A court in Vienna has caused a storm after confirming that a financial ruling based on Islamic law, or Sharia, is legally valid in Austria.
Critics say the judgment opens the door to “parallel justice” and undermines the country’s legal system.
The case began when two Muslim men agreed that any disputes between them would be settled by an Islamic arbitration panel using Sharia rules.
When a disagreement arose, the tribunal ordered one of them to pay €320,000. He refused, arguing that Sharia is open to different interpretations and goes against Austria’s core values.
But the Vienna Regional Court dismissed his appeal. Judges said Austrian law allows people to choose arbitration systems for financial and property disputes, as long as the result does not break Austria’s “fundamental legal values.”
The court added that it was not its role to examine whether Sharia itself was fair, but only whether the outcome contradicted Austrian law.
The ruling has sparked fierce criticism. Manfred Haimbuchner, deputy governor of Upper Austria and a leading figure in the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), warned:
Sharia is incompatible with our basic values. This is another example of our legal system being powerless against the creeping influence of Islam.
He pointed out that Sharia includes punishments such as stoning and allows the beating of women, saying: “It can never be reconciled with our understanding of law.”
Another FPÖ politician, Andreas Bors, called the ruling “absolute madness” and said:
Austria is a Christian and Western state under the rule of law. That rule of law must never be undermined by parallel justice or religious legal systems such as Sharia.
Even the Turkish Cultural Association (TKG) expressed concern. In a statement, it said the ruling violated EU treaties, and it pointed to a 2003 decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Sharia is incompatible with human rights law.
The group argued the Vienna decision could lead to “a strong interference in today’s secular economy, and tomorrow in rules for trade, sales, and services.”
Commentators in Austrian media have warned that the case could set a dangerous precedent.
The conservative outlet Exxpress called it a “grotesque” symptom of the EU’s failed migration policies, and said the judgment sends the wrong signal about integration. “Austria is not an Islamic state,” the outlet wrote, warning that allowing Sharia in contracts undermines trust in democracy and the rule of law.
Although the court said its decision only applies to property disputes, opponents fear it will encourage the wider use of Sharia-based agreements in Austria.
🇨🇴✔️🇺🇸 — 🇻🇪 The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, officially acknowledges that the United States bombed an ELN factory in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and contradicts Nicolás Maduro, who denies that this happened:
“It turns out that many boats attacked with missiles, as is happening in the seizures we carry out in Colombia or, with our help, outside Colombia, were not carrying cocaine but cannabis.
A paradoxical problem: in the U.S., in many places it is legal. And the Colombian Congress should not have allowed its illegality; it was lost by one vote. That vote has taken the lives of many humble boatmen, and not of a single U.S. consumer or consumer anywhere in the world. Trump is completely wrong. Cocaine to Europe is moving by submarine and container. Cannabis is what is being illegitimately attacked.
The ELN in Catatumbo, and the 33rd Front, must decide whether they are going to compete for cocaine or for Peace. Only about 5% of the cocaine produced in Colombia passes through ...
Farmer Girl:
It is very early. The kind of early where grief still hasn’t had its coffee and hope is absolutely not scheduled yet. The women go to the tomb carrying spices because when someone you love dies, you do the next right thing. You don’t expect miracles. You expect maintenance. You expect a body. You expect final.
They do not get final.
The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. And somewhere nearby, a group of guards is having the worst workday review in Roman history. Imagine being paid to guard death itself and then having to explain to your supervisor that, yes sir, the grave escaped. One minute you’re standing there with a spear, the next minute an angel shows up like lightning, the ground shakes, and you wake up realizing the thing you were guarding walked out. Career change imminent.
Two angels tell the women, "Why are you looking for the living among the dead". Which feels gentle until you realize it’s also Heaven saying, you’re shopping in the wrong aisle. He told you this. You ...