LONDON, Feb 9: The leader of the world’s Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has hit back at his critics amid a furore about his comments on Islamic law that have led to calls for him to quit.

The Church of England’s highest-ranking cleric has drawn heavy criticism since he acknowledged that the adoption of some parts of Sharia law alongside Britain’s legal system “seems unavoidable” in certain circumstances.

His office sought to clarify the remarks, made in a BBC radio interview and a lecture on Thursday, which united all three main political parties, the media and some Muslim groups in opposition.

“The archbishop made no proposals for Sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law,” a statement on his website said.

“Instead, in the interview, rather than proposing a parallel system of law, he observed that, ‘as a matter of fact certain provisions of Sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law’.

“When the question was put to him that ‘the application of Sharia in certain circumstances if we want to achieve this cohesion and take seriously peoples’ religion seems unavoidable?’, he indicated his assent.”

His lecture was a careful exploration of the limits of a “unitary and secular” legal system and how, in an increasingly diverse society, it might be able to accommodate religious claims, the statement added.

“In doing so, the archbishop was not suggesting the introduction of parallel legal jurisdictions but exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience,” it said.

But the clarification posted late Friday did not stop another slew of critical, front-page headlines on Saturday, including at least two public calls for the 57-year-old former university theologian’s resignation.

One calling for him to go, Alison Ruoff, a member of the Church of England’s “parliament” or General Synod, said Williams had done “inestimable damage” to himself and the Church.

“He’s not basically a leader. He has got a fine brain. He’s a good man, a godly man but he belongs in academia. He’s been very badly advised. This is ill-thought out,” she told BBC radio on Saturday.

“It’s gone completely pear-shaped and I’m sorry for him in a way but I think he should go.”

Britain’s tabloid press focused on the harsher elements of Sharia punishment in countries like Saudi Arabia, although in practice the code is generally used here for questions surrounding marriage and the preparation of Halal meat.

The Sun, the country’s biggest-selling daily newspaper, urged its readers to sign a petition calling for Williams to be sacked for “misconduct’.

“He has destroyed his authority and credibility as leader of the Church of England and given heart to Muslim extremists by suggesting that Britain should accept aspects of Sharia law,” the petition read.—AFP