Shari'a and Militancy

A must-read on Sharia and political Islam. Johnson relies on the latest Gallup poll 2008 results which indicates a new understanding of how Muslims view Shari'a, not as a corpus of legal codes promoting theocracy, but good governance. Shari'a has become a manifesto for liberating Muslims from corrupt governments. The challenge remains in chaotic regions, where there is a power vacuum, such as Northwestern Pakistan and Somalia, where tribal leaders have perverted Quranic and Hadithic texts to suit their fossilized view of the religion.