The Shariah Scare Industry and the Clash of Temporalities

Abstract

: Multiple alarms over Islamic law, or shariah, have resounded in the United States during the second decade of the twenty-first century. These alarms perpetuate the notion of a clash of civilizations, pitting Islam versus the West. Instead of discussing the clash of civilizations thesis, however, this article proposes that a clash of temporalities has been constructed by a “shariah scare industry.” Focusing on the Center for Security Policy and Nonie Darwish, this article discloses the shariah scare argument that Muslims and non-Muslims experience time in two contrasting manners, what I call frozen past time and ominous future time.