THE PLACE OF ISLAMIC LAW IN TANZANIA MAINLAND.
Introduction:
Islam is one of the Universal religions of the world. As a religion, Islam is governed by an assortment of divine laws known as shariah of which its sources are mainly attributed to the divine revelations in the Holy Qur’an and traditions of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). This package is what forms the basis of the spiritual, economic, political and social guidance of Muslims. Thus, all the laws of Islam have to be annexed to and borne of the Holy texts. Contrary to this, such laws would be regarded as un-Islamic.
On the other hand, as regards the modern states, the mother of all laws is the constitution. It therefore follows that any law of the land must be in conformity with the Constitution; otherwise, such a law would be declared unconstitutional or ultra vires the constitution and would be of no legal effect. In other words, no state has a right to enact any laws or rather provide for the application of the same, unless such laws have been expressly or impliedly guaranteed by the constitution.
Tanzania is governed by the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania 1977.This Constitution provides a right to Freedom of religion which includes inter alia, choice in matters of religion and change of religion. From this provision, it may be inferred that, Islam, as a religion, is recognized in Tanzania.
The United Republic of Tanzania is a product of a union between Zanzibar and Tanganyika. The union consists of two governments: the union government and the government of Zanzibar. As a result of this, Islamic law in Tanzania is applied in two different modes. In the isles of Unguja and Pemba i.e. Zanzibar, Islamic law is governed by a separate system of courts known as Kadhi’s courts. However, these courts are limited to Islamic matters related to personal status, marriage, divorce and inheritance in proceedings in which all parties profess the Muslim religion. On the other hand, in Tanzania mainland, there are no separate courts for the application of Islamic law. The single hierarchy of courts hears and determines disputes regarding both Muslim and non-Muslim or rather secular matters of interest.
This paper will chiefly focus on the application of Islamic law in Tanzania mainland, although reference will be made to Islamic law in Zanzibar where appropriate. Take my hand and let me lead you through this. The paper will discuss the application of Islamic law during colonization and post -colonial period including the present state.
In other words, the states will have all the powers that are not appointed to the national government, by the Articles of Confederation. According to Article 9, “The national congress will have the power to declare war, negotiate foreign treaties, settle disputes between states, regulate currency, direct the operations of land and naval forces, borrow money from the states.” (Williamsburg, 2009) An elaboration of this is that, the national government is limited to the powers, that are stated above, and has no control of anything else. Since the national government had little to no control over any of the states, laws that were past inside of these states became unjust and faced little repercussions from the national government, because of the limitations that were put into place by the articles of confederation.
There is much debate in political theory about the definition of a constitution. Generally, it is considered as a “single governing document”. If that is the case, then the U.S. Constitution is the oldest in the world (Berry, 2011). The Framers, upon writing it, aimed to create a document that would stand the test of time. Despite changes in population size, racial and religious components, and even the modern day technology, the objective has clearly been achieved. Elkins claims that this is primarily due to its flexibility. Judicial review interprets the document with the rapidly changing society in mind (as cited in Garza, 2008). Many state constitutions, on the other hand, have not survived as long. Since many have been written with specific people and localities in mind, they have not been able to adapt to change well. Louisiana, for example, has had 11 state constitutions. It is common today, for states to consider overhauling their current constitutions (Morris, Henson, & Fackler, 2011).
1. Our great country was founded upon a high set of principles, values, and laws. Many of these are easily seen when looking at the United States constitution. The first ten amendments are what is commonly known as the Bill of Rights. This is good and all, but until the fourteenth amendment was passed, the Bill of Rights only was applied to the Federal government. The 14th amendment has a clause that says, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The Supreme Court ruled against “Total Incorporation”, but instead ruled in favor of “Selective Incorporation”. This meaning that the Supreme Court would define the constitutionality of the treatment of a citizen by the state.
The U.S. Constitution is the framework of our government that defines its powers and limitations, and it describes the relationship between the citizens of the country and the government at national, state and local levels. The U.S. Constitution defines what government can and cannot do, but it does not, however, regulate the behavior of private citizens. Therefore, only government can violate the individual constitutional rights. The principle that only the federal, state, or local governments can violate constitutional rights is called state action. State action also refers to the indirect state involvement when activity is a public function or when private conduct becomes significantly involved with conduct by the government. State action is the main requirement for determining
It is divided into 4 key areas, laws relating to personal acts of worship, laws relating to commercial dealings, laws relating to marriage and divorce and penal laws. Compared to the 10 Commandments which is concise and simple, the Sharia Law is quite extensive and goes into personal matter such as hygiene, diet, dress code and sexual matters, whereas the 10 Commandment primarily cover ways to avoid sin. The 10 Commandments and the Sharia Law both condemn idolatry, murder, adultery, theft, the intentional desire and longing for immoral sexuality and the wanting or taking of someone’s property. The Qur’an has stated multiple punishments for not following the Sharia Law, these include beheading/crucifixion (Qur’an 5:33), flogging (Qur’an 24:2) and hellfire (Qur;an 40:70-72). This is different to the 10 Commandments as there are no punishments for not following the 10 Commandments. Although the 10 Commandments and the Sharia Law are two different aspects of the ethical dimension of Catholicism and Islam, through the evaluation of those ethical rules, there are a number of similarities and difference noted which link the two religions
State constitutions follow what is listed under the United States Constitution, but they add in more detail rules and regulations of what the United States Constitution does not put in. California and Arizona and other states add what applies to their residents to their constitution.
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Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Across the world there are countless religions, new and old, each having their own unique traditions and laws that believers abide by. As defined by World History, Sharia, the Arabic word meaning “the path” or “the way”, alludes to traditional Islamic law. (Ellis, Esler, and Beers, 255) Sharia originates within the Koran, the holy book of Islam, which Muslims consider the unaltered word of God. Along with the Koran, Sharia is derived from the teachings and examples set by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, who Muslims view as the perfect man of faith. Muslims believe that God revealed his true conviction to Muhammad, who in turn was to spread the commands of God through the Koran. Between Muhammad’s death in the seventh century and leading up to the tenth century, many Islamic scholars worked to understand Sharia in its entirety, and apply it to the rapidly expanding Muslim Empire of the time (Dunn, 57). Sharia played a key role in uniting the Islamic Empire by serving as the precedent which dictated laws concerning both private and public behavior.
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