Barnabas Aid - International Headquarters River Street, Pewsey, Wilthire. Phone: +44 1672 565030 Latitude: 51 deg 23 min 18 sec N Longitude: 1 deg 45 min 48 sec W .
Home
News
Archives
Sudan’s next constitution will be “100% ...

Email:

Sudan’s next constitution will be “100% Islamic” as “template” for others

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
 refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

Published: 10:00 GMT Daylight Time - Thursday 12 July 2012

Sudan’s next constitution will be “100% Islamic” as “template” for others

Country/Region: Sudan, Middle East and North Africa

Omar_Hassan_Ahmad_al-Bashir_4X3.jpg
President of Sudan,
Omar Hassan al-Bashir

Sudan’s president has said the country’s next constitution will be “100% Islamic” to set an example for neighbouring countries, as new political orders are formed following the Arab Spring.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s statement, made on Saturday (7 July), comes amid historic change in several North African countries, which have seen Islamist parties exerting greater political influence and gaining positions of power.

He said:

We want to present a constitution that serves as a template to those around us. And our template is clear, a 100 per cent Islamic constitution, without communism or secularism or Western [influences].

The content of the new constitutions of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya is being fiercely debated, and those documents will lay the foundations for the new orders that are being established following the overthrow of the former regimes; Islamists in those countries are pushing for sharia to be enshrined as the main source of legislation, while liberals want to see secular codes.

President Bashir’s latest statement reinforces earlier pronouncements that Sudan would adopt an entirely Islamic constitution and strengthen sharia law after the South seceded. Sharia is already in force in Sudan, which is 98% Muslim, but the president seems intent on formalising its authority and enforcing it more strictly, making the position of the Christian minority increasingly vulnerable.

On Saturday, he said:

And we tell non-Muslims, nothing will preserve your rights except for Islamic sharia because it is just.

Both history and contemporary evidence shows that the rights of non-Muslims are not preserved under sharia, which in fact gives Christians and Jews dhimmi status; they are treated as second-class citizens, are required to pay the jizya, a humiliating tax, and suffer many forms of discrimination and injustice. 

Since the secession of the mainly Christian South Sudan and strengthening of the Islamic character of Sudan, churches and other Christian property in the latter have been destroyed, and Christian converts from a Muslim background are being targeted and having their property – and even their spouses – taken from them.

President Bashir did not give a target date for the new constitution but said that it would be drafted by a committee comprising all parties and religious sects. It seems highly unlikely, however, that Christians will be included in this process.

The president’s increasingly hard-line stance comes as he faces mounting pressure from opposition parties, who have called for strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations to overthrow his regime. Among other protests, they have been calling for greater freedoms in the country.

Help us: Share this article

Email:

Sudan’s next constitution will be “100% Islamic” as “template” for others

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
 refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

christian, persecution, charity, church, persecuted, sookhdeo, Islam

Other articles

Latest Emergency

/_images_files/content/article_files/Eritrea/201305/Eritrean-Christian-refugee-torture-wounds-4X3.jpg

Follow Barnabas

or

receive news & appeal emails as they are published

From Twitter

From Twitter_icon
Read more...

Daily prayer

Daily prayer_icon

  • On 20 January 2013 the Eritrean security police raided the homes of various Christians and arrested 50 people. One of them was a lady of 85, detained for hosting an underground church in her house. They joined hundreds of other believers currently held in Eritrean prisons, some of them in appalling conditions. Many more have fled the country to escape the persecution and have ended up in prison in Egypt, where they have been subjected to rape, beatings and starvation. Pray for all those Eritrean Christians suffering for their faith in their own country and beyond, that the Lord will be their help and shield (Psalm 33:20). Pray too for a prison ministry, supported by Barnabas, that visits and helps Eritrean Christians jailed in Egypt. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed 6 hours ago

  • Pray for the families of Abdoulaye and Abakachi, two converts from Islam to Christianity who were shot dead by Islamists in northern Cameroon. They were travelling with two other converts around Lake Chad on 19 February when their vehicle was stopped by four armed men who were looking for Abdoulaye. He was the leader of the converts from the Kotoko people group and had last year received a threat from militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The gunmen opened fire, killing Abakachi on the spot. Abdoulaye and another man were also shot; Abdoulaye later died of his injuries. He left a wife and 13 children; Abakachi left a wife and four children. Boko Haram had previously warned all Christian converts in northern Cameroon to return to Islam or “face Allah’s wrath”. Pray that the Lord will protect these vulnerable believers. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Thu, May 2013 00:00

  • Give thanks to the Lord for the courage and boldness of the Christians in North Korea who carry on witnessing for Christ despite the savage penalties imposed by the Communist regime. Those who share their faith or distribute Bibles risk torture and probable execution if they are caught, and their families may be dispatched to the country’s infamous labour camps to be starved or worked to death. Yet remarkably, the Church in North Korea is growing well, and some who have fled abroad and become Christians there have even gone back to share Christ with family and friends in their poverty and distress. Pray that God will keep His brave witnesses from harm and continue to add to their number (Acts 2:47). Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Wed, May 2013 00:00

  • Mohamed Ibaouene (36), a convert from Islam to Christianity, was convicted in July 2012 of “proselytising” in Algeria. The verdict was passed in his absence and without his knowledge. He was later sentenced to a year in prison and fined 50,000 dinars (£420; US$630). Mohamed challenged the conviction, and on 13 February 2013 the appeal court rescinded the jail term but doubled his fine. A Muslim colleague had brought the accusation against Mohamed after the latter refused to renounce Christ. Pray for justice for Mohamed and that the rights of Algerians to freedom of religion will be respected both by other citizens and by the law. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Tue, May 2013 00:00

  • The various measures recently taken against Christian churches and institutions by the government of Sudan add up to a ruthless campaign that may be intended to eradicate Christianity from the country altogether. They were launched by a media drive against alleged “Christianisation” and have focused in particular on those involved in Christian ministry. Numerous church buildings have been demolished, and Christian literature has been seized. President al-Bashir has declared his intention of making Sudan entirely Islamic and of strengthening the place of sharia. Pray that God will frustrate the plans of the authorities and that the churches of Sudan will remain faithful in the face of intimidation. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Mon, May 2013 00:00

Read more...

Quick navigation

© Barnabas Aid 1997 - 2013 All rights reserved.
Barnabas Aid is a registered trade mark