Egypt's Revised Constitution: Still Based on "Sharia Law", but Much More Secular - Polidicks

[quote]– Egypt's draft constitution is made up of a four-page preamble and 247 articles. On Saturday, the country's 50-member constituent assembly voted on 138 articles, limiting the scope of Islamic law, or Shariah, in legislation and introducing new articles seen as victory to rights advocates. The draft is a milestone in the path toward democratic rule after the stunning ouster of Egypt's elected Islamist president in a July military coup and the suspension of a previous constitution passed under his watch.[/quote] [quote]In the preamble, the draft states: [B]"we, now, are writing a constitution that continues to build a democratic, modern country with a civilian government." The word "civilian" in Arabic indicates non-religious and non-military.[/B] The term had stirred anger among ultraconservative Islamists who consider it synonymous with "secularist."[/quote] [quote]The draft also says in the preamble that [B]"we are writing a constitution which ensures that the principles of Islamic Shariah are the main source of legislation."[/B] It referred to rulings of the Supreme Constitutional Court to define these principles.[/quote] [url]http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/30/look-at-key-articles-passed-by-egypt-constituent-assembly-for-draft-charter/[/url]

Constitution doesn't mean shit when it isn't followed or ignored...

[quote]The draft also says in the preamble that "we are writing a constitution which ensures that the principles of Islamic Shariah are the main source of legislation." It referred to rulings of the Supreme Constitutional Court to define these principles.[/quote] Sigh. Stop being twats for a minute and take a more radical stance on legislation than "lol religion" Make the will of the people the main source of legislation. It encompasses the Shariah and much more, and it's a much more open-minded, innovative and flexible constitution that allows society to progress.

Secular sharia law :downs:

[QUOTE=deltasquid;43030458]Sigh. Stop being twats for a minute and take a more radical stance on legislation than "lol religion" Make the will of the people the main source of legislation. It encompasses the Shariah and much more, and it's a much more open-minded, innovative and flexible constitution that allows society to progress.[/QUOTE] The Arab world is a lot more complicated when it comes to religion. Legislators can't just go all out with open-mindedness because it will annoy the general population. Sharia law is considered to be the law of God passed to mankind through the Quran. If the law of the country doesn't follow Sharia law to the T, Muslims view it as straying from the law of God. In practicality, a lot of Muslims are open-minded and believe that the government should be separated from religion but most are too afraid to voice these opinions out of fear of being shunned by their peers. What ends up happening is Islamic hardliners gain power and attempt to reinstill a more rigorous following of Sharia law. The whole reason why the Egyptian constitution is still appearing to be written on Sharia law is to avoid groups like the Muslim brotherhood seizing power again. It's essentially just a public relations act. The people writing the laws aren't as simple minded and religious as you might think. A good example of a 'free and democratic' Arab government is Lebanon's. The constitution preaches religious freedom (although of course Muslims aren't allowed to convert to Christianity) and is a heavy mix of Islamic and Christian vows. The result? A highly corrupt and broken system - Lebanon has been without a legislative government for more than half a year now. Arabs do not know how to live under democracy, they need to be put in place.

You were allowed to protest in the old government...

[quote]Discrimination: Citizens are equal before the law; they are equal in rights, freedoms and public duties, without discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, gender, origin, race, color, language, disability, social status, political affiliation, geographical location or any other reason. Discrimination and inciting hatred is a crime punishable by law. The state is obliged to take necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and the law regulates the establishment of an independent commission for this purpose.[/quote] [quote]The draft says freedom of belief is "absolute." In last year's constitution, freedom of belief was "preserved."[/quote] My point is saying it was more secular was some clauses such as this. It still includes the original based of sharia law wording though.

Isn't Sharia Law have a lot of general common law things found in every country's basic laws; not necessarily 100% about religion and religious issues? I'm fairly sure it's possible to have a secular constitution with Sharia influences, so long as it doesn't go to the extreme.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;43033160]Isn't Sharia Law have a lot of general common law things found in every country's basic laws; not necessarily 100% about religion and religious issues? I'm fairly sure it's possible to have a secular constitution with Sharia influences, so long as it doesn't go to the extreme.[/QUOTE] Yeah it is, the problem with Shari'ah is not that it's Islamic, the problem is that in its purest form its a pretty average legal system for approximately 1000 years ago, and thus is in many ways outdated without being modified for the modern world. That being said: there isn't really anything stopped them from using it as a basis for a modern legal system, after all plenty of the bases for modern law, for example in the UK, date back about just as far.

ya I mean the american legal system is based off of the British system which dates back centuries, its possible this just blows over as nothing more than a cosmetic wording like how the american constitution has a christian base even if athiests would want it censored. really its all up to the legislators to follow and interpret the constitution, they could choose to ignore the really ugly parts for the sake of peace and eventually those get amended out quietly over the years or they could become so crippled by the bad parts that they fail at running a government and the revolutions continue