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Chad Difficulties in living together |
ISLAM
Publication of the draft Personal Status Code, backed by the government,
provoked a feverish response from some Muslim groups
The seminar on accepting and putting into practice the Muslim Personal Status Code, was held by the Chad Union of Muslim leaders (UCMT) on 28 October. Discussion and agitation over the whole affair reached its peak. Ordinary folk and those more directly involved in Chad’s democratic movement from all sides, raised leading questions, avoided until that point in national debates — questions which went way beyond the scope of drafting the Code.
Danger of an uprising
The first question raised by the Muslim Code concerns the form the State should take. Do Chadians want to live together in a unitary or in a decentralised State, as set out in the March 1996 Constitution? Much of the information obtained, shows that the unitary state is presently not compatible with what Chad’s citizens really want. They would rather live in federated states, where they can live their under their own social, political and cultural notions. A senior Chadian official from the private sector puts it this way: «In our country, there’s a section of the population who know what they want —namely, the Muslims. For the past one hundred years, they’ve been fighting to retain or even enlarge their “space in the sun”. Other religious groups seem to be sadly lacking in imagination and just don’t or won’t take part in the debate».
The fact is: If some of Chad’s people want to become Arabs, it’s their right; if others feel historically closer to France, it’s their right as well. The important thing is, to respect each other’s aspirations and learn to live together in the same country. With every passing day, however, signs of intolerance become more marked on the Muslim side. They even spit at passing Christians or animists.
A serious incident took place in 1998. A female Chadian student returning from Côte d’Ivoire was hit with a club in Dembé marketplace, simply because her clothes were too close-fitting. In 1999, Claire Boundou, a young woman from Moursal, was stabbed by a Muslim butcher from the Kréda ethnic group, again in the Dembé market. He considered her to be an «adjaba» (street woman), as if prostitution does not exist everywhere in Chad! The very term shows there are Arab prostitutes as well!
In this kind of atmosphere, where the reek of ethnic and religious prejudice arises everywhere, is it really appropriate to impose a Personal Status Code on society? If the secretary-general of the UCMT states that unlike other religions, Islam already has a Personal Status Code, what’s the use of producing another — unless of course, there’s a hidden agenda. Has the Muslim community already been discussing this new Code?
We believe that the State should intervene in the debate, basing itself on the teaching found in the various religions’ holy books. Otherwise, there’s the risk of inventing superficial issues that will divide one side and the other. The important thing is to avoid the appearance of fundamentalism on either side. Already, during an ordinary discussion on the issue, someone said: “...if I was invited into the home of a Muslim, as soon as he asked me to remove my shoes before entering his house, I would leave quietly and go back home, since I have nothing to share with people like that». This already happened in Doba, where the secretary-general of one of the country’s larger municipalities was asked to remove his shoes before entering the home of the chief administrative official. The official refused and went in wearing his shoes. There was supposed to have been a meeting, but it couldn’t take place because the whole atmosphere had been poisoned by the incident.
The State’s role
A second question concerns the legal position of those responsible for drawing up the Muslim Personal Status Code. Is it right for the UCMT, a civil society association, to issue a Code that will govern all the Muslims in the country. In our opinion, the UCMT is simply an association of Muslim leaders, (and not all Muslims, at that), even if at the moment it is actively supported by the Islamic Committee of Chad.
If need be, consideration could be given to their contributing to working out a national Personal Status Code, but not to their proposals for what is after all, a religious law. Many Chadians said that the meeting held at the King Fayçal Mosque in N’Djaména, to consider the Personal Status Code, was a sign of political maturity and readiness to participate in the drawing up of national laws. Its whole purpose, however, was to reject the draft law and suggest another. Such carryings on are suicidal for our country. If every religious groups wanted to make their own laws, where would we be?
Don’t let’s forget the 1996 national referendum (to approve a new Constitution). This was a clear warning that Chad was in danger of coming apart. The Muslims (in the north) voted «yes»; the south voted «no». Aware of this situation, the governing Patriotic Movement for Salvation (MPS) established the Republican Front, to plug the cracks threatening national unity. Nowadays, the government is conspicuous by its silence, thus, hiding the authorities’ official position. For one anonymous Arab businessman, however, there is no longer any great hurry. «We Arabs are now simply spectators in the spread of Islam across our country. The way things are, Islam is a force for unification rather than division. These foqoha (“marginals”) are wasting their time», he concludes.
Many people believe that some Muslim factions are manipulating the situation, wanting to carve themselves out a political base. Starting up the current debate within Chad’s electoral context is not without cost. «We are mixing with politicians here. Chad’s Muslims are people basically respectful of human values», states a well-placed Muslim Chadian businessman. This leads to the conclusion that apart from Bornouans and Chad Bedouin Arabs, the ancestors of those who tooth and nail defended their animist Muné against destruction by Muslim conquerors in the XIII century, must be turning in their graves.
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