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Iraq's Religious Minorities Concerned About Islamic
Constitution
8, 22, 05
By Yaseen Omer and Hemi Baqir
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
North Iraq -- Members of Iraq's non-Muslim population say
they are worried about how their rights might be affected if
Islam were to be included as the main source of legislation in
the country's new constitution.
Under the Transitional Administrative Law, TAL, currently
in place, Islam is taken into account as a source of legislation.
But religious Shia, among others, are pushing for a stronger
role for their religion in governance.
Jalalaldin al-Saghir, a representative of the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and a member of the parliamentary
constitution committee, argues that Iraq's Islamic identity should
be preserved.
"The constitution should state that Islam is the basic
source for legislation," he said.
But it is this proposition that has met with opposition from
the roughly ten per cent of Iraq's population that is non-Muslim,
most of this minority being made up of Assyrian, Roman Catholic
and Chaldean Christians.
Other non-Muslim communities in Iraq include Yazidis -- whose
religion incorporates elements of Islam and Christianity -- as
well as Kakayees and Mandaeans, whose faiths both trace back
to an ancient religious tradition.
Salim Toma Kako, a leader in the Assyrian Democratic Movement,
worries that if Islam is cited as the main source of legislation,
Christian practices will not be recognised and non-Muslims will
have to obey the Sharia, or Islamic law.
"We don't have any problems with the religion of Islam,"
he said. "We have problems with interpretations of Islam."
Segvan Murad Jundi, a member of the Yazidi Affairs Office
in Sulaimaniyah, says that the only way to guarantee the protection
of people's rights is to have a secular constitution.
"If Islam is to be identified as the sole source of legislation,
we won't vote for the constitution," he said.
Iraq's non-Muslim population are also concerned that giving
a stronger role to Islam could lead to an expansion in Muslim
power, perhaps culminating in the formation of an Islamic state
like Iran.
"We think having Islam as the sole source of legislation
is a big injustice against Iraq and this will lead us to a dark
future," said Zadooq Adam, a member of the political bureau
of the Beth-Nahrain National Union, part of the Chaldo-Assyrian
Democratic Coalition of Rafidain list.
Kheiri Shangali, general manager of Yazidi affairs at the
ministry of religion in Iraqi Kurdistan, says that during Ottoman
rule, 1.5 million Yazidis were killed in the name of Islam. Now
he is afraid history will repeat itself.
"The most frightful thing is for Sharia to become like
that of Afghanistan," he said. "If so, there is a possibility
of annihilating Yazidis again."
Others are careful to point out that they do not object to
Islam playing a strong role in this Muslim-majority nation. "But
identifying Islam as the sole source of legislation is a big
threat to all religions, even to Muslims themselves," argued
Rebwar Bawa Weli, a Kakayee. "We have to work with a new
mentality as we live in the 21st century."
Dr Muhammed Omer Mawlood, a member of the TAL drafting committee,
says he has no problem with Islam being the official religion
of Iraq.
But he agreed that citing Islam as the main source of legislation
could be a dangerous move. "Non-Muslims have a right to
be concerned," he said, "because this might become
a factor in their persecution in the future."
Yaseen Omer and Hemi Baqir are IWPR trainees in Sulaimaniyah.
Dhiya Rasan, an IWPR trainee in Baghdad, also contributed to
this report.
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