Worldwide Islam Has an Oasis of Democracy: Mali
From Timbuktu and Bamako comes a lesson for the entire Muslim world: a secular detachment from politics and peace with the other religions. The Muslim president asks for the blessing of the Catholic archbishop
by Sandro Magister
ROMA - Is Islam compatible with democracy? Yes and no, replies the Vatican. "La Civiltà Cattolica" - the magazine of the Rome Jesuits printed with authorization from the secretariat of state for each issue - is the "No" voice. In an editorial last February 7, they wrote that because democracy "takes the sovereignty away from Allah and transfers it to the people," this "for a faithful Muslim is an act of disbelief."
But one country in sub-Saharan Africa is a living contradiction of the skeptics. Islam has been present there for almost a thousand years; 82 percent of its inhabitants are Muslim. They belong to the Sunni tradition, with a contingent that follows Wahhabi rigorism. They are extremely poor, with an average annual per capita income of 230 dollars, and poverty and freedom almost never go together. They belong to various tribes, which in many African countries is the root of incurable conflicts. And yet, democracy flourishes there. The country is Mali, between the Niger river and the Sahara desert (in the photo, a mosque).
Among the 47 countries in the world with a majority Muslim population, there are only two that the New York think tank Freedom House classifies as fully "free": Mali, and neighboring Senegal.
Mali´s behavior is also impeccable in terms of religious liberty. The Italian section of Aid to the Church in Need, which publishes every year a report on religious liberty in the world, has never noted any abuses there. In Mali, they wrote, "there are no legal obstacles to conversion from one religion to another, and missionaries may work freely; the Muslim majority is tolerant toward the other confessions."
A year ago, in the Vatican, the fear was that the war in Iraq would make this oasis of religious peace fall prey to Islamic fundamentalism. But nothing of the kind took place. Amadou Toumani Touré, currently the president of Mali, says: "What we have here is an Islam that is very ancient, tolerant and enlightened. We see nothing in our religion that would prevent us from being democratic."
Yaroslav Trofimov, who published a long correspondent piece from Mali in the June 23, 2004 edition of "The Wall Street Journal Europe," highlights the native historical roots of this peculiarity: "Unlike in much of the Muslim world, democracy is seen here as an outgrowth of hallowed local traditions, not an alien innovation."
In Mali, Songhay farmers, Arab merchants, Peul breeders, and Tuareg nomads all live together. For centuries, before the arrival of the French at the end of the 1800´s, there was an alternation of multiethnic empires which, together with religious tolerance, cemented the coexistence of the different tribes and generated a solid national awareness. Ethnic conflicts were healed by creating kinship bonds between victors and vanquished. Crossroad cities like Timbuktu, the "city of 333 saints," a landing point for the merchants who returned up the Niger river and a departure point for the caravans heading toward the Mediterranean, reinforced these bonds.
In the second half of the 1900´s, after the end of French domination, Mali fell victim to a pro-Soviet dictatorship and to terrible famines. In 1991 Touré, at the time lieutenant colonel, headed the revolt that overthrew the dictatorship. But the military strike ended there. Touré organized free and peaceful elections for the next year, without running in them. A history scholar, Alpha Oumar Konaré, was elected and then re-elected in 1997, removing himself after the second four-year term, in obedience to the limit fixed by the constitution.
One of the last gestures of outgoing president Konaré, on June 5, 2002, was to go and pray, he being a Muslim, in the Catholic cathedral of the capital of Mali, Bamako, at the tomb of the venerated archbishop Luc Sangaré, who had recently died. At his first inauguration, in 1992, Konaré had gone to the archbishop to ask for "words of wisdom for the challenging task awaiting him," and had received his blessing. Now he was returning to give thanks and to "ask forgiveness for everything he had been unable to achieve." This gesture and these words were made known by the new archbishop, Jean Zerbo, in a testimony made public by the Vatican news agency "Fides."
In 2002, during the last presidential election, Touré, the author of the 1991 revolt, presented himself as an independent candidate; he won, and he included in his government representatives of all of the parties, including the main party among those defeated.
In 2003, Touré´s mediation was decisive in the liberation of the European tourists kidnapped by Islamist guerillas in nearby Algeria, and held in the north of Mali. The United States included Mali among the beneficiaries of the "Millennium Challenge," an aid program for poor countries with good standards of government.
On May 30, 2004, regional elections were held in Mali. Abdramane Ben Essayouti, the imam of the principal mosque of Timbuktu, told Trofimov on the eve of the vote: "I am neutral and I will vote for no one. In case of problem between parties, it will be up to us in the civil society to intervene and restore peace, and how could we do it if we´re not impartial?"
This distance from politics on the part of religious leaders also belongs to the traditions of Mali. And hence the coexistence among Islam, the African animist religions, and the small but vibrant Christian minority.
In spite of the Muslim prohibition of alcohol, in the villages they make and drink millet beer. Nude men and women bathe tranquilly in full view, in the Niger. In Bamako, the faithful who gather in the new mosque built by the Saudis do not forswear the symbols of the animist religions: monkeys´ heads, dried mice, and snake skins.
Even the rigid Wahhabis make adjustments. "It is in everyone´s interest for Mali to remain secular," opines Mahmoud Dicko, the imam of the Wahhabi mosque of Bamako and director of the Islamist radio station of the capital.
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Useful LinksThe American organization that investigates the condition of democracy in the various countries of the world:
> Freedom HouseThe Italian section of Aid to the Church in Need, founded by Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, which publishes each year a report on religious liberty in the world:
> Aiuto alla Chiesa che soffreThe New York newspaper that published on June 23, 2004 the Mali correspondence of Yaroslav Trofimov, under the title "Mali Elects to Stand Out in the Muslim World by Adopting Democracy":
> The Wall Street Journal EuropeThe Vatican news agency "Fides", on the visit of Muslim president Konaré to the tomb of the prior archbishop of Bamako, in 2002:
> Mali - Le Président Oumar Konaré vient se recueillir dans la cathédraleOn the Islam typical of Senegal, the other fully democratic Muslim country, together with Mali:
> Non tutti i musulmani sono eguali. Reportage sui senegalesi in Italia (18.12.2001)
> Benvenuti a Touba. Senegal? No, provincia di Brescia (18.12.2001)
On this website, on Islam and democracy:
> Islam Plus Democracy: The Lewis Doctrine Makes Inroads at the Vatican (4.5.2004)
> The Jesuits of "La Civiltà Cattolica" Don´t Want Democracy in Iraq (13.2.2004)
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English translation by Matthew Sherry.
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1.7.2004
