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| Egypt Draft Constitution Institutes Sharia as Law of Land | |
| 2012-10-25 | |
| The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists are at odds over the exact language of the draft Egyptian constitution, but the difference is meaningless. Sharia will be the law of the land. And the U.S. response is that it is withholding judgment until a constitution is officially proposed but so far, so good! The dispute is over the precise definition of the role of Sharia in Article 2. The Muslim Brotherhood is satisfied with declaring "the principles" of Sharia to be the main source of legislation. The Salafists want it to say that Sharia (not its principles) is the main source of legislation. That is what the fuss is over. On October 18, the Muslim Brotherhood's official website carried a statement from Dr. Mahmoud Ghozlan, a leader in its Guidance Bureau that sits on the Constitutional Assembly that is writing the draft. It claims that an agreement has been reached, but the Salafists are still planning demonstrations on November 2. Ghozlan says that the General Provisions section of the constitution will define what is meant by the language of Article 2: "The principles of Islamic Sharia include general evidence and fundamentalist bases, rules and jurisprudence, as well as sources accepted by doctrines of Sunni Islam and the majority of Muslim scholars," it reads. In other words, the institution of Sharia. The fact that even this isn't strong enough language for the Salafists shows how radical they are. By the way, the Salafists won about 20% of the vote in the parliamentary elections. Non-Islamists are also outraged about the language of another part of the draft. Article 68 reads, "The state shall take all measures to establish the equality of women and men in the areas of political, cultural, economic and social life, as well as other areas, insofar as this does not conflict with the rulings of Islamic Sharia."
The Assembly includes 24 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, six Brotherhood supporters, 18 members of the Salafist Al-Nour Party and three members of the Islamic Centrist Party. The draft constitution is also designed to solidify the Brotherhood's grip on power by undermining the Supreme Constitutional Court. It takes away the independence of the judiciary by permitting the president to choose the chairman and members of Egypt's highest court. When asked what the U.S. thinks about what the Egyptian constitution looks like so far, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. won't make a judgment until its fully written, but then made a judgment on the process. Ahram Online summarized her statement as saying it has been "broadly democratic and moving in the right direction." The good news is that the constitution has to be approved in a referendum. The Egyptian people can accept it or reject it. The Brotherhood's popularity has fallen sharply and there are protests against President Morsi and the draft constitution. If the Salafists vote against it as well, even if it's not for good reasons, it's hard to see it passing. The Supreme Constitutional Court has also announced that it is investigating the legality of the Constitutional Assembly. The Court disbanded the lower house of parliament and since the parliament chose the Assembly, it has grounds to dismiss the body. The ruling comes today, October 23. The draft constitution will institute a Sharia-based governance no matter how the Brotherhood-Salafist disagreement plays out. The U.S. shouldn't be facilitating its passing by reassuring Egyptians that the process of writing the constitution has been "broadly democratic and moving in the right direction." | |
| Posted by:Au Auric |
| #2 "You screwed up - you voted for us." |
| Posted by: Pappy 2012-10-25 17:56 |
| #1 Springtime on the Nile. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-10-25 16:27 |