Self-styled anti-sharia experts lacked even basic knowledge of Islamic law

Evidence

[DS 2, 5, 6, 8: civilizational discourse; generalizations resignifying term zakat; fabrication of facts.] The county attorney continues the questioning. Gaffney, the expert, is not able answer a question about which sharia principles conflict with the Constitution because he does not know much about the vast jurisprudential literature that is collectively called the sharia. He cannot give an example of this conflict and he cannot so much as explain the differences in Islamic sects which, even a decade ago, could be found on Wikipedia. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 409

Categorization

• XREF: Supports the reader’s broader critique with Aziz that experts writing on Islam-as-threat in law are often credentialless - connects to ch55’s weaponized court proceedings. — connects to: Anti-sharia testimony framed lawful Muslim practice as a seditious, lawless threat; Court expert testimony falsely presents sharia as mandating jihad violence — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 396; Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemics were written without personal knowledge of Islam — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358 (+4 more)
• SEED: The contrast between Gaffney’s ignorance and the epistemic authority courts conferred on him (ch60) is a built-in essay angle about credentialed ignorance.

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christian anti-Islamic polemics were written without personal knowledge of Islam #corroborates (0.95) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 358
• A medieval polemicist could know Muslim doctrine details yet grasp no coherent Islam #corroborates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 879
• Scholastic anti-Islamic polemic argued against positions Muslims never actually held #corroborates (0.85) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 829
• Medieval scholars transmitted mangled Islamic names without any direct knowledge of Islam #corroborates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1289
• Anti-sharia proponents define good Muslims as those who practice no Islam at all #contradicts (0.80) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 298