The Sharia: How it affects you
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter Gulf News
You could be sharing an apartment with a friend of the opposite sex. And the arrangement could be innocent, purely for financial reasons. But in the eyes of Sharia law you are committing an offence. More and more people are being punished because they claim they were unaware of the law and its clauses. There are hundreds of cases such as these that emerge each year either from the police or the courts. An increasing number of men and women, who are not blood relatives nor legally married, and have shared a flat, room or even sat in tinted cars, are being jailed and deported, a lawyer said. These men and women have shared no relationship. Dr Adel Khamis Al Mimari from Al Itazan Consultant and Advocates said they are being punished in accordance with Sharia law. The clause is known as "Tawajed" or "Tahseen Al Ma'asiya". These couples have been punished under this clause: sharing a closed place and encouraging sin even though they shared no relationship. He told Gulf News: "The bottom line is awareness. Many foreigners are not familiar with Sharia law and hence they are punished. If these couples go unnoticed, then there is no trouble. But if the authorities for some reason or another know they are sharing a ?closed space' they can be punished. This is the law."