: New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/\",\"name\":\": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\"},\"description\":\"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\",\"name\":\"zahedamanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zahedamanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy","description":"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy","og_description":"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00","author":"zahedamanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zahedamanullah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/","name":": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00","dateModified":"2003-06-29T20:38:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba"},"description":"The selection of an American Jew to write Iraq's new constitution has caused controversy in the Muslim world. But some say he may be the best choice given the alternatives.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/06\/new_constitution_for_iraq_causes_controversy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":": New Constitution For Iraq Causes Controversy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba","name":"zahedamanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zahedamanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

As the players in the Iraq drama try to turn the rhetoric of Iraqi democracy into reality, several competing visions are starting to emerge. Everybody has a different idea about the new Iraq \u2013 the Kurds<\/a> want their piece, the Shi\u2019as want theirs, Iraqi Christians<\/a> are afraid of being caught in between, and the Americans want democracy on their terms. Nothing will settle into place, however, until a new Iraqi constitution<\/a> is drafted to answer the questions on everyone\u2019s mind: What form of government will Iraq have? Will Iraq share the same freedoms that the developed world has? And what role will Islam play? It\u2019s this last question that causes the most anxiety, both for the provisional authority and Iraq\u2019s wary citizens. Support for an Islamic role in the new Iraq is coming from an unlikely source: a young law professor who is writing a proposed new constitution and believes that an Islamic democracy<\/a> is the answer \u2013 even if it isn\u2019t secular<\/a>. \u201cIt is presumptuous and insulting to suggest that a whole region of the world, or the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim,\u201d says Professor Noah Feldman<\/a> of NYU, who grew up an Orthodox Jew but is also has a Ph.D. from Oxford in Islamic thought, \u201cis somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life.\u201d His premise \u2013 as illustrated in his recent book \u201c After Jihad<\/a>\u201d \u2013 is that even Islamists who resort to political violence do so because they are not given an honest chance at the ballot box, and that Muslims have an innate respect<\/a> for democratic ideals that can be easily mapped to Islamic concepts of consultative governance. Some neocons consider Feldman hopelessly naive<\/a>, and some in the Arab world feel that native scholars<\/a> could do a better job than an outsider, but Feldman continues to optimistically walk the tightrope between the two. \u201cA lot of appointments to very sensitive jobs leave you amused or intrigued or indifferent,\u201d said Akbar Ahmed<\/a>, a leading Islamic scholar from American University in Washington. \u201cBut here we had, for once, the right man for the job.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"