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The Eritrean Islamic Congress Party

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Published on Sunday, 03 August 2014 09:41

This is a continuation of my analysis on the Eritrean political Parties within the EDA that started way back in time at Assenna. I did not get the chance to complete my work at Assenna because it has decided rejecting my work without explanation.

This is my second article away from Assenna that has rejected my article “Religion and Women” without explanation. Assenna has decided to censor my work and I am not going to convince it posting my articles because I don’t have time for this. Instead I am going to work with other more independent minded, neutral and democratic websites and facebooks from now on.

Please visit my last article “Religion and women” at the website of THE DEMOCRATIC THE LIBERTAION OF ERITREAN KUNAMA (DMLEK) AT http://www.mesel-biherat.com/DMLEK/ and in my facebook from now on. You can also read me at the Eritrean Youth for Change (EYC) and Eritrean Youth Association facebooks, hopefully this will work for now.

In the mean time I have asked Assenna to explain why it took such an action against my work and it has not responded yet. I have decided to wait for a while until it responds for the sake of the resistance before I release my opinion on the matter. In the mean time, I thank the Kunama website and the Eritrean facebooks for giving me the chance to continue helping the struggle through writing.

The Eritrean Islamic Congress is one of the political parties within the EDA. According to the party’s website; “The Eritrean Islamic Congress is a political and public organization, working to reform the Eritrean political and social situation, to achieve freedom, justice and uphold the principles of consultation and uphold the values of religion and virtue and establish security and stability. In addition, to organize the citizens who believe in its principles, objectives and political programs and protecting them. “

This political party has the following vision in Eritrea:

“Principles: Eritrean Islamic Congress deals with the reality of Eritrean situation based on the diversity of cultural, social, economic and civilization, commencing from the following principles:

1) Religion and its values, purposes and norms which are the key components of the decent Eritrean society. “

Comment: This sounds good as long as it is limited to securing the freedom of the people in freely practicing their religious beliefs in the society. The question here is if this party separates religion from politics, which is not very clear from principle (1). I agree that religious values were key components of any society including ours but does this party suggest religions staying away from politics or not? Does it consider religion as a private phenomenon or as political as well?

2) Shura, justice and freedom, equality and human dignity, are the basic principles of politics, governance and organization.

Comment: Shura justice is now part of the party’s principle (2) and this provokes me to research on what SHURA JUSTICE may be.

“Shura (Arabic: شورى shūrā) is an Arabic word for "consultation". The Quran and Muhammad encourage Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with those who will be affected by that decision.

Shura is mentioned three times in the Quran as a praiseworthy activity, and is a word often used in organizing the affairs of a masjid, and an Islamic organization, and in parliaments on democratic votes. “

Comment: It so seems like Shura justice depends on communal consultation instead of constitutional justice on a given case so to say. Obviously, the communities affected by this justice system may then be the Moslems and the consultants may be the elders of that community or the most religious elements of the same. The question is how the community is expected to apply this justice system and based on what: Is it based on the Sharia or a different form of Islamic law that is obscure so far in this information?

A source of information states: “Shura in Islam: Some modern Sunni Muslims believe that Islam requires all decisions made by and for the Muslim societies to be made by shura of the Muslim community and believe this to be the basis for implementing representative democracy. Traditionally however, the Amir/Sultan/Khalifa would consult with his Wazirs (Advisors) and make a decision, after taking into consideration their opinions.

Shia Muslims say that Islam requires submission to existing rulers, however they are chosen, so long as they govern according to sharia or Islamic law. This is a more traditional approach, characteristic of many centuries of Islamic history.”
The difference between the two appears more semantic than actual—the latter accept that the rulers must be accounted in all aspects of ruling, to ensure affairs are managed in the best possible way whether decisions were taken through consultation or not.”

Comment: Ultimately the two types of said justice system appear very much the same with the exception that the rulers of a society take the responsibility of justice in the second Islamic denomination (Shia). The rulers are supposed to be chosen according to the Sharia and thus most probably carry on the Sharia law in delivering justice to the community. The community does its justice in the first arrangement, in what still appears of being based on Sharia law. Which one of these two does the Eritrean Islamic Congress party want to practice is still unknown but it appears that it supports the application of Sharia either way. In whatever way the issue may be put under for discussion, this law strictly applies to Moslem communities and one wonders how the Party will manage the diversified Eritrean society should it take power in Eritrea through democratic election. Will Eritrea have two constitutions under the leadership of this political party (for the Christians and Moslems)? Is it possible to apply two religion based constitutions in diverse country such as Eritrea? Has this type of governance ever been practical in any other society in history?
“Shura and contemporary Muslim-majority states
In some Muslim nations, shuras play a role in the constitution or governance. Some Muslim nations, such as Turkey, are secular democracies, and (Morocco) is a constitutional monarchy. They could thus be said to be ruled by one version of shura. For instance, the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan is officially called the Majlis-i-Shura, although the Constitution uses various spellings of the term. In Egypt, the Upper House of Parliament is known as the Shura Council. The People's Consultative Assembly in Indonesia is called Majlis Permusyawaratan Rakyat in Indonesian language. The word musyawarat is derived from shura/syawara.
In some monarchies and clerical regimes, there is a shura with an advisory or consultative role. Saudi Arabia, a monarchy, was given a shura council, the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, in 1993; there are now 150 members. All real power is held by the King, who is elected by family members. Oman, also a monarchy has a shura council; all members are elected except the president, who is appointed by the Sultan. The council can only offer advice, which may be refused if vetoed by the Sultan.

