> Islamic and civil law can coexist, says top Egyptian jurist
Islamic and civil law can coexist, says top Egyptian jurist
Contact:
Stuart Colcleugh, PAMR, 778.782.3210
Stuart Colcleugh, PAMR, 778.782.3210
August 8, 2008
*Note: Justice Sherif will be available for interviews Aug. 11-13. Please call to arrange in advance.
As Western countries such as Canada debate ways of reasonably accommodating Islamic religious values within their secular legal systems, they could learn a lot from Egypt’s legal system, which has been wrestling with many of the same issues for decades.
That’s the view of Adel Omar Sherif, the deputy chief justice of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, the country’s highest judicial power. And it’s the underlying message Sherif will deliver Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. during a free public lecture entitled The Egyptian Judiciary Between Secularism and Islamization at Simon Fraser University’s Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver. SFU’s School for International Studies is sponsoring the event.
One of the most important changes in Egyptian social and political life over the past quarter century has been a decline in secularism and the increased prominence of religion in the public sphere. From major constitutional reforms enshrining Islamic law as the principal source of state law to the prominent role of the Muslim Brotherhood in opposition politics, religion has become a defining feature of social and political life in contemporary Egypt.
Sherif, who has been a jurist since 1980 and a member of Egypt’s highest court since 1992, has played a prominent role throughout, at the centre of major controversies around the proper place of religion in the public sphere. He has made significant contributions in areas such as human rights, constitutional issues, judicial independence, and Islamic and environmental law.
Sherif is a strong believer in the historical role of Shariah law, which was to protect the weak and powerless from the powerful. And he says Egypt’s legal system, which is built on a combination of Shariah law and the civil Napoleonic Code, demonstrates that both systems can work together within a modern secular state, although not without some tensions.
As Western countries such as Canada debate ways of reasonably accommodating Islamic religious values within their secular legal systems, they could learn a lot from Egypt’s legal system, which has been wrestling with many of the same issues for decades.
That’s the view of Adel Omar Sherif, the deputy chief justice of Egypt’s supreme constitutional court, the country’s highest judicial power. And it’s the underlying message Sherif will deliver Aug. 13 at 6 p.m. during a free public lecture entitled The Egyptian Judiciary Between Secularism and Islamization at Simon Fraser University’s Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver. SFU’s School for International Studies is sponsoring the event.
One of the most important changes in Egyptian social and political life over the past quarter century has been a decline in secularism and the increased prominence of religion in the public sphere. From major constitutional reforms enshrining Islamic law as the principal source of state law to the prominent role of the Muslim Brotherhood in opposition politics, religion has become a defining feature of social and political life in contemporary Egypt.
Sherif, who has been a jurist since 1980 and a member of Egypt’s highest court since 1992, has played a prominent role throughout, at the centre of major controversies around the proper place of religion in the public sphere. He has made significant contributions in areas such as human rights, constitutional issues, judicial independence, and Islamic and environmental law.
Sherif is a strong believer in the historical role of Shariah law, which was to protect the weak and powerless from the powerful. And he says Egypt’s legal system, which is built on a combination of Shariah law and the civil Napoleonic Code, demonstrates that both systems can work together within a modern secular state, although not without some tensions.
-30-