Thursday, November 29, 2012

Egyptian parliament endorses Sharia law


Egypt’s Constituent Assembly has endorsed Article 2 of the country’s proposed constitution making Sharia law the basis for the country’s civil legal code....

Article 2, Sharia Law, which states that “the principles of the Islamic Sharia are the main source of legislation,” remains unchanged from the 1971 constitution. However a new clause, Article 221 states that these principles are to be deduced from its fundamental rules and its Sunni sources. The constitution also gives religious scholars at the Al-Azhar University the right to consult on the interpretation of Sharia law and its relation to the civil code.

Salafi groups had demanded that Article 2 be amended to replace “principles” with “provisions” of Sharia law, while liberals had called for the removal of all religious language from the constitution. The leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Theodore II, said his church would support keeping Article 2 as it currently existed, but opposed the introduction of Article 221 which he saw as giving the Islamist government the explicit license to impose Sharia law. Read more

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Egypt assembly rushes to vote on constitution

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