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Libya
Islam in Revolutionary Libya
Under the revolutionary government, the role of orthodox Islam
in Libyan life has become progressively more important. Qadhafi
is a highly devout Muslim who has repeatedly expressed a desire
to exalt Islam and to restore it to its proper--i.e., central--place
in the life of the people. He believes that the purity of Islam
has been sullied through time, particularly by the influence of
Europeans during and after the colonial period, and that its purity
must be restored--by such actions as the restoration of sharia
to its proper place as the basis of the Libyan legal system, the
banning of "immodest" practices and dress, and the symbolic purification
of major urban mosques that took place in 1978.
Qadhafi also believes in the value of the Quran as a moral and
political guide for the contemporary world, as is evident from
his tract, The Green Book, published in the mid-1970s
(see The Green Book, ch. 4). Qadhafi consideres the first part
of The Green Book to be a commentary on the implications
of the Quranic injunction that human affairs be managed by consultation.
For him, this means direct democracy, which is given "practical
meaning" through the creation of people's committees and popular
congresses. Qadhafi feels that, inasmuch as The Green Book
is based solely on the Quran, its provisions are universally applicable--at
least among Muslims.
Soon after taking office, the Qadhafi government showed itself
to be devoutly fundamentalist by closing bars and nightclubs,
banning entertainment deemed provocative or immodest, and making
use of the Muslim calendar mandatory. The intention of reestablishing
sharia was announced, and Qadhafi personally assumed chairmanship
of a commission to study the problems involved. In November 1973,
a new legal code was issued that revised the entire Libyan judicial
system to conform to the sharia, and in 1977 the General People's
Congress (GPC--see Glossary) issued a statement that all future
legal codes would be based on the Quran.
Among the laws enacted by the Qadhafi government a series of
legal penalties prescribed during 1973 included the punishment
of armed robbery by amputation of a hand and a foot. The legislation
contained qualifying clauses making its execution unlikely, but
its enactment had the effect of applying Quranic principles in
the modern era. Another act prescribed flogging for individuals
breaking the fast of Ramadan, and yet another called for eighty
lashes to be administered to both men and women guilty of fornication.
In the early 1970s, Islam played a major role in legitimizing
Qadhafi's political and social reforms. By the end of the decade,
however, he had begun to attack the religious establishment and
several fundamental aspects of Sunni Islam. Qadhafi asserted the
transcendence of the Quran as the sole guide to Islamic governance
and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret
it. He denigrated the roles of the ulama (see Glossary), imams,
and Islamic jurists and questioned the authenticity of the hadith,
and thereby the sunna, as a basis for Islamic law. The
sharia itself, Qadhafi maintained, governed only such matters
as properly fell within the sphere of religion; all other matters
lay outside the purview of religious law. Finally, he called for
a revision of the Muslim calendar, saying it should date from
the Prophet's death in 632, an event he felt was more momentous
than the hijra ten years earlier.
These unorthodox views on the hadith, sharia, and the Islamic
era aroused a good deal of unease. They seemed to originate from
Qadhafi's conviction that he possessed the transcendant ability
to interpret the Quran and to adapt its message to modern life.
Equally, they reinforced the view that he was a reformer but not
a literalist in matters of the Quran and Islamic tradition. On
a practical level, however, several observers agreed that Qadhafi
was less motivated by religious convictions than by political
calculations. By espousing these views and by criticizing the
ulama, he was using religion to undermine a segment of the middle
class that was notably vocal in opposing his economic policies
in the late 1970s. But Qadhafi clearly considered himself an authority
on the Quran and Islam and was not afraid to challenge traditional
religious authority. He also was not prepared to tolerate dissent.
The revolutionary government gave repeated evidence of its desire
to establish Libya as a leader of the Islamic world. Moreover,
Qadhafi's efforts to create an Arab nation through political union
with other Arab states were also based on a desire to create a
great Islamic nation. Indeed, Qadhafi drew little distinction
between the two.
The government took a leading role in supporting Islamic institutions
and in worldwide proselytizing on behalf of Islam. The Jihad Fund,
supported by a payroll tax, was established in 1970 to aid the
Palestinians in their struggle with Israel. The Faculty of Islamic
Studies and Arabic at the University of Benghazi was charged with
training Muslim intellectual leaders for the entire Islamic world,
and the Islamic Mission Society used public funds for the construction
and repair of mosques and Islamic educational centers in cities
as widely separated as Vienna and Bangkok. The Islamic Call Society
(Ad Dawah) was organized with government support to propagate
Islam abroad, particularly throughout Africa, and to provide funds
to Muslims everywhere.
Qadhafi has been forthright in his belief in the perfection of
Islam and his desire to propagate it. His commitment to the open
propagation of Islam, among other reasons, has caused him to oppose
the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-based fundamentalist movement
that has used clandestine and sometimes subversive means to spread
Islam and to eliminate Western influences. Although the brotherhood's
activities in Libya were banned in the mid-1980s, it was present
in the country but maintained a low profile (see Religious Opposition
, ch. 4). In 1983 a member of the brotherhood was executed in
Tripoli, and in 1986 a group of brotherhood adherents was arrested
after the murder of a high-ranking political official in Benghazi.
Qadhafi has challenged the brotherhood to establish itself openly
in non-Muslim countries and has promised its leaders that, if
it does, he will support its activities.
Qadhafi has stressed the universal applicability of Islam, but
he has also reaffirmed the special status assigned by the Prophet
to Christians. He has, however, likened them to misguided Muslims
who have strayed from the correct path. Furthermore, he has assumed
leadership of a drive to free Africa of Christianity as well as
of the colonialism with which it has been associated.
Data as of 1987
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