Designing Islamic Constitutions: Past Trends and Options for a Democratic Future

This article provides a brief history of Sharia Guarantee Clauses (SGCs), which are constitutional provisions requiring that all state law respect sharia. The article surveys a large number of the varied schemes that countries have developed to interpret and enforce them. It also considers why particular countries chose to adopt the schemes they did and whether these schemes achieved the goals their designers wanted. The author asserts that SGC enforcement schemes have generally been designed to promote non-democratic goals. This paper also discusses some of the qualities that effective democratic SGC enforcement schemes are likely to share.