Islam likely to be the main basis for Iraqi law

THE framers of Iraq’s constitution appear likely to enshrine Islam as the main basis of law in the country - a stronger role than the US had hoped for and one some Iraqis fear will mean a more fundamentalist regime.

Arab constitutions vary widely over the role of Islamic law, ranging from Lebanon, where the word “Islam” never appears, to Saudi Arabia, which says the Koran itself is its constitution.

Culture weighs far more heavily than the constitution and law, particularly when it comes to women. In Gulf nations - where the constitutions spell out a slightly lesser role for Islamic law, or Sharia, than in Egypt - women are more segregated and wear more conservative veils covering the entire face.

Kuwait, for example, bans alcohol and only gave women the right to vote this year, in contrast to Egypt, where beer, wine and liquor are sold openly and women have been voting since the early 20th century.

Yet most Gulf nations’ constitutions state that Sharia is “a main source” of legislation, while Egypt takes the more definitive phrasing of “the source” - a fine distinction taking on major importance in Iraq.

Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat amended the constitution during the 1970s, changing the language from “a source” to “the source” to beef up his Islamic credentials rather than to start implementing Sharia.

But in Iraq, some fear the Shi’ite Muslim leaders who want similar wording in Iraq’s constitution and hope to lay the groundwork for a more fundamentalist rule.

Already, Shi’ite leaders in some southern cities have tried imposing Islamic-based rules, pressuring women to wear head scarves and forcing liquor stores and music shops to close.

A draft of the constitution published last week in the government Al-Sabah newspaper put Islam as “the main basis” of law. But the constitutional committee - made up of Shi’ites, Kurds and some Sunnis - is still haggling over the language.

Fouad Massoum, the Kurdish deputy head of the committee, said it will discuss the role of Islam in future meetings.

“We, in the Kurdish coalition, want Islam to be one of the sources of legislation,” he said.

Iraq’s most prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has said he wants to preserve a strong role for Islam in the document, but also shuns the direct rule by clerics seen in his country of birth, mainly Shi’ite Iran.

Mouafak al-Rubaie, a national security adviser and a Shi’ite, met al-Sistani on Saturday and said the main concern of the Shi’ite religious leadership is to “preserve the Islamic identity of Iraq and its people, which means preserving a united Iraq and people as a state”.

When US administrators ran Iraq, they insisted on language setting Islam as “a source” of legislation when an interim constitution was approved in March 2004.

But the same Shi’ites who backed “the main source” last year now dominate, and US officials have less influence.

Six Arab nations do not mention Sharia at all in their constitutions: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon and Jordan.