I called my Egyptian mentor Prof Omaima Abu Bakr after the interview of Bloomberg was published; it was tackling the Sharia law and the stands of Egyptian women towards it.
I believe that Article 2 of the Egyptian constitution which stipulate that the principles of Sharia Law is the main principles of the Egyptian legislations, should be abolished
I discussed with Prof Omaima this issue, she thinks that we need to amend the Article to change it to Sharia is a source of the Egyptian Legislation not the main source, Prof Omaima thinks that Islam is not just a religion prevailing numerically in Egypt, it is a factor of the Egyptian culture and it is a source of our legal custom. That why she sees the people calling for cancellation on Article 2 are exclusionists. She acknowledged the bad history of this Article and how the former president Anwar el Sadat included it to empower the Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood and other utilized it as well).
I agree with Dr Omaima in many arguments she raised however I am a student of Prof Abdullahi Naiem and I love his idea of Believing secularism, where secularism is no anti religion, it is separation between the private and public realm. Prof Abdullahi believes that religion is a matter of choice and that a believer should be free to choose to apply his faith in his /her life , not through to be forced by the government .
Thanks to Prof Omiama for allowing me to publish this discussion
1 comment:
Wow..I am in awe. What you have very elequently said is what we in the USA call the Seperation of Church and State. I am not sure if Egypt can actually embrace it, but if Egypt does, then it is well on it's way to a true Democracy.
BTW, I was drawn to your blog by a Twitter that refered to Lara Logan. But that is a subject left all to it's own and one that troubles me greatly.
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