Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

In the article, Nabīl ‘Umar shows a number of pictures taken from the offensive film Fitna, urging Muslims of the world to behave rationally in order to give a good impression of their religion.

Mayy Samīr interviews Hans Küng, a Swiss theologian and author of a book entitled ’Islam: Past, Present and Future,’ in which he wrote about his personal viewpoint on Islam, and condemned Western campaigns against it.

In the following interview, Muslim thinker Nasr Hāmid Abū Zayd discusses the present Islamic discourse, he refers to the history of the Islamic reformation in the 20^th century and points out the current defects. Abū Zayd also tackles the problems of Egyptian society and the Azhar’s relationship with the government.

The article is about religious Fatāwá [religious rulings] and the need for scientific integrity in mentioning evidences that supports or contradicts Fatāwá given by Muslim clerics.

The book "Christian poets in the Arabian peninsula", written by Najīb Wahba, mainly

discusses

the origin of Arabs and the Arabic language and the nature of poetry in the pre-Islamic era, proving that

the Arabic language is not only for Muslims as some people claim, but is also a language for Christians.

The controversial fatwa of the muftī of the republic, Dr. ‘Alī Jum‘a, concerning the prohibition of full-figure statues has turned Egyptian newspapers into a field of debate, where Islamic thinkers voice their views on the issue.

[The RNSAW received this text from Dr. Abu Zayd for placement in the RNSAW. The text was first presented during a conference in June in Berlin, Germany]

Since the occupation of Egypt by Bonaparte in 1798 Muslims have had to address the issue of secularization. Some Muslim thinkers believe Islam and secularization were incompatible. Others believed the two are compatible. Each of the two answers looks to Islam from different angels. This influences the views about the relationship between Islam and politics. Western media shows great interest presenting the ideas of very radical provocative preachers and thus creating the public Western impression that Islam has only one face, that is the face of Taliban. Dr. Abu Zayd believes in the necessity to re-contextualize the message of religion as expressed in its basic original sources.

Al-Qahera publishes more questions directed to leading figures of Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiya by imprisoned members of Al-Gama’a and their answers which were included in the book of “Nahr Al-Zikrayat (a river of memories). In their answers leading members of Al-Gama’a went into many sensitive issues that received much attention from members of the Gama’a after the declaration of the non-violence initiative. Among these issues is the ijtihadat [plural of Ijtihad] of Sayyed Qutb which formed the basis of the attitude of many Islamic groups that adopted a violent approach.

The author explains the true meaning of jihad in Islam. He believes that jihad, in the sense of fighting, is not confined to Islam. All countries and societies follow the concept of jihad as they all have armed forces and ministers of defense. He admits that some Muslims altered the meaning of jihad. However, misunderstanding a certain concept does not justify stopping its application because there is nothing wrong about the concept itself.

Saudi authorities declared that they arrested 19 persons belonging to a new terrorist network. Commenting on this news, the author raises the question: Why do some Muslims plan to attack Muslim countries in the name of Islam? He bases his answer on a statement by the Saudi Minister of Interior saying that these persons have been brainwashed and convinced of the legality of their terrorist actions