Kuwait’s ruler blocks MPs’ Islamic law proposal

Reuters reports, May 17, 2012:

Kuwait’s ruler has blocked a proposal by 31 of the 50 elected members of parliament to amend the constitution to make all legislation in the Gulf Arab state comply with Islamic law, an MP said on Thursday.

The approval of Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, is needed for any constitutional change.

“His highness the emir is not in favour,” said Mohammad al-Dallal, an Islamist MP and legal expert. The proposal was put forward by the Islamic Justice Bloc and signed by 31 lawmakers, he said.

Political parties are banned in Kuwait so MPs have to rely on forming blocs in parliament. The 15-member cabinet selected by the prime minister can also vote in parliament.

“We must think again about convincing the emir or submitting it again in another format,” Dallal said.

“Our society is a conservative society, a lot of people request that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law). We also do not have a stable political system,” he said, adding such an amendment could help make lawmaking less chaotic.

Islamist MPs have proposed amending the constitution in this way several times in the past. This time, they asked to change article 79 to make sharia “the only source” of legislation rather than a major or main source as it is now.

Like elsewhere in the region, Islamists have made political gains in the major oil producer. With many campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, Islamists increased their share of parliamentary seats in Kuwait after a snap election in February which ushered in its fourth parliament in six years.

Kuwait, a regional US ally, is ruled by a Sunni Muslim monarchy and states Islam as its official religion. About 85 percent of Kuwait’s population is thought to be Muslim. The next biggest groups are expatriate Hindus and Christians.

Here are some Reader comments:

Pollack said, ‘Seems like in the arab lands, democracy only brings in forces which actively work to introduce undemocratic laws. It’s a strange case where the unelected emir has more wisdom than the elected politicians.’

Umer said, ‘Thank God for Amir’

To Pollack I say, Remember, Kuwait was not a democratic country in the first place, it outlaws all political parties, so there has been no threat to its democratic status, it had none. Furthermore surely it is ‘undemocratic’ for the Amir to block the legitimate legislative wishes of 62% of the MPs? Pollock, you should be on the side of the MPs if you were being consistent.

But the real reason for your objection has nothing to do with democracy or the lack or it: it reflects the deep-seated Western prejudice against Muslims and Islam.

Europeans and Americans are so deeply convinced of the superiority of their secular, liberal culture that it is, to say the least, difficult for them to empathise with a profoundly different system. You may ask ‘why should I bother understanding it?’ The answer should be obvious: the peace and good order of our world depends upon this understanding.

The ummah (the Muslim community of believers) is today weak and divided. It will not always be so. It is imperative for the West to make the effort to see past its inherited cultural hostility and cease opposing by military might and cultural hegemony those who follow the way of the final prophet of God, Muhammad, upon whom be peace.

To Umer I say, Muslims thank God for Muhammad, upon whom be peace, and the Islamic community he created.  Sovereignty belongs solely to God not to man, his creature. This flows directly from the Muslim confession of faith, lā ʾilāha ʾillà ‘Llāh which, in this context, can be interpreted as meaning that ‘there is no legislator but the Legislator’. The Amir of Kuwait appears to be working against this principle.