In the first ever study of what Muslims really think about sharia, author Julie Macfarlane found that present panic over shari’a and its alleged impact on American legal and social culture is wildly overblown.

The case for continuing the ongoing war in Afghanistan is rapidly weakening with little justification for maintaining a military presence writes Azeem Ibrahim in a new policy brief published today by The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

While the attacks of 9/11 were most strongly felt in the US, they had a significant impact on Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Europe as well. In a new policy brief released today by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, author H.A. Hellyer calls 9/11 a “true watershed moment for European societies” whose “ramifications are still not fully understood.”

Haroon Moghul, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, New York, agreed with Rascoff in a piece on ReligionDispatches.org. Moghul pointed to a number of polls that found religiosity was not a condition for violence.

North American Muslims are more than satisfied with the secular legal system and do not want a set of parallel courts for Islamic law, according to a new study of U.S. and Canadian Muslims by a Washington-based think tank. The study, by University of Windsor law professor Judy Macfarlane for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, would seem to refute critics’ claims that American Muslims want to impose Shariah, or Islamic law.

The qualitative study, by University of Windsor law professor Julie MacFarlane and published by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding think tank, is the first to ask American Muslims what they think of sharia, or Islamic religious law.

As noted by Religion News Service, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding has just issued a new study examining the attitudes of American and Canadian Muslins with regard to the relationship between civil courts and religious law. Prepared by Dr. Julie Macfarlane, Professor of Law at the University of Windsor and Professor of the Practice at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the study,Shari’a Law: Coming to a Courthouse Near You? What Shari’a Really Means to American Muslims, finds that American Muslims do not expect or seek enforcement of shari’a law in civil courts.

Louay Safi, a scholar of Islam and the Middle East, will discuss the cultural challenges in a world where Christianity and Islam collide. His talks are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday.

Political scientist Farid Senzai, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington, raised questions about the survey's findings. "Look at the countries that are surveyed - Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Turkey," he says. "There are about 300 million Muslims in those three countries, (who make up) about 20% of Muslims globally." Islam is "incredibly important" in Saudi Arabia, he says.