Many people across the globe recoil at the idea of implementing shariah (law). When a certain South African politician at the dawn of democracy suggested the country adopt shariah, he was lampooned so badly that he struggled to be taken seriously ever again. Let’s just say, whether rightly or wrongly understood, shariah has an image problem in the West, especially for its severe punishments for moral crimes. Crimes that get the death penalty include adultery, blasphemy, sodomy and apostasy. But on the ground in many parts of South Africa, such is the dysfunction of the police force that you may well get away with murder but you might be put to death for stealing a television set or marrying a foreign national.