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KurdistanObserver.com
Kurds Wrangle Over Islam
By Mohammed A. Salih
ARBIL, Jul 4 (IPS) - Disputes have arisen within Kurdistan over the role Islam
should play in a new constitution.
The Iraqi national constitution asserts Islam as the country's official religion
and a major source of legislation. But not everyone wants that for a Kurdish
constitution.
Secular forces call for a clear separation of religion from state, while the
Islamists insist that Islam should be at least "a principal source of
legislation" if not "the principal one."
Kurds have been running their own affairs for the past 16 years, but without a
constitution. Divisions have surfaced now that they are going to write one.
Article seven in the draft constitution emphasises the Muslim identity of the
majority of Kurdistan people and recognises "the principles of Islamic Sharia as
one of the sources of legislation."
Secularists want to omit this reference to Islam and to the "Muslim identity" of
Kurdish society, saying it will restrict the rights of certain social groups and
of religious minorities within Kurdistan.
"Women will be most negatively affected by a religious constitution, and their
rights in terms of divorce, inheritance, testimony and others will be violated,"
says Sozan Shahab, a woman member of the Kurdistan parliament in the regional
capital Arbil.
Shahab, alongside several other activists, has collected more than 4,000
signatures from Kurdish associations and political parties in a campaign to
remove article seven.
Under Islamic rules a woman gets half of a man's share as inheritance, and it
takes the testimony of two women in court to equal that of one man.
An early version of the draft constitution, comprising 160 articles, was
released last September. The Kurdish Parliament has received more than 10,000
proposals to amend the draft. After approval by the regional parliament, the
draft will be put to public referendum in Kurdistan's three provinces Arbil,
Sulaimaniya and Dohuk. Lawmakers say this will happen next year or later.
The two powerful Kurdish parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Iraq's
president Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by the regional
president Massoud Barzani, say they support a secular constitution. However,
during the drafting of Iraq's constitution they conceded to demands by Shia
Islamic parties on a role for Islam.
That presents a serious challenge since the Iraqi constitution says regional
constitutions should not contradict the national charter. Kurdistan is currently
the only autonomous region within the country.
"But, legally speaking, if you don't mention Islam it does not go against the
Iraqi constitution, since you haven't alluded to its role in any way," said
Shahab.
Islamists are equally fervent in rejecting a secular constitution, which they
see as ignoring the will of the Muslim people of Kurdistan.
"Islam is not a religion that only concerns the personal and moral aspects of
human lives," Hassan Babakr, member of the regional parliament from the
Kurdistan Islamic Group told IPS. "It is a comprehensive religion that has its
own rules and programme for all aspects of life from social to economic to
political and military."
Since Muslims are the vast majority of the population in Kurdistan, "the
regional constitution should give a strong and prominent role to Islam," he
said.
Babakr, whose party has six seats in parliament, criticised the KDP and the PUK
for falling under "the hegemony of the U.S. and the West over the Islamic world"
and the influence of "American military presence in Iraq."
In what was interpreted as a clear backing for a secular front, Barzani recently
told a gathering of Christians and Yazidis -- followers of an ancient
Mesopotamian faith -- that "religion ought to be separated from state."
The Kurdish region is home to tens of thousands of indigenous Christians and
Yazidis, who all oppose an Islam-dominated constitution.
Amid campaigns and counter-campaigns to influence the draft constitution, both
Shahab and Babakr say they will not give up until they find "success." But they
do agree on one thing: they will not vote for a draft in a referendum if it is
not what they want. |
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