INVESTIGATING ISLAM

Part 7: Sharia Today

Brutality Survives in the Modern World

Think Sharia is a dusty relic, an academic curiosity, or just a distant historical footnote?

Think again.

In 2025, Sharia law isn’t some theoretical construct locked away in dusty manuscripts — it’s enforced every day, on living bodies, across multiple nations. People are flogged, amputated, stoned, and executed in the name of Sharia. Women are enslaved, dissenters are silenced, and minorities are terrorized — all under legal systems that claim divine authority.

This post peels back the sanitized PR facade to reveal the raw, bloody reality of modern Sharia enforcement — from Saudi Arabia’s death courts to Iran’s morality police, from Afghanistan’s Taliban rule to Nigeria’s extremist jihadi fiefdoms. No sugar-coating, no excuses — just cold, unvarnished facts.

⚔️ Saudi Arabia: The Global Poster Child of Sharia Brutality

Saudi Arabia brands itself as Islam’s spiritual heart, but its legal system is a 21st-century nightmare of medieval punishments.

Amputations: According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi courts routinely order amputations for theft — not hypothetical, but actually carried out with public spectacle.
Stonings: While stoning is “rare,” it remains legally codified for adultery and apostasy.
Executions: Over 100 executions annually, many for non-violent “crimes” such as sorcery, apostasy, and dissent.
Women’s Rights: Guardianship laws restrict women’s autonomy, trapping them under male control — a legal form of domestic slavery.
Religious Police: The Mutawa patrols enforce dress codes, segregation, and public prayer attendance under threat of arrest and violence.

Saudi Arabia isn’t a democracy — it’s a theocracy with the death penalty on tap, enforcing Sharia like a blunt instrument of control.

⚡ Iran: Theocracy’s Guillotine

Iran’s Islamic Republic enforces Sharia with ruthless precision:

Public Executions: Hundreds executed yearly — for murder, drug offenses, but also apostasy, blasphemy, and “enmity against God.”
Amputations and Floggings: Common punishments for theft, adultery, and political dissent.
Morality Police: The Gasht-e Ershad arrests women for “improper hijab” or mingling with men, meting out fines, jail, or lashings.
Political Repression: Charges of “insulting the Prophet” or “spreading corruption on earth” serve as tools to silence journalists, activists, and minorities.
LGBTQ+ Executions: Same-sex relations are criminalized with death sentences.

Iran’s Sharia is not theory — it’s a functioning, brutal legal system with blood on its hands every week.

🕊️ Afghanistan: Taliban’s Return to Sharia Terror

Since 2021, the Taliban have restored their strict interpretation of Sharia:

Public Executions and Floggings: Anyone accused of “moral crimes” or dissent faces swift, brutal punishment.
Women’s Rights: Girls barred from secondary education, women banned from most jobs, forced to wear burqas under threat of violence.
Religious Police: The Taliban’s hisbah enforce dress codes, prayer attendance, and gender segregation with beatings and imprisonment.
Death for Apostasy and Blasphemy: Reports confirm executions for alleged apostates or critics.

Afghanistan’s Sharia regime isn’t just a historical throwback — it’s a living nightmare for millions.

🕌 Pakistan: Blasphemy Laws as a Death Sentence

Pakistan wields Sharia-based blasphemy laws as weapons against minorities and dissenters:

Section 295-C: Mandates death or life imprisonment for insulting Muhammad.
Mob Violence: Accusations often spark lynch mobs, vigilante killings, and church burnings — frequently with official complicity.
Targeting Minorities: Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus are frequent victims.
Legal Abuse: Courts rarely acquit accused blasphemers; acquittals can lead to threats and violence.

Pakistan’s legal Sharia kills with impunity — both in courtrooms and on the streets.

🌍 Nigeria: Sharia Meets Jihadist Terror

Northern Nigeria enforces Sharia alongside brutal jihadist insurgencies:

Sharia Criminal Courts: Amputations, floggings, and stonings remain common under state laws.
Boko Haram: Islamist militants cite Sharia to justify kidnappings, massacres, and sex slavery.
Religious Persecution: Christians face violence under Sharia-dominated local governments.

Sharia’s fusion with violent extremism has created a humanitarian disaster zone.

🏝️ Brunei and Other Gulf States: Quiet Enforcers

Brunei shocked the world in 2019 by introducing Sharia punishments including death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality — a global outcry paused but did not reverse enforcement plans.

Smaller Gulf states like Qatar and the UAE also enforce Sharia laws limiting freedom of speech, religion, and women’s rights — often behind a veil of “moderation.”

🧩 Common Themes in Modern Sharia Enforcement

Cruel Punishments: Amputations, flogging, stoning, death by beheading or hanging.
Legalized Oppression of Women: Guardianship laws, dress codes, restricted freedoms.
Criminalization of Thought and Expression: Apostasy, blasphemy, and dissent punishable by death or imprisonment.
Religious Police Forces: State-backed enforcers who patrol morality and religious observance.
Targeting Minorities: Christians, Jews, atheists, LGBTQ+ individuals suffer systemic violence.

💣 Logical Reality Check: Modern Sharia Is Brutal and Unreformable

Premise 1: Legal systems that sanction torture, death, and oppression violate basic human rights.

Premise 2: Modern Sharia states enforce such punishments daily.

Conclusion: Sharia law, as practiced, is incompatible with human dignity and freedom.

No amount of euphemism or “cultural relativism” changes the fact that Sharia today is violence encoded in law.

💥 Final Verdict: Sharia’s Brutality Is No Ancient History

Sharia’s legacy is not dusty texts — it’s limbs lost, lives taken, and freedoms crushed in the 21st century.

Until this system is rejected wholesale, millions will suffer under its iron fist — in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brunei, and beyond.

If you think Sharia is “just a religion” or “only spiritual,” look at the blood on its hands today and decide.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This post critiques Islam as an ideology, doctrine, and historical system — not Muslims as individuals. Every human deserves dignity. Systems that enshrine brutality do not.

📚 Sources & Documentation

Human Rights Watch – Reports on Saudi amputations, executions, morality police
Amnesty International – Iran executions and flogging reports
United Nations – Pakistan blasphemy law abuses
BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters – Taliban human rights abuses since 2021
Nigeria Security Tracker – Boko Haram and Sharia court violence
Global Freedom Tracker – Reports on Sharia enforcement worldwide
Brunei Government Official Statements – On Sharia penal code rollout
The Guardian – Women’s rights under Saudi guardianship system
UN Human Rights Council – Reports on religious minorities and Sharia law
Middle East Eye – Coverage on religious police and enforcement in Gulf states