Constitution committee discusses role of Al-Azhar
Talk about Al-Azhar's status in the constitution has been taking place in the 50-member committee tasked with amending and finalizing the constitution, amidst contested Islamist representation.
Mohamed Abdel Salam, the legal adviser of the Al-Azhar Sheikh and rapporteur of the state and political pillars subcommittee, said that the position of Al-Azhar in the final document is being negotiated around an article in the section about society's driving principles, the state-run Mddle East News Agency reported.
Prior to the work of the 50-member committee, a 10-expert committee had recommended that the Supreme Constitutional Court be the sole arbiter on the constitutionality of laws. This proposition removes Al-Azhar's role as an arbiter on the interpretation of Sharia, which was one of the stipulations of the 2012 Constitution drafted by a mostly Islamist constituent assembly.
Abdel Salam was also quoted by MENA as saying that the Salafi Nour Party presence in the committee is important so that the constitution is a representative document.
The Nour Party’s representative Bassam al-Zarqa, the sole representative of any Islamist party on the committee, walked out of a meeting on Monday over disagreements regarding Article 219, which defines the principles of Sharia.
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