Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

A controversy regarding whether a Christian can translate the Qur’ān was recently triggered when a Christian researcher in Morocco translated the Muslim holy book into a Berber language, which upset religious scholars in Morocco. 

Some Islamic scholars at the Azhar say that it is not allowed because Qur’ān translation depends on literal translations, as well as interpretation.

Meanwhile, ‘Abd al-Mu‘tī Bayyūmī, a member of the Islamic Research academy, said that its acceptable for Christians to translate Qur’ān, because then they can read it.

Hassān Sabrah writes that the Muslim Brotherhood has suffered political losses in every Arab country; not only in Egypt, but also in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Iraq.

"They lost in all Arab parliaments, but won religious Du‘ā’," says Sabrah.

According to Sabrah, Muslim Brothers know the Qur’ān very well, but they fail to find solutions for any economic or social problems.

According to Sabrah, Dr. ‘Amr Khālid (whom the author regards as a Muslim Brotherhood preacher) shows off his fake affection and is able to convince many girls to veil their hair, but he doesn't persuade them to become honest.

He also claims that, while mosques are full of people, many Muslims don't apply what they hear outside the mosque.

The Christian Democratic Appeal of the city council of Slotervaart in The Netherlands rejects the proposal to teach Islam in public schools.

The article chronicles the appearance of famous dā‘iyahs in Egypt and covers the on-going struggle between the new dā‘iyahs and Salafis to take over the status of the publicly-adored dā‘iyah. The absence of an effective role of the Azhar is also questioned.

The article discusses Jews in Iraq and the contribution that they made to society before emigrating to Israel.

This article deals with press freedom reports. The author explains that these reports gain credibility when issued by independent bodies. He points out that the Federation of Arab Journalists and the Supreme Council of Press are not independent; hence, their reports are not reliable.

The author presents a series of three articles reviewing memoirs of Moroccan ‘Umar al-Nāsir – the pseudonym of a spy who infiltrated al-Qā‘idah in Afghanistan at the behest of European intelligence agencies.

‘Abīr ‘Atiyyah reports about the studies and papers presented in the annual conference for the Egyptian Organization for historical studies.

The mosque in Paris disagrees with Sarkozy’s ideas regarding the Islamic community in France.

Dr. Sa‘d al-Dīn Ibrāhīm, chairman of Ibn Khaldūn Center for Development Studies reports on his paper that was presented to a conference that was held in Rome under the title: ’The Cross, the Crescent and the Ballot Box.’ Ibrāhīm’s paper discussed Islam and democracy. In the following lines Ibrāhīm refers to what he believes to be the Christian opposition of democracy at a certain period of time and foretells that the change that took place in the Catholic Church’s stance can also take place in Arab countries, asserting that the problem of democracy is not related to Islam but to the Arab identity and some Arab rulers.