Islamization of the Sudan laws and constitution: its allure and its impracticability

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Periodical article

Title:	Islamization of the Sudan laws and constitution: its allure and its impracticability
Author:	Tier, Akolda M.
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Verfassung und Recht in Übersee
Volume:	25
Issue:	2
Pages:	199-219
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sudan
Subjects:	conflict of laws Islamic law law Shari'a
Abstract:	The issue of the place of Islamic or Sharia law in the Sudan dates back to the Anglo-Egyptian condominium rule (1899-1956), but gained new significance after independence. Starting as a personal law for Muslims, Sharia law gradually ventured into other areas of law and into some aspects of the Sudanese constitution. This article argues that the 'mixed' civil, Sharia and customary jurisdictions have not been properly adjusted to the needs of the pluralist Sudanese society. This failure started in the 1960s with the extension of Sharia law to matrimonial disputes in which at least one of the parties is non-Muslim. The new critical areas in the Islamization of Sudanese law are the territorial laws and the constitution. Here, Islamization raises the fundamental problems of democracy, secularism and human rights. Attention is paid in particular to the 1973 Constitution, the Evidence Act 1983, the Judgment (Basic Rules) Act 1983, and the Criminal Act 1991. Notes, ref., sum. (p. 113-114).