Sharia Law in the Sudan

Sharia Law in the Sudan

16 MARCH 2010

The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss Sharia Law within the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa area of responsibility, its influence in the Sudan, and its affect on U.S. interest in the region. Though Sharia Law represents a vital part of the customs and way of life for many countries in the Horn of Africa, specifically the Sudan, because of its roots in Islam and ancient Muslim traditions; it puts this area at odds with the western world which may jeopardize its ability for future trade and political relationships. In this paper, I will define Sharia and its origins in the Horn of Africa region and the Sudan, discuss the influence and affects that this ancient law has manifested on the society and politics of these countries, layout the U.S. stance on Sharia and how this could jeopardize U.S. African interest, future political alliances and business ventures. Sharia's influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial because of the cruel punishments associated with its application, such as amputation and stoning, and unequal treatment of women. The debate is growing as to whether Sharia can coexist with secularism and democracy. Despite the controversy, Sharia has shown tremendous growth and acceptance in the Horn of Africa in the last six centuries.

Sharia is the legal and moral code of Islam. Its origins in Africa date back to the 6th century. After the death of the prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632, Arabs left the dessert in hordes and invaded south into Egypt where they raided and pillaged for centuries until finally settling peacefully in the lands south of Aswan in the 14th century. Intermarriages between the Christian women of Nubia in northern Sudan and the nomadic Muslim Arab males from southern Egypt blurred the lines of religion which made it easier for Muslim missionaries to move south into the Sudan in the late 15th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries numerous schools of Islamic religious training and doctrine emerged along the White Nile and throughout the land and the Christian Shayqiyah confederacy of the Sudan was converted. Islam and Sharia was the way of religion and politics in the Sudan until a Christian Egyptian viceroy took over in 1862. The Sudan remained under Christian Egyptian-British rule until the end of World War II. A Sudanese nationalist movement took shape after the war, and in 1955, with both British and Egyptian support, the Sudanese Parliament voted for self-government. Internal strife plagued the nation for over a decade as the northern Muslims and southern Christians disagreed about fundamental and national politics. In 1969, Colonel Gaafar Nimeri seized control of the government and appointed himself President. In 1983, at the insistence of the Muslim Brotherhood (a radical Islamic group) and the National Islamic Front (NIF), he re-established Islamic law in the Sudan. President Nimeri was forced from power in 1985 by military officials that set up a transitional government in Sudan that was a combination of military and civilian rule. That system only lasted until 1989 when Brigadier General Umar Hassan Ahmad al- Bashir backed by the military and the NIF, overthrew the government and once again reintroduced Sharia in the Sudan. Due to a fall-out with the leader of the NIF, political turmoil, civil unrest, accusations of genocide and economic woes plagued Bashir's administration. While he fought for control of Parliament in the north, his army was constantly at war with the rebels in the south Contentions ranged from the application of Shari a to the oil-rich towns in central Sudan that both sides wanted to claim. Finally in July 2002, the government and elements of the southern rebels signed an agreement and eventually a new constitution that would ultimately allow southerners to gain independence, but it immediately put to rest the conflict about Shari a. Islamic law would apply in northern Sudan but not in southern Sudan.

Sharia is a system of religious and non-religious observations, ethics and politics that every Muslim has a mandate to follow. Unlike Western law there is not a distinction between 'sins against God", blasphemy for example; wrongs done to society like theft and adultery; or failure to perform personal functions like prayer. Sharia includes guidelines on how Muslims conduct religious obligations, business, eat, pray and maintain friendships. It is also specific on the punishments for neglecting or disobeying these regulations and obligations. There are five hadd (specific punishments in the Quran) crimes: unlawful sexual intercourse (sex outside of marriage and adultery), false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol drinking), theft, and highway robbery. Punishments for hadd offenses include; flogging, stoning, amputation, exile, or execution. Other highly controversial practices of Sharia are injustices against women such as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, and gender-biased inheritance rules. Honor killings, murders committed in retaliation for bringing dishonor on one's family, are also still a problem in countries that practice Shari a. Islamic law is based mainly on two distinct sources, the Quran and the Sunna.

We made for you a law

So follow the Way

And not the fancies of those

Who have no knowledge

Al-Jathiyah (the Kneeling Down) Surah 45, verse 18

Sharia is practiced in variations of decrees in the Horn of Africa countries, some like the Sudan have established it as a fundamental part of the government while others like Somalia leave it as a personal choice for Muslims inside their borders. General research shows that Sharia has been incorporated into various political systems in three ways: dual legal system, government is secular but Muslims can choose to bring familial and financial disputes to Sharia courts; government under God, Islam is the official religion listed in the constitution, Sharia is declared to be a source, or the source, of the laws; completely secular, Islamist parties run