Libya's top leader declared the country officially "liberated" on Sunday from the four-decade rule of Muammar Gaddafi, pledging to replace his dictatorship with a more democratic but also a more strictly Islamic system. In a speech, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the NTC, promised to ban interest on housing loans and scrap other laws that didn't conform to Islamic jurisprudence.
Although he lacks the power to make such changes, his comments suggested that Islam could play a greater role in public life in the new Libya. They also heightened an already intense debate over the role of Islam in the countries transformed by the Arab Spring. Surprising people in attendance, Abdel Jalil gave prominence to the role of Islamic law in the new Libya. "We are an Islamic state," he said, and pledged to get rid of regulations that didn't conform to Islamic law.
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