August 26, 2012
by AFP
Source:muslimvillage.com
Bamako -The creation of a religious affairs ministry in Mali shows the growing influence of Muslims in politics in the secular nation which has lost over half its territory to Islamic extremists, observers said.
“Religion enters government,” wrote the private ‘Indicateur du Renouveau’ newspaper on Wednesday, after a government shake up by transition President Dioncounda Traore to better deal with the nation’s mounting crises.
The new portfolio will be led by Yacouba Traore, a member of the country’s Islamic High Council (IHC) which has been negotiating with the armed Islamist groups.
According to the newspaper this “confirms the importance of the religious debate and the rise of Islamism in society” marking a “victory for the IHC which has always demanded the creation of this department”.
More victories
It is not the first political victory for the council, which in 2011 succeeded in getting a controversial new family law revised, cutting out sections which would have given greater freedoms and rights to women.
An initial version adopted by the National Assembly in 2009 had removed phrases that a woman must obey her husband, increased the legal age of marriage and gave greater rights to women in case of divorce or inheritance.
However this sparked angry protests in the nation which is 90% Muslim and the law was sent back to parliament for revision.
“It is an open secret. The Religious Affairs Ministry is a request from the ICH,” the main Islamic organisation in Mali, said sociologist Ali Samake.
On 12 August, about a week before the president unveiled the new unity government, the ICH held a rally for peace in Bamako which attracted up to 50,000 people.
Support
Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra, who held onto his position despite calls for his resignation from much of the political class, appeared on the flanks of ICH president Mahmoud Dicko in a sign of his support for the Muslim leaders.
In political circles, some say the controversial Diarra was saved due to his support from the influential religious group.
The ICH has also taken a leading role in negotiating with the extremists who occupied the north of the country in late March in the chaos following a coup d’etat in Bamako in which president Amadou Toure was ousted.
The armed Islamist groups have openly allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and are enforcing strict sharia law.
“We are already an Islamic state and the Taliban of Afghanistan are our model,” spokesperson Senda Ould Bouamama of Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) said in an interview with Swiss and Belgian newspapers published on Monday.
1 comment:
Although I agree with the Ansar Dine destroying the shrines, I totally disagree with their other attempts at applying the shariah. There is tremendous ignorance amongst Muslims about Islam. This includes those who are attempting to apply the shariah. It was not acceptable for the Ansar Dine to stone the unmarried couple. Stoning is only for those who are married, but have marriage relations with someone else. For those who have marriage relations but are not married the punishment in Shariah is a public whipping-not stoning! This is just one example of why any Muslim who wants to apply Shariah should not be allowed to apply it. Only those who have a deep knowledge of Shariah should apply it. The stoning of the unmarried couple was murder.
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