharia law applies to all aspects of life, including public behavior, private behavior and even personal beliefs. 

Sharia law is creeping into some of our communities and it is a bit disturbing because Sharia law can be extremely brutal and rigid. 

I don’t believe that the Founding Fathers’ dream for this country was to have brutal, rigid, unaccepting laws that dictate every aspect of life in the United States. 

The Founding Fathers followed the greatest leader of all time, Jesus, as they said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”

Christianity is the foundation for democracy that this country was built on and it is the reason this country has favor with God. In God we trust is our faith, so let’s keep Sharia law out of our communities and government.

 

(Klodette Stroh was born and raised in the Middle East. She is an Assyrian and a cradle Catholic.)

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