In Iran,a council called the assembly of experts has the ability to impeach the supreme leader. In addition to that, a general shura wields legislative powers, equivalent to a modern day Western parliament.

Shuras have also been a feature of revolutions in Islamic societies, such as in the Iranian revolution of 1979, where they were formed by workers and held considerable power over parts of the economy for a year before being dismantled. Shuras were similarly a feature of the uprisings in Iraq[5][6] in 1991, where they functioned as a form of participatory democracy.”

Comment: Now this being the case in the majority Moslem countries, what should be done in societies that are half Christians and half Moslems like ours? How may this political party apply the Shura in our society and what is it suggesting to do with the non-Moslem portions of our country? So far there is nothing in its vision that explains these matters clearly.

“What is the shura principle in Islam? ... It is predicated on three basic precepts. First, that all persons in any given society are equal in human and civil rights. Second, that public issues are best decided by majority view. And third, that the three other principles of justice, equality and human dignity, which constitute Islam's moral core, ... are best realized, in personal as well as public life, under shura governance.”
Comment: Are women going to be considered equal to men in this justice system? Do they have the same rights as men? To my understanding, the marriage rules for women and men is always in favor of men in Islam: A man has the right to marry four women while the women cannot for example and this does not guarantee the equality of women in Islamic societies leaving the many other controversial issues associated with the religion aside for now. Second, what may be said majority view in Islamic societies that considers women unequal to men? One way or another I see great danger to our women in the future in this justice configuartion. Third, if women were to be judged differently to men, how can the concept of equality and justice apply in this situation? How can women be dignified while considered different in this situation?
5) Arabic and Tigrinya languages are the two national official languages in Eritrea but with a consideration of other local dialects.

Comment: This has been the norm of the Eritrean life since 1952 and I have written few articles on this at Assenna. I don’t need to discuss this in detail here. What appears different in this situation is the fact that this political party leaves a room for considering other native languages or dialects for the national language status. I found this consideration very important to the people in future Eritrea specially if applied in practice because I believe our native languages must get the same respect as Arabic to say the least.

“Eritrean Islamic Congress works to achieve the following objectives:
2. Consolidate the values of religion and good morals in the Eritrean society. “

Comment: It is not clear what good morals is supposed to mean and who decides this in a given society? Do women have the same deciding power as men in here? Do said morals conform to religious values in this case and what may the values be? How good are said values to women in terms of justice, equality and freedom?

“7. Cooperation and integration with the Arab, African and international interests so as to
ensure Eritrea interests. “

Comment: Although the cooperation part sounds good in this article, I cannot understand what the integration may mean in this context. Integration is taught to mean one of the following according to a source from the Net:
1. an act or instance of incorporating or combining into a whole.
2. an act or instance of integrating a racial or other ethnic group.
3. behavior that is in harmony with the environment.
Question: What exactly does this political party want to do with its concept of Integration? I believe this must be clearly answered and taught by the Party in order to avoid confusion.

In conclusion; a clean political society applies democracy completely free of religion and ethnic affiliation and I have no idea how we Eritreans can manage such a democracy by mixing up religion with politics. The Eritrean Islamic Congress certainly claims to be democratic as a member party of the EDA but yet, it wants to treat the Moslem Eritreans differently from the other portions of the society through the Shura justice system. It advocates equality of all people in a society but yet, treats men better than women by the merit of its Islamic program. By suggesting the Shura justice system in the Moslem portion of our society, this political party forecasts accommodating two constitutions in the diversified Eritrean society, where in fact societies should adopt a common constitution to guarantee equality of its members. I found it very contradictive as such and I cannot see this party delivering equal justice to men and women because the Shura does not. I cannot see this party delivering freedom in Eritrea while at the same time forecasting of governing it with two separate constitutions. I don’t see it as a neutral political force because it adopts Islamic law in our diversified society where half ot its composition are Christians by religious identification. Further, its concept of integration with the Arabs for instance is not clear and more information is necessary for us to understand what this is about. Thank you

Fetsum Abraham