Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is still getting questions about his initial comments about Islam. It was encouraging to read from a former radical Muslim that the concerns Ben Carson expressed are also his concerns. He has read the Islamic literature and pronouncements and understands why many Americans would be wary of putting a Muslim into political office.

Tawfik Hamid is an Islamic thinker and reformer. He was a member of a radical Islamic organization in Egypt. But he had what he called “an awakening of his human conscience” and recognized the threat radical Islam was to the modern world.

He says that the approved Islamic literature “teaches violent principles such a killing apostates, beating women, killing gays, and enslaving female war prisoners for sexual purposes.” He goes on to challenge those who criticized Ben Carson to provide an approved Islamic text that disagrees with that statement.

All they would have to do is provide texts that have been “accepted by the leading Islamic scholars at Al-Azhar University or the religious authorities in Saudi Arabia.” These religious bodies are the ones responsible for approving a printed Qur’an. All the critics would have to do is “produce a solitary approved Islamic text that stands clearly and unambiguously against, for example, killing apostates, beating women, killing gays, and enslaving female war prisoners for the express purpose of raping them.” He says they won’t be able to produce such a text because it does not exist.

If he is correct (and I believe he is) you can see the problem. The values of Sharia are completely different from the principles of the U.S. Constitution.  Tawfik Hamid actually says that Sharia law is “the antithesis of the American Constitution.” Ben Carson was right in expressing his concern.