About that Iraqi constitution ....

[unixronin]

"I applaud them for taking three more days to try to get as much support from the Sunnis as possible," [US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay] Khalilzad told CNN.  He played down concerns about the draft constitution's declaration that Iraq is an Islamic state and that no laws can go against Islamic tenets.  He said the draft also says that no law can be against the principles of democracy and the charter's bill of rights, which includes freedom of religion and forbids discrimination against women and minorities.

Um, wait just a minute here ........... is it just me, or is there a slight problem with consistency in this statement?  Given that Islamic Shari'a law institutionalizes and mandates discrimination against women, how can the new Iraqi constitution both forbid laws that "go against Islamic tenets" AND, simultaneously, forbid discrimination against women and mandate religious freedom?

I suspect this relies upon a highly Shari'a-influenced definition of the phrases "discrimination against women" and "religious freedom."  Unless, of course, any part of this is lies and spin being told to save face for the administration.

Comments

[skellington.livejournal.com]

I've read somewhere that there are multiple kinds of Islamic law, and even today people will cherry-pick which one works for them. For example, under some versions, women do inherit a full share. So if you want your daughter to inherit your estate, you declare it under one brand of Islamic law. Etc.

Ugliness, but hey.

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

once in the past I looked into some of it, in relation to a project, and found a huge variance.

On the extremeist-left side, some variants still permit slavery of non-Islamic peoples and total restrictions against women (not even being allowed outside the house except escorted by their husband or his brother[s]).

On the extremeist-right side, there are some variants that are totally against violence in any form (to the point that adherants are vegetarian), and women can 'marry' together (not men, just women, for economic reasons, and they aren't supposed to have lesbian sex [but it is permissible under some circumstances]).

[johnkzin.livejournal.com]

Yup. What it means to be Muslim is as widely varied as what it means to be Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or Pagan.