al-Fajr newspaper (Egypt)

The author compares various media treatments of the Abu Fana incidents and other recent issues in Muslim-Christian relations. He asserts that the media treatment of the incidents was insufficient and influenced by the government.

While the uproar in the wake of the first attack against the Abū Fānā monastery continues, monks were again attacked and stoned by people from the tribal communities. Heated discussions and debates on the issue are still being reported in the media. Muslims accuse the monks of killing a young man and the church has presented a list of six urgent demands to President Husnī Mubārak.

The amendments to the 1938 statute are being debated by the Christian denominations in Egypt. While the State Council's deputy chairman said that it contains points that violate the law, others such as Coptic thinker Kamāl Zākhir believes that it will encourage Christians to convert to Islam.

Fādī Imīl and Nadā Muhammad ‘Alī report on sectarian incidents in Egypt.

Ahmad ‘Abd al-Jalīl writes about religious discrimination among members of the Misryūn Dhid al-Ta‘asub [Egyptians against discrimination] group.

Almost a year ago, al-Fajr newspaper published an edited photo of the Grand Imām of the Azhar, Shaykh Sayyid Tantāwī, which depicted him wearing the garments of the Catholic Pope and holding his scepter. The grand imām considered the depiction insulting and filed a claim against the newspaper’s editor-in-chief and the journalist in whose article the photo was published. Christians considered the claim to be be an offense against Christianity, since the grand imām considered the cross and the religious vestments of the pope an insulting sign.

Husām Hindī comments on the Grand Imām’s reaction to al-Dustūr’s cartoons depicting him as the Catholic Pope.

A microbus driver was excluded from a bus stations in Cairo because he refuses to drive women who are not veiled or wearing the niqāb.

A Syrian director is intending to realize a movie about Jesus Christ as depicted in the Qur’ān. Muslim and Christian religious institutions in Egypt refused the movie. The Azhar usually rejects depicting prophets in the cinema and Pope Shenouda called on Syrian President Bashshār al-Assad to intervene and stop the movie. The following lines provide arguments about the movie and sheds light on an interview that was conducted with its director.

Representatives of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood at the People’s Assembly and leadership of the ruling National Democratic Party absented from Easter celebrations in Alexandria. Depute Mahmūd ‘Atīyah of the group justified the absence by the different occupations his comrades had.