Sharia Law Declaration Raises Concerns in New Libya

Daily News Article   —   Posted on October 26, 2011

(by Simon Martelli, YahooNews.com) AFP – The announcement that Islamic sharia law will be the basis of legislation in newly liberated Libya has raised concerns, especially among women, despite Islamists insisting moderation will prevail.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, August 2011

Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Sunday, during his speech…to formally declare the country’s liberation from the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi, that sharia would be Libya’s principal law.

“Any law that violates sharia is null and void legally,” he said, citing as an example the law on marriage passed during the slain dictator’s 42-year tenure that imposed restrictions on polygamy, which is permitted in Islam.

“[Gadhafi’s] law of divorce and marriage [which prohibited a man from having more than one wife at a time]… This law is contrary to sharia and it is stopped,” Abdel Jalil said.  [Sharia law will permit a man to have up to four wives at the same time; women may only have one husband.]

His comments have provoked criticism and calls for restraint both in Libya and in Europe, amid fears that the Arab Spring may give rise to a potentially intolerant Islamist [regime].

Many Libyans awaiting Sunday’s historic speech expressed surprise at the decision by [Abdul Jalil, the unelected] National Transitional Council [NTC] leader, to mention the role of sharia law in the new country before addressing such important issues as security and education.

“It’s shocking and insulting to state, after thousands of Libyans have paid for freedom with their lives, that the priority of the new leadership is to allow men to marry in secret,” said Rim, 40, a Libyan feminist who requested anonymity.

“We did not slay Goliath so that we now live under the Inquisition,” she told AFP.

In his speech, Abdel Jalil also announced the introduction of Islamic banking in Libya in keeping with sharia which prohibits the earning of interest…[which] is considered a form of usury. [NOTE: usury is defined as: the practice of lending money and requiring the borrower to pay a high amount of interest.]

Adelrahman al-Shatr, one of the founders of the center-right Party of National Solidarity, launched just last week, said it was premature for the NTC leader to speak about the policies of the new state.

“It is a subject that should be discussed with the different political groups and with the Libyan people,” he said.

“These declarations create feelings of pain and bitterness among women who sacrificed so many martyrs,” in the eight-month battle against Kadhafi loyalists, he added.

“By abolishing the marriage law, women lose the right to keep the family home if they divorce. It is a disaster for Libyan women.”

Abdel Jalil, a respected former justice minister of Gadhafi who distanced himself from the old regime, is seen as a pious [religious; good] man and a Sufi follower of Islam who is [opposed to] extremism.

He has already said that the new Libya would not adopt any extremist ideology, and sought to reassure the international community by stating on Monday that Libyans were moderate Muslims.

Nevertheless, Libya’s Islamists are a rising force in the country’s political arena, some of whom, such as Abdelhakim Belhaj, the founder of the Al-Qaeda linked but now-disbanded Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), are expected to hold prominent positions.

After suffering decades of persecution by Gadhafi, they are also working hard to present themselves as proponents of tolerant, democratic values and policies.

“The rules and laws (in new Libya) should take Islam as a basic reference,” Islamist leader Sheikh Ali Sallabi, a supporter of Belhaj, told AFP.

He insisted that freedom, justice, equality and respect for human dignity should be enshrined in the new constitution, along with the peaceful rotation of power.

“We believe in the rights of others to show their programs to the people, and to let the people decide,” said Sallabi…

“We also believe in the freedom of the press and the right to self expression. We believe that our religion accommodates these rights,” he added.

Copyright ©2011 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit news.yahoo.com/sharia-law-declaration-raises-concerns-libya-174347939.html for the original post.