Sharia in Canada

As I was watching the film Sharia, I couldn’t help but to notice the large amounts of contradictions of the multiculturalism-ness in Canada. As discussed in class, this film has a very bias view on Sharia in which the notion of Sharia Law was confusing until we heard the background of it being brought into Canada for arbitrations in family court. I felt that the filmmaker’s opinions were clearly expressed in the film by the means of the characters shown. Nonetheless, this documentary raises a central question: what is the opinion of those most concerned, the Muslims women, since according to Sharia law, women generally remain under the legal authority of their fathers, brothers or husbands. Every speaker was primarily against Sharia and agreed that it did oppress women, but having the opportunity to take a longer time to reflect upon the film I believe that the message of the filmmaker was not about Islam but about the way that Sharia oppresses women and that it is more of a cultural notion that varies from countries to countries and regions to regions. The film sent mixed messages to the class and to myself, at first I thought that Sharia was from the Quran, that the prophet Mohammed imposed this amongst his people. But in watching the film, I learned that Sharia was inspired from the Quran by men and was an awful law in trying to keep women subordinate by oppressing them and ultimately it is the Muslim women end up getting mistreated. This is why I can see how the film maker showed that women and feminists argue against this. In Muslim communities (according to the film) often the only people a woman knows is her family and other members of the Muslim community. If this is factual (which I do believe it is in some places in Canada) should she not want to participate in a Sharia-based arbitration, she could end up being shunned by her family, her friends, and her mosque. So when both parties consent there's a hidden motivation for the woman to consent to a...