(CNSNews.com) -- The State Department on Monday tiptoed around the issue of Islamic law (shari'a) forming the basis of countries' legal systems, after comments by Libya's interim leader raised new questions about just how progressive the so-called "Arab spring" will turn out to be.Islamists are playing prominent roles in the transitions in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, and are also believed to be a factor in the uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad.
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
While few will lament the removal of Muammar Qadaffy
... who is now deader than a rock...
-- or of Assad, should he go -- concerns are growing that Iran may not be altogether wrong when it characterizes the regional upheavals as an "Islamic awakening" rather than the ushering in of greater democracy.
Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil raised eyebrows Sunday when he told a rally in Benghazi that the country's post-Gadaffi legal system will be based on shari'a.
His declaration that "any law that violates shari'a is null and void legally" implied that Islamic law would not merely be one of several sources of inspiration, but the ultimate one.
Abdul-Jalil's comments appeared to preempt a process spelled out by interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril a day earlier -- an election within eight months, followed by the drafting of a new constitution, which will then be put to a national referendum.
On Monday, Abdul-Jalil told a presser in Benghazi that he wanted to assure the international community that Libyans were "moderate Mohammedans." He also said he had been referring in his earlier remarks to a temporary constitution.
A "draft constitutional charter for the transitional stage," released by the NTC last August, declared that "Islam is the religion of the state and the principal source of legislation is Islamic jurisprudence (shari'a)."