What countries follow sharia law?

Answer 1

Countries using strict forms of Sharia Law include:

Death for Blasphemy:

1. Afghanistan

2. Bahrain

3. Iran

4. Mauritania

5. Oman

6. Pakistan

7. Yemen

8. Saudi Arabia

9. Gaza

Imprisonment for Blasphemy:

1. Algeria

2. Bangladesh

3. Egypt

4. Iraq

5. Kuwait

6. Libya

7. Malaysia

8. Maldives

9. Morocco

10. Somalia

11. Tunisia

12. United Arab Emirates

Nations that include some level of Sharia (lenient sentences for honor killings, ban on new churches, floggings, etc):

1. Indonesia (Flogging, caning; Sharia applied strictly in Aceh province)

2. Turkey (Restrictions on alcohol)

3. Brunei (Caning; alcohol is illegal)

4. Jordan (2 years or less for honor killings)

5. Eritrea (Girls as young as 8 can be married; spousal rape is not recognized)

6. Syria (1 year or less for honor killings)

7. Djibouti (Sharia law regarding divorce)

8. Chechnya (Modest dress enforced; alcohol and gambling suppressed by local authorities)

9. Niger (girls can be married off before they reach puberty)

10. Nigeria (Sharia is enforced in the northern states)

11. Kenya (Ad hoc Sharia enforced in the east near the border with Somalia)

12. Gambia (Sharia courts decide all family matters, including for non-Muslims)

13. Qatar (public consumption is illegal during Ramadan; alcohol heavily restricted; blood money acceptable punishment for murder; "kafala" law, which is also shared by all Gulf states but Bahrain, is technically slavery)

14. Uganda (Kadhi Courts overseeing family and civil matters)

Most "Western" nations also have parallel Sharia legal systems (for example, in Canada polygamy is widely practiced and authorities look the other way; Imams refusing to condemn or work to stop it). Sharia finance is also practiced in many nations around the world. Many other Islamic nations that do not apply Sharia (such as Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikstan) have large portions of their population who do want it applied or who actively seek to abide by it extra-legally.

Answer 2

While there is no country that "perfectly" implements Shari'a Law, since Muslims usually claim that perfect implementation would lead to a utopia and no Islamic country has that, Iran and Saudi Arabia attempt to do so with varying degrees of success. Of course, neither country is a utopia by any stretch of the imagination.

Answer 3

Though all Muslim countries must use shria law, it is not used anywhere in its letter and spirit.

In terms of those that claim that they are applying it more rigidly and in most aspects of governance, you have Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, parts of Somalia, and Taliban controlled areas.

Answer 4

In the Islamic World, there are number of different degrees of Sharia Law implementation. There are countries where (1) the only law applied is Sharia Law (like Saudi Arabia and Iran), (2) where the prevailing law is Sharia, but there are other kinds of law (common law, continental law, etc.) that have a minority function (like in Iraq), (3) where Sharia is strictly applied in family law and similar personal areas (like Jordan and Morocco), and (4) countries that have disparate implementation of Sharia Law by region (like Indonesia or Nigeria).

To see a list of which countries follow which of these paradigms, please see this article on the matter: Wikipedia: Application of Islamic Law by Country.

Answer 5

There aren't any countries on the planet that fully implement sharia. Some extremist countries like Iran will implement the penalties but leave out the bits about womens rights, justice, etc.