Islamic Jurisdiction: Sharie'a Courts and the Future of Public Policy
| Autor | Mohamed Arafa |
| Páginas | 6-26 |
Rev. direitos fundam. democ., v. 25, n. 1 p. 6-26, jan./abr. 2020.
DOI: 10.25192/issn.1982-0496.rdfd.v25i11829
ISSN 1982-0496
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
ISLAMIC JURISDICTION: SHARIE‘A COURTS AND THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC
POLICY
JURISDIÇÃO ISLÂMICA: OS TRIBUNAIS DE SHARIA E O FUTURO DA POLÍTICA
PÚBLICA
Mohamed Abdelhamied Ahmed Abdou Arafa
Possui graduação em Bachelor of Laws, LL.B. pela Alexandria University(2006) e
doutorado em Juridical Science pela Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of
Law(2013). Atualmente é professor adjunto da Indiana University, Professor visitante
de matérias no Direito da The British University School of Law, Professor assistente da
Alexandria University e Professor visitante de matérias no direito da Arab Academy for
Science, Technology & Maritime Transport.
Resumo
O direito egípcio preservou o sistema islâmico de direito inter-
religioso, no qual as sociedades muçulmana, cristã e judaica são
governadas cada qual por seus próprios tribunais e leis. Porém, no
decorrer do século XX, tal separação foi abolida e a aplicação das
leis não-muçulmanas foi limitada a questões de casamento e
divórcio, e, ainda, somente nos casos em que os cônjuges não-
muçulmanos compartilhassem o rito da mesma religião. Em todos os
outros, aplica-se o direito islâmico (Sharia). Além disso, as leis não-
muçulmanas podem não ser aplicadas se violarem a “política
pública” egípcia, conceito europeu que se refere aos fundamentos de
uma ordem jurídica nacional. A política pública egípcia pode ser
definida por aqueles princípios que são indispensáveis ao direito
islâmico. Este artigo analisa, com base na jurisprudência e na
doutrina jurídica egípcia, o status do egípcio não muçulmano na
moderna Lei do Status Pessoal. O conceito de política pública
desempenha um papel fundamental na compreensão da mecânica
do direito inter-religioso no Egito. As políticas públicas servem como
um barômetro jurídico da coexistência de comunidades muçulmanas
e não muçulmanas no Egito.
Palavras-chave: Direito Islâmico, Sistema jurídico, Egito, Política
Pública, Direito Penal, Direito de Família.
Abstract
Egyptian law has preserved the Islamic system of interreligious law
in which the Muslim, Christian and Jewish societies are governed by
their own courts and their own laws. In the course of the twentieth
century, but, these separate courts were abolished and the
application of non-Muslim laws was limited to matters of marriage and
MOHAMED ABDELHAMIED AHMED ABDOU ARAFA
7
Revista de Direitos Fundamentais & Democracia, Curitiba, v. 25, n. 1, p. 6-26, jan./abr., de 2020.
divorce, and then only if the non-Muslim spouses share the rite and
sect of the same religion. In all other cases Islamic law (Sharie‘a)
applies. In addition, non-Muslim laws may not be applied if they
infringe Egyptian 'public policy', a European concept which refers to
the fundamentals of a national legal order. Egyptian public policy can
be defined as those principles which are indispensable in Islamic law.
This paper, analyze the status of the non-Muslim Egyptian in modern
personal status law, based on Egyptian case law and legal literature.
The concept of public policy plays a key role in understanding the
mechanics of interreligious law in Egypt. It argues that public policy
serves as a legal barometer of the coexistence between Muslim and
non-Muslim communities in Egypt.
Keywords: Islamic law, Sharie‘a, Legal System, Egypt, Public Policy,
Criminal Law, Family Law.
I – Introduction and Overview
Recently the issue of the Sharie‘a courts has been drawing the attention of the Western
media, especially in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Legal scholars and legal activists
are quite reluctant to contribute to the discourse held mostly by reporters, religious figures and
politicians. This could be why the matter is covered cursorily resting upon emotional, prejudiced
and politically inspired debates and valuations. Moreover, the Sharie‘a court’s jurisdiction is
not always obviously specified and fundamentally various issues of these courts get mixed and
sometimes led to the conflict of laws (choice of law) questions.
In Contemporary Egypt, the Muslims, Christians and Jews are governed by the
personal status laws of their societies. This implies that the personal status (family law) of
Egypt’s legal subjects is based on their belonging to a religious community. In this respect, a
person without religion is a legal non-entity. The Egyptian legal literature refers to the
coexistence of religious rules as the ta‘addud al-shara‘ (plurality of “religious” laws), instead
using the term 'interreligious law,' which is common in most European literature. In this paper,
will examine the relations and tensions between these legal spheres in Egypt. What if the laws
of one religious community contradict (challenge) or violate the values of another community?
Is there a hierarchy among these laws? Which law applies in case of conversion to the religion
of another community or in case of intermarriage between members of different communities?
Also, it will focus on conflict of laws, that is the legal procedure used to determine which law is
applicable in a case in which more than one law applies to a situation (e.g., the marriage
between a Catholic and a Copt or between a Copt and a Muslim).
Readers – who are not lawyers – should note that the term conflict of laws is typically
booked for the field of private international law, which deals with conflicts between laws of
different countries. This article, however, discusses the issue of the conflicts between laws of
different religious communities within a single country (the procedure to solve these conflicts
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