Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Copts are making about 5% of an Egyptian population of 81 million, which is growing by 4500 souls daily, said Abū Bakr al-Jindī, the president of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). [Majdī Salāmah, Al-Wafd, Dec. 29, p. 12] Read original text in Arabic

أكد بيشوي البسيط، مدير مركز تأريخ الكنيسة، انه بصدد اصدار بيان يطالب فيه الكنيسة المصرية بتنفيذ تعاليم الكتاب المقدس في ارتداء المسيحيات للحجاب.

واكد البسيط ان هناك اسقفا في الصعيد بدأ بالفعل في تطبيق هذه التعاليم على شعب كنائس اسقفيته وان النساء المسيحيات بدأن الاستجابة والاقتناع بهذه المطالبات.

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This report deals with the role of the religious institution in choosing Egypt’s next president. In an interview with Muhammad ‘Alī Khayr, Islamic intellectual Fahmī Hūwaydī claims that religious institutions have no influence nowadays because they lack independence.

The author highlights the tense relationship between the muftī of Egypt Dr.‘Alī Jum‘ah and the Grand imām of the Azhar, Shaykh Muhammad Sayyid Tantāwī.

The article is based on an interview with the Islamic preacher Dr. Ṣafwat Ḥijāzī on the role played by religious TV satellite channels on spreading a so-called status of fatwá chaos.

A group of journalists from Rose al-Yūsuf magazine met with Dr. ‘Alī Jum‘ah, Muftī of Egypt, and discussed a number of issues of concern for Muslims in particular and Egyptians in general.

In the article, a parliamentary member has launched an inquiry into the Prime ministry for not curbing what he described as chaos of Fatwás on satellite channels as well as in state religious institutions.

The press review detects the ongoing discussions in Egyptian press on the chaos of Fatwás, especially the reactions to the recent Fatwá of the Egyptian Muftī Dr. ‘Alī Jum‘ah who refused to consider the Egyptian young men who drowned on the Italian cost to be martyrs.

The Shaykh of the Azhar Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Ṭanṭāwī has sent the Judiciary Administrative Court a memorandum, in which he asserted that he has no authority regarding specifying whether to enforce the Ḥadd al-Riddah or not but it is the Dār al-Iftā’’s responsibility.

The article sheds light on the Azhar Scholars Front’s statement which reveals that the Grand Imām Shaykh Muḥammad Sayyid Ṭanṭāwī has been inconsistent as far as his fatwas concerning bank interest are concerned. The statement shows that although he permitted it recently, in 1989 Ṭanṭāwī issued a Fatwá declaring that interest is a Ribā, that is Ḥarām.