7. Egypt- Authors claim Al-Azhar, government banned book uncovering institutional violations

Madbouly Bookstore in Cairo, that also functions as a publishing house, refused to publish and distribute a book of Hamdy Al-Assuity and Magdy Khalil entitled "Contempt of Religions in Egypt".  The authors claim representatives from Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Religious Endowments put pressure on Madbouly Bookstore in remove the work. That is also the focus of the story on MENAFN. "Mahmoud Madbouly, manager of the bookshop," MENAFN reports "refuted the authors' account and told Daily News Egypt that the bookstore itself decided not to run the book. "We talked with Al-Assuity and came to an agreement to stock the book, then we realised that the book was against Islam and so decided not to offer it. We never stocked the book.""

C. Hulsman: Who is right? MENAFN gives most space to the arguments of the authors and only briefly mentioned Madbouly refutation. Magdy Khalil is a US based Coptic activist who is know for having harsh views of Islam and freedom of expression in Egypt. Madbouly is known to be liberal and ready to sell books that a critical of traditional Islamic thoughts. This would suggest that in the row between Madbouly and the authors the answer of Madbouly seems to be more credible. Of course this would need more research.

 

 

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