JEDDAH/KUWAIT, 25 October 2004 — The Kuwaiti Parliament is scheduled to start its new session tomorrow amid reports that a number of Salafi Islamist deputies plan to demand a constitutional amendment that would make the country an Islamic state.
“The issue cannot be disregarded any longer,” Salafi deputy Walid Al-Tabtabai said at a press conference on the eve of the new parliamentary session.
At issue is a demand by several Salafi politicians, backed by some tribal chiefs, to amend Article II of the constitution that has remained in force since the country’s independence in 1962. That article stipulates that the Shariah or Islamic jurisprudence is one of the sources of legislation in Kuwait. The Salafis want this changed to make Shariah the only source of law in the country.
The Kuwaiti Constitution is the only one in the Arab world to commit the state to democracy and the development of a pluralist system.
The Salafis, however, believe that Islam is incompatible with democracy, a Western system of government based largely on Christian values. They claim that the 1962 constitution was written under British influence and does not reflect the religious and cultural values of the Kuwaiti people.
Tabtabai said his parliamentary group has started collecting signatures to put constitutional amendment on the agenda of the new parliamentary session.
This would be no easy task.
Any constitutional amendment would require the support of the emir as well as a two-third majority in the nation’s unicameral Parliament.
The emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, however, has been consistent in his rejection of any constitutional change that might dilute commitment to a pluralist and democratic system.
At the same time the Salafis, who lost several seats in last year’s general election, would not be able to muster more than 15 votes in the Parliament of 50 members.
Moderate parliamentarians believe that the Salafi move is designed to weaken the government at a time that it is working on a major reform package that could include the choice of a prime minister from outside the ruling family. Also under discussion is a possible amendment of Article VI of the constitution to streamline the procedure of succession.
Moderates also accuse Salafis of raising “artificial issues” to cover their failure to offer credible economic, social or political reform projects.
“Doesn’t the country face other urgent issues of domestic and foreign policy?” asks Muhammad Jassim Al-Saqar, a leading moderate member of the Parliament.
This is not the first time that the Islamists are trying to amend the Kuwaiti Constitution. A similar move in 1992, after the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, petered out within days. This time, however, the Salafis and their allies appear more determined to force a showdown.
The firing shot for the coming showdown came last week when the Salafi bloc called for the impeachment of Information Minister Muhammad Abul-Hassan for his alleged failure to defend “Islamic mores and values”.
The principal charge against Abul-Hassan is that his department has failed to prevent the holding of concerts in which men and women performers appear in front of mixed audiences.
The government had agreed to impose stringent rules banning mixed concerts and dancing as a means of silencing the Salafis. Also to please the Salafis, the government decided not to press for granting the franchise to women, although the emir supports this. But it seems that the concessions given by the government have merely encouraged the hard-liners to aim at a higher prize: The amendment of the constitution.
It is not clear when the minister will be impeached. But a spokesman for the Salafi bloc said three deputies, Tabtabai, Faisal Al-Muslim and Awad Al-Anzi will make the charges against Abul-Hassan as soon as the parliamentary session begins.
