Islam vs. Shariya Law

Interesting conversation today about how Shariya Law has caused Sudan to be less Islamic.

We sat talking this evening, after the second meal of meat and more meat - lamb, slaughtered this morning. The man, who I'm not sure I know, is clearly related to my uncle's wife. He has the same features I see in my cousin's faces, the high cheekbones, slightly flat nose. He is very handsome, and I'm guessing around 60 years old. My auntie sat talking with us. She spoke in Arabic, he spoke in English and Arabic, stopping occasionally to translate for me or for my auntie. I said what I could in Arabic, but spoke mostly in English, aware that I could never express my strong feelings about Sudanese society in my broken Arabic.

The conversation started when my auntie - talking about Oprah and Dr. Phil - was saying how many problems there are in American society. I wasn't really being defensive, but I felt like I would be lying if I were to just nod my head and agree. I relayed my feeling that much of what goes on in America goes on here, it's just more secretive and hidden.

The man said this was largely a function of Shariya law in Sudan, that it wasn't always like this.

He said 20 or 30 years ago Sudanese society functioned as a unit. Families, villages ensured that people did the right thing. If they didn't, punishment was visited upon the transgressor and his family by the entire community. His sisters wouldn't be considered marriageable. His family would suffer and maybe they would be cast out of the village.

Now, he said, people just don't care. They no longer act together to ensure that people follow the law. If people are punished, it is by the government, on an individual basis.

He talked about how - in those days - people shared of their wealth and possessions according to the rules handed down by Allah in the Qur'an (Zakat). If a farmer was ready to harvest his crop, he would first allow those without farms and/or money harvest some for themselves first. Because every farmer in the village did this, those without farms might end up with just as much of the harvest as each farmer did.

Any visitor to the village would be fed and housed, treated hospitably and with kindness. If someone died, was sick, got married, had a child, the entire village would come together with money or whatever kind of support was needed. This still exists, to a large extent, with distant relatives attending the bika immediately after someone dies. People visit relatives when they are sick - even with a cold or flu. (I wonder if this is wise :)

He noted that in thise days, you couldn't tell a rich man from a poor man. The guard and the sheikh sitting down to eat together were indistinguishable. Now the disparity between rich and poor has grown. He said, only recently has this phenomenon of the rich flaunting their wealth become apparent. Huge houses, expensive clothing, etc.

No law dictated how women dressed. What was considered "modest" by Islamic and cultural standards was much less rigid. The kinds of laws that exist now were largely unnecessary, he said, because everyone in the family, extended family, village, was considered a brother or sister. Because women were seen as sisters, no one would dare hurt them and every man would protect any woman as if she were in his immediate family.

Thirty years ago, there were bars and you could choose to go or not go. You were free to do what you wanted as long as you didn't infringe on anyone else's freedoms. Driving drunk was not accepted because you might hurt or kill someone else, not because it was "wrong."

Interesting to me is that so many young people here - people my age and younger - don't remember this, don't know this. If I wore an outfit today that my aunt wore 30 years ago, I might be arrested. I mean, I might be arrested wearing much more than my aunties wore 30 years ago - pants, for example.

I wonder what Sudan will look like in ten years, 20 years, 30 years. Will Shariya law still exist? Will inequities still be the rule? Will people return to the idea of a collective society or continue to grow more individualistic?