Islam in the Mirror of.. A TV program by the Dutch philosopher Fons Elders who interviews feminist prof.Asma Barlas and prof.Nasr Abu Zayd (starting at 3:40). Hilla is a movie about the wrongness of traditional Sharia. Traditional Islamic law was developed during the early Middle Ages under the influence of corrupted leaders, disputing sects and conflicts between the regimes and the conquered peoples. The Qur'an itself only contains a dozen limits (Hudood) of conduct and with only a few of these, a punishment is given. For other matters, the Qur'an gives basic directions or advices how to handle matters as marriage, divorce, inheritage and conflicts, but due to the interference of traditions that tried to usurp the Qur'an, even the understanding of these directions have been distorted. Sharia itself is thus a product not of the Qur'an, but of oppressive and conflicting forces that existed after Prophet Muhammad. To legitimize this oppressive system as Islamic, false historic stories were written that presented themselves as being from the Prophet and his followers. Although many positive law-systems were created by Muslims that included 'the common benefit' (al-Maslaha al-Mursala), the first concepts of Human Rights and judgement based on intention of the criminal, these positive law-systems were overshadowed by the dominant oppressive law-systems which the corrupt leaders demanded from the judges and scholars. This movie was created by Hassan Mahmud from Bangladesh. A scholar who has written extensively on Sharia and its sources. In it, he tries to show the contradictions and oppressive factors of Sharia. It is not only a call for reform, but for acknowledgement that these laws could never come from a Merciful God. Sharia does not represent the Qur'an or Islam, it only represents the system of an oppressive enviroment which was present in the early Middle Ages. A clear contradiction between traditional Sharia and the Qur'an, is the matter of divorce. By tradition, a man can say Talaq (divorce) three times, and is divorced from his wife without any ritual. The Qur'an demands a three months waiting period before a couple can be divorced, so they can try to reconcile in the mean time. If they do get divorced, the wife must get alimony and the house. This already shows that the Qur'an and traditional Sharia are worlds apart from another. Hilla stands for 'in between' and refers to the law in the Qur'an that if a couple decides to get married and divorced three times, which takes years to do three times, the woman must marry another man and divorce him before the original couple can marry again. This is a preventive measure to make sure the couple take their marriage seriously as the constant divorcing disrupts the family and can psychologically harm the children. Marriage and divorce are serious matters in the Qur'an, with ceremonies, waiting periods, alimonies, conflict resolving by the families etc. Thus marriage and divorce are not subject to the whims of the husband as it is in traditional Sharia, whereby the husband can utter Talaq three times and skip the waiting periods, conflict resolving and any other responsibility. Hilla the movie brilliantly shows the ludicrousy of traditional Sharia law concerning marriage and divorce.  Dr.Fathi Osman Truth about "Jihad and Suicide" Part 1      Dr.Fathi Osman Truth about "Jihad and Suicide" Part 2      Dr.Fathi Osman Truth about "Jihad and Suicide" Part 3      Dr. Fathi Osman. (2007) Sharia, Justice, and Benevolence (part one)      Dr. Fathi Osman. (2007) Sharia, Justice, and Benevolence (part two),      Dr.Fathi Osman Khutbbah: Sharia & Justice Part 3      Dr. Fathi Osman. (2007) Enjoining What is Right (part one)      Dr. Fathi Osman. (2007) Sharia, Justice, and Benevolence (part two),      Dr. Fathi Osman. (2007) Enjoining What is Right (part three)