Today marks an historic event in the life of the Middle East. Iraq's governing council signed an interim constitution today. This was made possible by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani allowing Shiite members of the council to sign the document despite his own opposition.
Al-Sistani objected to the clause in the draft that gave Iraq’s Kurdish and Sunni Arab minorities the power to veto a permanent constitution even if the Shiite majority approved it in next year’s referendum. He even issued a fatwa on his Web site saying the document “will not gain legitimacy except after it is endorsed by an elected national assembly.”The document is not the real story. The real story is Al-Sistani allowing a process to continue of which he has publicly stated formal religions objections. Adherence to Islam is partially defined as holding Islamic law to be National Law. Each branch of Islam has a different view of exactly what this law is, and so cannot really recognize each other or work together. Democracy will never work in a place where citizens are forbidden by religious law to work in harmony. There is no such thing as a democratic theocracy when there are different theos who do not agree. The ayatollah's moderate decision to work through the difficulties presents hope that there are some conservative Islamic leaders who are willing to try politically moderate measures for national unity. This is the only paradigm that will lead to lasting peace. Posted by Blandus at March 8, 2004 03:27 PM
Only?
Posted by: Jake at March 8, 2004 05:36 PMOnly for a democratic state solution. Other non-democratic solutions are viable.
Posted by: Blandus at March 8, 2004 08:58 PM