Religious decree: ‘Constitution completely in line with Sharia’

Govt obtains fatwa from cleric Rafi Usmani to preempt demands for enforcement of Sharia by Taliban.

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government on Friday obtained a fatwa (religious decree) declaring the Constitution of Pakistan completely in accordance with Islam from one of the country’s most prominent clerics, preempting any demand for the enforcement of Sharia the Taliban may voice during peace talks.

“Our Constitution is a complete document. The presence of 22 clauses proposed by the then leading religious scholars in the 1973 Constitution make it a perfect Islamic document,” observed Rafi Usmani, President of Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi.

In the three-page document which contained his recommendations, Usmani, who claims to be Pakistan’s grand mufti, condemned any move to create doubts regarding the Constitution. A copy of the document is available with The Express Tribune.

“Yes, when we talk about the implementation of Sharia laws, the government did a culpable negligence by not implementing these [22] clauses in letter and spirit,” Usmani had said after meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

However, those creating such confusions, he added, should know all sects had unanimously agreed to the 22 clauses.

The interior minister met senior clerics from Darul Uloom Karachi, Jamia Farooqia, Jamia Binoria and Jamia al Rashid, along with other leading clerics in Karachi on Thursday night.

To create confusion about sensitive documents and to damage national unity is a condemnable act, particularly at a time when Pakistan is facing worst kind of unrest, the clerics had said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2014.