Thanks, NATO.
(The Australian) — HAMZA Abu Fas is remarkably relaxed about his new role as Libya’s Minister for Religious Affairs — responsible for returning to traditional sharia law after 42 years of erratic and self-interested interpretation of Islam by slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Sitting on the floor of his lounge room in Khoms, an hour’s drive from the capital, Tripoli, Professor Fas — a leading scholar on Islam and a professor in the Faculty of Law in Tripoli — talks with ease about the new Libya. “Libya was Islamic before Gaddafi, during Gaddafi and after Gaddafi,” he tells The Australian.
“Gaddafi said he supported sharia law as set out in the Koran but he was a liar. He did things that were not part of sharia.”
The new Libyan leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, has announced that a return to sharia law will be one of his priorities. Mr Jalil said: “As an Islamic country, we adopt sharia as the principal law. Any law that violates sharia is null and void legally.”
Professor Fas says the new government will abandon the veto Gaddafi granted a first wife over her husband having additional spouses. “Sharia says we do not need the approval of the first wife,” Professor Fas says.
What do you say to the fact that under sharia law a woman is not equal? “The woman is not equal to the man in the body. The man cannot have children. They are not equal.”
Professor Fas will push for an expansion of “Islamic banks”, which charge no interest and share losses with a borrower if an investment goes bad. “In the future, we hope all banks will be Islamic,” he says. “If more Islamic banks open in Libya, more people will want to go to them. If you lose your money, the bank loses with you. If you win, the bank wins with you. The Islamic bank is best for all people. All Europeans and Australian people will realise the best solution for banks is Islamic banks.”
Under Gaddafi, one major Islamic bank funded itself by dealing in cars and real estate.
Professor Fas also wants a return to corporal punishment. Asked whether he agreed with people having their hands cut off as punishment, he says: “If this happens it will only happen once because other people will not want it to happen again and will not commit theft.”