In Europe and the United States, discussions of Sharia law have become central to the current debates about Muslim integration. Although these debates are often presented as unprecedented, at the turn of the twentieth century the civil legal systems of Western Europe and the United States grappled considerably with the notion of legal pluralism, the nature of the relationship between religion and the state, and the legal status of religious minorities. Just as we are seeing in the contemporary Muslim case, the religious traditions of Jewish immigrants were perceived as setting them apart from the rest of society, and Jews' relationship to civil law became a test for determining their fitness for citizenship.

Read More...