ABSTRACT
In the Western imagination, the word "Sharia" triggers images of brutal corporal punishments such as stoning, limb cutting, public lashing and, more generally, systematic discrimination against women. The word "Sharia" has therefore become associated with a sense of clash that is noticeable in the reiteration of narratives about the "Islamization of Europe" and the "failure of multiculturalism" in which demands for accommodation of "Sharia law" are used as the ultimate evidence. In this chapter, the author defines the nature of these practices by giving an empirically grounded account of everyday interactions in various British Sharia councils. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2009 and 2011, the author studies the ethics and values that inform Muslims seeking Islamic justice, as well as the methods used by the British Ulema to guide their clients. By doing so, the author aims to provide a more complex analysis of the ways in which Islamic agency asserts itself through ethical disciplining.
