Afghanistan's New Constitution: Freedom or Dhimmitude?

Funny thing about some of the stories flooding news outlets worldwide this morning about Afghanistan's new constitution.

The CNN story says: "'The draft is based on Islamic principles and recognizes that no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam,' Afghanistan's 35-member Constitutional Review Commission said in a statement Monday, adding that the document provided for the freedom of religion for other faiths."

How's that again? "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam" but "the document provided for the freedom of religion for other faiths"? Most Americans who read this story, which is circulating beyond CNN, will probably take that at face value: Afghanistan will be a tolerant Islamic state where non-Muslims can practice their religions freely. But the AP story contains a key clarification. It quotes the draft constitution: "The religion of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam. Followers of other religions are free to perform their religious ceremonies within the limits of the provisions of law."

There it is: "within the limits of the provisions of law." Since "no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam," and the laws of that religion mandate a strict inferior status for non-Muslims, I expect that the phrase "limits of the provisions of the law" refers to dhimmitude, the institutionalized inequality of dignity and rights for non-Muslims under Islamic law.

If the new Afghan constitution were to allow non-Muslims to practice their religions with full freedom, including the freedom to build houses of worship, testify in court, hold authority over Muslims (i.e., hold any job aside from the most menial ones), and to welcome Muslim converts, then it would be "contrary to the sacred religion of Islam." For all those stipulations and more are mandated by the Sharia.

(Still, these are just a couple of statements. If anyone can send me a link to the actual text of the Afghan draft constitution, I'd be most grateful.)