 AMMAN — A gathering of Islamic thinkers and leaders on Monday pledged to write a model constitution to be adopted by countries wishing to enact Sharia-based laws. “It will be a guiding model of an Islamic constitution,” Al Quds Centre for Political Studies Director Oraib Rantawi told The Jordan Times at the closing of a conference entitled: “Towards a civic democratic Islamic discourse.”
| We just can't wait to see it... |
| ... we may not live to see it ... |
“We have agreed to hold a special conference to draft a democratic Islamic constitution that among other things safeguards women’s rights,” he said.
For the past three days, Islamic scholars and representatives of Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have been engaged in long discussions centred on the need to introduce democratic civic discourse into Muslim societies. Syafii Anwar, executive director of International Centre for Islam and Pluralism in Indonesia, argued that Muslim countries should adopt a secular approach to state affairs but insisted that a contextual interpretation of the Koran should be the basis for writing an Islamic constitution.
| You can't have a secular state with religious law. Y'gotta be either fish or foul. |
According to Anwar, extremism emanates from the literal interpretation of scripture, regardless of the reality of the modern world and the context of the original text.
| So the Koran's a "living document"? |
The conference also called for participants to initiate dialogue between Islamist factions and selected governments of Arab and Islamic countries, Rantawi said. “This dialogue will aim at pinpointing the needs of these parties in order to promote the democratic process in these countries,” he said. |