Press Release
Vaguely Phrasing the Constitution without Specifying the Islamic Ruling Regarding Each Article Does Not Change the Secular Nature of the Planned Egyptian Constitution

Following the decision of the constitutional drafting committee (The Constituent Assembly entrusted with drafting a new constitution for the country) to add in Article (36) to the new Egyptian constitution which states, "The state is committed to taking all constitutional and executive measures to ensure equality of women with men in all walks of political, cultural, economic and social life, without contradicting the rules of Islamic Law. The state will provide all necessary mothers and children services, healthcare and the right to inheritance and will ensure a balance between the woman's family responsibilities and her work in the society). In light of the above, a statement expressing grave concerns regarding this article was issued by one hundred judicial parties and organisations. They considered article (36) a violation of the rights of women enshrined in international covenants through restricting the concept of equality by the rules of Shariah.

The women's section of the Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir commented in response to the constitutional drafting committee and the secular organizations in Egypt with the following:

Firstly: The Constituent Assembly has previously declared that it will draft a constitution which is taken from the previous constitutions of Egypt as well as constitutions of other countries, such as Switzerland, Germany and South Africa. Thus the foundations upon which this constitution is established is other than Islam, this makes it an un-Islamic constitution, in fact it is a secular constitution, Allah (SWT) says:

(أَفَمَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَى تَقْوَى مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٍ خَيْرٌ أَمْ مَنْ أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَى شَفَا جُرُفٍ هَارٍ فَانْهَارَ بِهِ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ)

(Then is one who laid the foundation of his building on righteousness [with fear] from Allah and [seeking] His approval better or one who laid the foundation of his building on the edge of a bank about to collapse, so it collapsed with him into the fire of Hell? And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people) TMQ [9:109]

Secondly: Article (36) has no link with Islam and the phrase (without contradicting the rules of Islamic Law) was intrusively crammed into the constitution. The article addresses equality between women and men, which is a western concept. Equality between men and women is not an issue to be debated in Muslim societies because the equality of women to men or vice versa has no bearing on the social life; it is not even a potential problem in the Islamic way of life. No Muslim calls for this except as an imitation to the west, where the natural rights of women as a human being were abused, thereby Western women had to struggle to attain these rights and have taken the call to equality as the route to these rights. Islam on the other hand has no link to this malignant concept (equality).

Thirdly: Essentially, vague general phrases were drafted in the new Egyptian constitution by a committee which can only envisage the constitution to be secular and in line with the Western life style. Following that, some secular organisations which hate Islam, with the backing of America - the main player in the Egyptian arena - raised the issue of the Islamisization of the new constitution on the pretext of the insertion of the above mentioned phrase. All this is a manoeuvre aimed at misleading the people into thinking that the new constitution contains Islamic phrases even if they are vague and general such as (without contradicting the rules of Islamic Law), therefore, presenting it to be more Islamic than the constitution of the former dictator. This might lead the naive into thinking that the constitution has become Islamic and distract the sincere people in Egypt who are eagerly awaiting the Islamic rule from working to demand that implementation of Shariah and settle with the beat of fancy phrases while the secular, republican civil rule continues.

The Islamic constitution is that which is purely taken from non-other than the rules of Islam to be implemented by the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" which is retuning soon by the will of Allah (SWT). The Khilafah "Caliphate" will protect the rights and dignity of women within the framework of a Social System designed by Allah the Knowing and Acquainted to ensure the cohesion and advancement of the community.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has a draft constitution which it offers to the Ummah and has outlined in it the evidences for each one of the articles. It is a pure Islamic constitution with Islamic rules that demonstrate the practical implementation of Islam on the state and society.

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Central Media Representative, Hizb-ut Tahrir