Brunei Sharia Law: Sultan Announces Island Nation Will Follow Islam’s Rules

For Brunei, Sharia law will begin for the small country in April 2014.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Oklahoma cannot implement anti-Sharia laws although based upon the history of Islam Sharia is unlikely to be implemented in the United States.

The new Sharia laws in Brunei purportedly only applies to the Sunni Muslim majority of the Southeast Asian country. Brunei is on the northwest edge of Borneo island and has one of the richest economies in Asia, thanks to the substantial petroleum and natural gas fields.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, whose family has held the reigns for over 600 years, justified the move of instilling Brunei Shari law based upon hopes of encouraging the influence of Islam within the country:

“It is because of our need that Allah the Almighty, in all his generosity, has created laws for us, so that we can utilize them to obtain justice.”

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has ruled since 1967. There are no elections in Brunei. The sultan’s family has been in power for more than 600 years, including when Brunei became a British protectorate in 1888 and after it gained independence in 1984. Prior to the instatement of Brunei Sharia Law, the country was ruled by British secular laws, with Sharia laws maintained for family court matters.

Brunei’s top Islamic scholar Mufti Awang Abdul Aziz, also weighed in on the move:

“Let us not just look at the hand-cutting or the stoning or the caning (flogging) per se, but let us also look at the conditions governing them. It is not indiscriminate cutting or stoning or caning, there are conditions and there are methods that are just and fair.”

Changes that will be seen in Brunei Sharia law include loss of limbs for theft and stoning to death for adulterers, among many other criminal penalty changes. Muslims make up about two-thirds of the population. Of the 42,000 citizens, only a small number are of other beliefs like Christianity and Buddhism.

What do you think about the Brunei Sharia law change: progress or not?