EWTN News explains: What’s the difference between canon law and sharia law?
Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed generated controversy in August of this year when he made a pointed comparison to Islamic sharia law and Catholic canon law.
El-Sayed was responding to a question from Fox News host Jesse Watters about 2022 remarks in which El-Sayed appeared to equate opposition to sharia law with “white supremacy.” The Senate candidate said he wishes to “practice my faith as I choose.”
“Nobody is trying to push sharia law on anyone else,” he said. “Just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else, because we live in America, where you should have the freedom of your religion.”
El-Sayed brought the comparison up again during a campaign town hall in Muskegon, Michigan, telling a voter that the Constitution protects the right to live by canon law while barring anyone from enforcing it on others.
The remarks have generated controversy for El-Sayed’s apparent equation of sharia law to canon law — two disparate forms of socio-ecclesial governance that help govern the lives of billions of religious adherents worldwide.
Sharia law vs. canon law Sharia law, which governs Islamic religious practice along with family…
