Somaliland Constitution & Islamic Sharia Law

By Rashid Garuf, Metro-Washington DC, USA

Since the Islamic Courts have captured Mogadishu and have become a powerful force in the Somalia; the conservative religious groups in Somaliland have been energized and have consistently called on the people and the government to support introduction of Islamic Sharia Law in Somaliland. Their calls for Islamic Sharia Law implies the current Somaliland Constitution might not be consistent with (or rather contradicts) the Islamic Sharia Law. This article will be focused on what the Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland says about Islamic Sharia, any consistency or contradictions that might be there. I’m not a lawyer and I had no legal training; rather I must credit to Ibrahim Hashi Jama LL.B, LL.M, who translated the Constitution from Somali to English and he made his work available to the public at this web site www.somalilandlaw.com. I’m grateful to him for sharing his work, which made it possible for me to write this article.

The preamble of the constitution states list of seven topics that were the basis of the constitution, item one is “The Islamic Sharia Law”. Article 5 of the Constitution says;

“(i) Islam is the religion of the Somaliland state, and the promotion of any religion in the territory of Somaliland, other than Islam, is prohibited”. Ibrahim Hashi states “The constitutions of almost all Arab states, with the exception of Lebanon and Syria, establish Islam as the state religion. In contrast Muslim countries like Indonesia, Mali, and Turkey do not include such provisions”. The Somaliland Diaspora who practice their religion in their adopted nations, which are not predominantly Islam, will certainly disagree with this provision, but nevertheless it is there. Article 5 continues to state (ii) The law of the nation shall be grounded on and shall not be contrary to Islamic Sharia Law.

Article 115-120 calls on the Executive branch and House of Guurti to form the “Ulema Council and their responsibilities are; To formulate formal declaration on (i) religious disagreements that may arise, and (ii) any matters in which there is a conflict as to whether they are contrary to the Sharia, or appear to the Council as being to the Sharia. The Council is required to forward their findings to the offices that requested the declarations or to the constitutional court, as they deem fit. The constitution clearly here, in my layman’s understanding of it, expected the Ulema to function under the constitutional law, and hence affirmed the constitutional court as the final authority. However, the Constitution provides the means to address any religious disagreements.

Article 127 deals with the limits of any proposed amendments to the Constitution, and it clearly states; “No proposal to amend or correct the Constitution shall be made if it includes a provision which is in conflict with the; (i) Principles of Islamic Sharia Law

(ii) Unity of the country (territorial integrity) (iii) Democratic Principles and the multi-party system (iv) Fundamental rights and individual freedoms. The framers of the constitution not only ensured that the Constitution is consistent with the Islamic Sharia Law and also prohibited any provision of the constitution that might violate Sharia.

Finally Article 128 stipulates that (i) The Constitution shall be based on the Islamic Principles (ii) The Constitution shall be the Supreme law of the land, and any law which shall not conform to it shall be null and void. Article 129 provides icing of the cake by stating the Constitutional oath for Somaliland and it says “I swear by Allah that I shall be true to the Islamic Religion and my Somaliland Country, and shall manage my people in equity and justice so long as I hold office”. The first thing I noticed after I read the official oath of Somaliland is that it does include the words “I swear to uphold the letter and spirit of the Constitution”, however, the oath states “I swear by Allah that I shall be true to the Islamic Religion and my Country…”

The next time you meet with or hear from someone who calls for introduction of the Islamic Sharia Law in Somaliland; the right question to ask is; We already have Constitution that conforms to Islamic Sharia Law, can you be more specific about what specific Islamic Sharia Law you’ll like to see introduced in Somaliland?. I’ll like to appeal Somaliland media to interview the conservative religious groups and challenge them to specifically articulate what specific Islamic Sharia Laws they would like to see introduced, and I’m confident their answer will show their real objective; that they have decided to use religion to gain power in Somaliland and that they don’t have the confidence to stand in front of the people and ask for their votes like everyone else. The core objective of their arguments has nothing to do with religion, it is simply the means.

The letter and the spirit of the Constitution of Somaliland is consistent with the Islamic Sharia Law and there is absolutely not a single provision that contradicts it; the new challenge by those groups who are calling for introduction of Islamic Sharia Law is simply an attack on the Constitution from power-hungry religious zealots and must be taken seriously; the alternative is total dictatorship masked as religion; the people have seen before what a dictator armed with an ideology is capable of and will not accept another form of government that will lead dictatorship. But we must ask the right questions to show their real objective. This presents an opportunity for the young Somaliland media to play their Constitutional role to protect democracy by challenging religious conservative groups to articulate their intention. The Somaliland democracy has proven itself and it is one of the best achievements of Somaliland and the Constitution expresses the will of 97% of the people and they must be protected.

Contact: rgaruf@msn.com

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