Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. "There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily," says Steven A. Cook, CFR senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies. Sharia's influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial, though. Some interpretations are used to justify cruel punishments such as amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress, and independence. The debate is growing as to whether sharia can coexist with secularism, democracy, or even modernity. http://www.cfr.org/publication/8034/islam.html
-Sharia is enforced in Islamic countries and there is a movement that allows sharia to govern "personal status law", which includes marriage, divorce, inheritance and custody. Sharia has an influence on personal law as well as criminal law, and it has brought controversy. A lot of controversy is about punishments and problems with women that people find unequal.
