Michael Nazir-Ali and the Importance of Christian Islam Relations

The big elephant in the middle of the room in many Mideast nations like Egypt, Tunisia, and Yeman is the tension of the Islamic question.  Will all the instability result in the ever dangerous Sharia Law?  Of course we need to define what Sharia law is.  Sharia (way or path) is the law of Islam. It deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexuality, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting.

Several weeks ago, we had the magnificent privilege of hosting the new Visiting Bishop of South Carolina, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali.  Bishop Nazir-Ali was born in Karachi, Pakistan to Christian parents.  His own father was a convert from Islam.  While the good Bishop preached three times during that Sunday, I felt the most powerful talk given that day was during our Sunday morning Tool Time hour at 9:20 am.  It was there he engaged the overflowing Kinloch Room on the topic of Islam and its inherent and real dangers. Please go to our website and listen to his Tool Time talk if you missed it (www.stmichaelschurch.net).
Bishop Nazir-Ali resigned as Bishop of Rochester England to devote the rest of his life to work with Christians in Islamic areas. The following article appeared in London’s Daily Telegraph at the time of his resignation in 2009.

The Resignation of Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is a Victory for Islamism

by Damian Thompson

Michael Nazir-Ali is resigning as Bishop of Rochester. This is terrible news, because it means that the Anglican and Catholic Churches in this country will no longer have a single bishop who grasps the extent of the threat of Islam to civil society.

I used to disapprove of Bishop Nazir-Ali on various grounds. Never have I been more wrong. He is the only incumbent bishop who not only understands the true incompatibility of Sharia law with our ancient common law, but also follows in great detail the incremental changes to the public sector in order to accommodate Islamic religious demands.

Last year, he briefed me on the issue of Sharia-compliant financial products. I could have been listening to an investment banker, so intricate was his analysis of this fast-growing sector. It’s no coincidence that the only Church of England bishop who understands the full implications of domestic Sharia is also the only one properly alarmed by it. Nor is it surprising that he finds it impossible to exercise his office under the leadership of an Archbishop of Canterbury who, shamefully, wishes to afford greater state recognition to Sharia.  How depressing. But the Muslim Council of Britain will be pleased, that’s for sure.