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Paul
Bremer said he would veto an Islamic constitution for
Iraq
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Last
week, two overlooked, if not ignored outright, developments in
Iraqi politics gave one cause for concern. The first, perhaps
the more important, concerns the question of Islamic Shari`ah
Law’s relevance in a future Iraq. (The second was about Iraqi
territorial claims on Kuwait and Jordan.)
On
February 16, while touring a women’s center in the holy city
of Karbala, Civilian Administrator L. Paul Bremer said he would
overrule the wishes of some members of the Iraqi Governing
Council and veto any move to base the Iraqi constitution on
Shari`ah Law.
“Our
position is clear,” he told reporters about a proposal to make
Islam the principal source of Iraqi law. “It can't be law
until I sign it.”
Republicans
and neo-conservative supporters of the Bush administration
applauded Bremer’s “principled” stance against Shari`ah
Law - allegedly to protect the liberty, democracy, and human
rights of women and “minorities.” Syndicated columnist Diane
West recently wrote:
Equal
rights before the law do not exist under Islamic law. One
citizen, one vote does not exist under Islamic law. Freedom of
worship does not exist under Islamic law. Minorities - that is,
non-Muslims - enjoy rights and protections at the pleasure of
the Muslim community that are ever-subject to the capriciousness
of a rights-canceling fatwa. Indeed, Islamic law is not the
basis of a religion, as the Judeo-Christian world understands
religion, but is rather the basis of a controlling ideology that
is nothing short of totalitarian.
Unfortunately,
an ignorance of Islamic theology, jurisprudence, and law
administration is prevalent in too many quarters of the world
media to be deemed a forgivable oversight. Columnists and
journalists take the easy approach of quoting one another and
basing their research (or lack thereof) on the research (or lack
thereof) of others. The source is hardly ever touched.
Does
Shari`ah Law endorse inequality? Click here.
But
Bremer may have stepped on a landmine in Iraq. To dismiss
Shari`ah is to dismiss the Quran - the source of Shari`ah. To
dismiss the Quran is to dismiss God - the source of the Quran.
To dismiss God is to dismiss 23 million Iraqis. Ouch.
That’s
why it wasn’t surprising that both Shiite and Sunni Islamic
authorities joined forces and voiced their angry resistance to
Bremer’s position.
Bremer’s
statements also roused Ayatollah Al-Sistani who did agree to
delay his call for direct elections but only if he receives
United Nations assurances that they will be held by the end of
2004. In a rather more aggressive move, he vowed to forcibly
remove US troops from Iraq if they did not withdraw by June 30,
2004.
Far
more aggressive in his approach was young Shiite cleric Muqtada
Sadr who used yesterday’s Friday sermon to rally support
against the Americans: “America has come to harm Iraqis, but
it must understand that it can never destroy Islam. I call on
all believers to remain prepared, while awaiting orders from the
Hawza [Shiite religious authority], to confront the occupation.
I will follow this path even at the risk of being killed or
arrested,” he vowed.
Ayatollah
Al-Sistani, unlike Sadr, has been a source of stability and
order in lawless Iraq. He is respected by Sunnis and Shiites
alike and his vow not to follow the authoritarian Islamic
governance of Iran has won him accolades from those who feared
Iraq would be the next Iran.
The
bottom line is that the US military needs Al-Sistani’s
assistance to ensure that an Islamic revolution does not sweep
through Iraq. In that light Bremer’s statements are nothing
short of calamitous.
Personally,
I couldn’t care less if Iraqis chose to follow the laws of the
Quran or the writing on bubble gum wrapper. However, two things
irk me. One, so-called journalists who never bother to do some
fact-checking and would rather dictate to Muslims their
understanding of Islam. And two, that democracy is incumbent
upon, dependent upon, derived of, and sustained by the will of
the people. If the will of the Iraqi people is Shari`ah Law then
so let it be written, so let it be done.
It
is rather poignant that the US is getting a lesson in democracy.
Firas
Al-Atraqchi is a Canadian journalist of Iraqi heritage.
Holding an MA in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has
eleven years of experience covering Middle East issues, oil and
gas markets, and the telecom industry. You can reach him at firascape@hotmail.com.
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