In my public lectures, I often point out the difference between enacted laws and de facto laws. For example, the de facto law says “normal boys are forbidden to have affairs with girls from Muslim families.” It hasn’t been voted on by parliament, it hasn’t appeared on the statute book, but it’s still in force. It was declared by the Muslim community and whoever breaks it will be punished. Like ending up in hospital with a knife in your stomach and being very lucky to have survived.Like what happened recently to a young man in Paris called Sebastien. Another factual law says that if you are a teacher, you must not say anything in class that some affectionate Muslim teenager might interpret as an insult. The stipulated punishment is beheading. Again, this is a law that has not been passed by parliament and yet it is in force. Everybody knows it and everybody respects it.
Another factual law says that if you are a teacher, you must not say anything in class that some affectionate Muslim teenager might interpret as an insult.
Traditionally, Europeans have been used to a single factual law. It was “there is a certain group of very rich and influential people to whom the ordinary laws do not apply.” It annoyed us, but as long as the group was very small, we could live with it. The actual implementation of Muslim Sharia law is something else entirely.
