Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination (MARED) is gathering signatures for a statement which expresses extreme concern over the articles of Egypt’s new constitution which is currently being drafted by an Islamist-majority constituent assembly
Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination (MARED) is gathering signatures for a statement which expresses extreme concern over the articles of Egypt’s new constitution which is currently being drafted by an Islamist-majority constituent assembly. The articles in question relate to rights, and freedoms of thought and belief. Some 18 NGOs concerned with rights have already signed the statement.
The statement criticises the first article of the draft constitution, which stipulates that Egypt is a democratic shura “consultative” State. It describes the shura addition as a dubious expression which opens the door for new measures such as the Islamic scholar (ulama) consultative councils of theocratic States, which are radically different from modern democratic State institutions. The petition calls instead, for the stipulation that Egypt is “a democratic, civil State based on equality and justice”.
The statement also criticises the proposed amendment to the second article of the 1971 Constitution, which stipulates the principles of Islamic sharia as the main source of legislation. The proposed replacement of ‘principles’ with ‘rulings’, the statement explains, opens the way to various interpretations of sharia that work to Islamise the State. “We therefore demand that “the general principles of the Islamic sharia shall be ‘a main source of legislation’”.
The statement refuses that al-Azhar, the Cairo-based topmost authority on Sunni Islam in the world, should be the reference on interpretation of sharia, rather than the Supreme Constitutional Court. Again, the statement insists, this would be another serious step towards the Islamisation of the State.
The text of the second article of the constitution, which stipulates that those who embrace heavenly religions other than Islam have the right to resort to their own jurisdiction in family and religious concerns is, according to the statement, but an attempt to pacify minorities. It is some sort of a barter agreement with the minorities in exchange for further Islamisation of the constitution.
The stipulation “Sovereignty is for God” in the draft constitution to replace the current “sovereignty is for the people”, the statement declares, plays on religious sentiment. It takes Egypt back to the Middle Ages, shatters the basis of a modern State, legalises theocracy, and opens the door for countless legal problems, let alone blackmail by opportunists who feign religiosity.
The statement drew attention to the provision that the State secures religious freedom for the followers of “the heavenly religions” disregards those citizens who beg to differ, and offers constitutional cover for discrimination against them.
The statement refutes the allegations spread by extremists, that the civil State is against religion, or just the objective of a high-class minority. The petition describes these allegations as ‘misleading’. A State which is founded upon the law and which respects human rights cannot be hostile to religion, and works for the benefit of the poor.
International human rights treaties and agreements ought to be taken as part and parcel of the legislative and legal system of rights and freedoms endorsed by the constitution, the statement stressed. It also demanded an article that criminalises all discrimination.
WATANI International
17 July 2012
