Separation between religion and State

Published by Forum diaspora December 2005
http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/ForumDiaspora/message/9994

I do not know what my compatriot, Mohamed Vall, mean by separation of religionand the state? Up to my best knowledge, the imams are not in charge, the law and the State institutions are largely secular and western inspired, even thought the constitution clearly stipulates that Islam is the religion of the People and the State and the Charia is the main source of the Law. By a strange paradox, the Islamic character of the State was mainly used to insulate Islam inspired organizations from the political, even social, arena.The relation between the religion and the State needs to be debated and every citizen should be welcomed to express his/her point of view but one should restrain from trying to prove one’s case by false premises and diffusing baseless allegations to a public that may not be familiar with Mauritanian realities. I found, in your contribution, some inaccurate and misleading statements that are not consistent with your right appeal for unity to “find solutions for Mauritanian problems regardless of ethnicity, ideology or gender”. Bipartisan efforts are the first requirement to lift the country and to address the legacy of thirty years of corruption and mismanagement. In my point of view, the domains of the religion and the State do not overlap in Mauritania at a level that makes it different or special compared to others countries sharing the same history and cultural background. But even if we concede, for the sake of the argument, that there is no separation between the State and the religion, I frankly don’t see how this assumption relate to the 1989 events, the suffering of a large portion of the population from slavery and the so-called mistreatment of women.

In 1989, dramatic events followed a skirmish between nomad Peul from Mauritania and farmers Sarakole from Senegal along the borders between these two countries. Racial riots, nourished by the racist propaganda of the Flam, took place in Senegal where Moorish were looted and murdered. The military Government at that time jumped on this occasion to improve its stand among its people by implicitly condoning a barbaric popular reaction whose victims were poor innocent Senegalese immigrants who have nothing to do with what did happen earlier to the Mauritanian immigrants in Senegal. These shameful events originated a big crisis that resulted in the shut down of the borders and the transfer from one side to the other of thousands of people. Mistakes were done by both governments who didn’t show the required level of leadership in dealing with this terrible crisis. The issue of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal was born and since then didn’t find a radical solution despite the tentative of the former government and the positive attitude of the new rulers.

But who bear the responsibilities of what happened to Lekwar? Is it Islam? Is it these “religious groups” who “tried to use the religion to defend their shameful political and social agendas and those of their political allies”? By the way who are these groups? Or the state of dictatorship and the propaganda of the radical ethnic groups eager to create crisis upon which they could advance the sectarian agenda. On the other hand, who gave shelter and food to the displaced in 1989? Not as I know the radical leftists prompt to distribute blames but often absent in action. I still remember the crowd of refugees in the central mosque and the bearded men providing food and water to them. For the sake of truth I do remember condemnations from the MDI and MND but the most efficient were those of the imams during the weekly Friday prayer. Our countrymen in Senegal found safety only in places like Medina Kaolack run by Cheikh Brahim Niass order, an Islamic Sufi brotherhood.

The dramatic events of 1989 and 1991 are too serious to be used as a playgrounds for politics. One has to be careful in these critical moments where a divided people and a weak state are trying to stand up and build new foundations for a modern society governed by the rule of law not to “throw the oil on the fire”. What is at stake is the "future of Mauritania” that “should be put way above the interests of few individuals, groups, tribes or regions” and either the construction of a united, democratic, prosperous, and peaceful Islamic republic. Or, a chaotic, fragmented, dictatorial and corrupt State where the poor from all ethnic backgrounds will be disfranchised and marginalized as it has been for so long.

Another point you tried to make is the correlation between slavery and the non separation between the State and the religion. I don’t know where you got the 40% allegedly the portion of the population who suffer from slavery. Since there is no indicated reference, I guess you made it. So, why not 50% or more since there is no desire to be factual but rather to describe a fictional reality consistent with the idea you want to sale. So, who are these 40% that suffer from slavery? Do you mean the house workers, known as “boyat”, “M’Bindanatt” and“Hakamat”? Or something else not yet discovered by SOS Slavery, an NGO with political agenda, eager to show “new cases” of horrible masters, inhumanely treating their poor slaves. The facts are house workers are not slaves. They are mostly immigrants from neighboring countries filling an important segment of the workforce where the supply barely satisfies the demand. There is nothing wrong here and it will be a prejudice for our country to vilify any kind of job in the name of slavery eradication. As an undeveloped country where poverty is widespread, any opportunity to make an income should be promoted. There is nothing here inconsistent with the need to improve the work conditions by raising the standards not only through effective regulations but also providing good jobs and increasing the education and training level of the workers.

Slavery is essentially a story of the past and since the inception of the State, the talk has consistently been about the way to finish with this of another age practice. We can argue about the effectiveness of the public action toward eradicating slavery, but the fact is the State does not condone slavery. If remnants of it still exist, it’s mainly in the rural areas, where analphabetism and poverty are widespread, and mostly for economic reasons. There is no way to remake History and the best we can do is by looking to the future and making sure that the national effort is directed to promote human dignity and citizens participation. Of course, it’s not easy and we tend often to blame the circumstances for whatever happen to us instead of standing up and recognizing our responsibilities to change and to act according to basic principles of human effectiveness. Helping our fellow citizens to grow is emphasizing solidarity and education. We need to get rid of poverty and raise the minimum level of the general instruction to at least secondary education to create the conditions for a radical eradication of slavery.

There are rooted perceptions in the West that Islam is a religion of violence that condone mistreatment of women and Slavery. They stem from old paradigms deeply embedded in the collective subconscious that are reactivated from time to time for political purposes, either at a national or/and international level. Our duty as Muslims of the West is to show the real face of Islam and to work toward a better understanding of our religion by our fellow citizens from others cultural and religious backgrounds. By doing so, we advance the cause of humanity in its global search for peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, some of our activists prefer to look down to their narrow agenda carelessly missing an opportunity to positively influence not only the local politics but also the general state of human condition.