Swift intensive efforts have been made
this week in order to contain a Muslim-Christian
crisis due to a blasphemous article by a Muslim writer. The
article claimed that a Coptic Monk practiced
prostitution inside a monastery, provoking angry reactions that
resulted in 70 people being injured during
clashes with the
police.
Demonstrations:
In a full page article al-Arabi
listed the details of the
"Sad Sunday in Saint Mark’s Cathedral" where thousands of angry youths protested
against the article and the
Government was accused of being in collusion with the paper.
The
weekly reported the following
slogans "Oh Government tell the truth. Is Mahran a liar or not!!,... Ebeid
[Egyptian Prime] we are Christian not
Jewish!!,...Take your right Virgin,. ..Why Why did you forget al-
Kosheh!!,. ..Nobody could shame Pope Shenouda,...
Monks are more honorable than you
Mahran."
During the incidents Bishop Yo’annis phoned the head of
the state security
department and told him "We [Bishop Yo’annis and the people around him] won’t enter the
cathedral [the
building, not the compound] unless you find a solution, I mean this paper should be closed and this
criminal chief editor should be brought to trial; I was burning for Egypt in the United States for a week,
what
else do you want from us, what is happening today!!."
Not much later the Coptic deputy
Rami Lakah
entered the cathedral and promised the angry people that he would present an interpellation to
parliament. Then a
car with foreign media representatives entered the cathedral, prior to it being attacked
by angry
demonstrators.
At first Pope Shenouda refused to appear before the gathering, but
when anger became
dangerous he appeared and asked them to calm down promising that he would
intervene.
The weekly
listed some demonstrator’s points of view
- Nashaat
Shawqi: If this is the case with
intellectuals what would we expect from others, they are planting
sedition; misgiving the heart of our faith is
unfair.
- Mofeed Ibrahim Sayyed: It is all
fabricated, the writer said he would continue writing
next week, against whom? Would he then write about
Pope Shenouda ?.
- Emad Samih: We should face
this tendency, I urge our Muslim brothers to
highlight the truth. When Israel attacked the Aqṣá Mosque our
president asked the Israelis to respect
religious feelings because it was a sensitive case.
-
Teresa Rawhi: How could they have
entered the monastery and shot this film, and how could a man sleep with 5000
women, we should know who was
behind this journalist and who financed him?
- Hani Atallah: If this
happened to Islamic
sanctities how would you react?
- Ishaq [no complete name given]: unfortunately
the
Egyptian TV, which is a governmental media service, is some times being used to plant sedition; channel 3
broadcast a program in which Zaghloul al-Naggar [Muslim intellectual] called Christians "impious," it also
blessed
Sheikh Sha’arawi who used to attack Christianity.
- Maged the Christian [no
complete name
given]: If this were a Sheikh’s story, would it be published this way? Would Mahran dare to
publish pornographic
photos?
" Why didn’t this paper cover al-Kosheh incidents. State
Security pressured Pope Shenouda
to say that there is no persecution, but there are many incidents, al-
Zaweya al-Hamra in 1981, Imbaba, Shoubra,
El-Darb al-Ahmar, al Minya, al-Kosheh and Abū Qorqas" he
added.
- Eng. Yusri Abdallah: Sedition
began during Sadat’s rule, he promoted Islamic
groups and paid for this with his life.
- R.F :
When will we [Christians] take our
rights?
Despite the cancellation of Wednesday’s public meeting
with Pope Shenouda, for fear
of the attitude of the masses, 25-70 thousand persons gathered in the cathedral,
reactions developed into a
mutual pelting with stones between Security and angry Christians. The slogans were more
fanatical this time
"Oh Sharon Oh Rabin hit millions."
Al-Arabi pointed out that Christians and
Bishop Yo’annis
were angry about the comment by the Christian intellectual Milad Hanna on Jazeera satellite
channel, in
which he said the Christians were ashamed of their image that had been harmed by the monk’s
attitude.
- Bishop Sawerus said "Christianity is shiny like a diamond and the monk
separated
himself though Christianity remains bright."
- Bishop Bimen was quoted as making a similar
statement.
-
Bishop Mussa said what provoked us was this talk about al-Muharraq monastery, and the
libel against its abbacy,
- Gamal Asa’ad Abdel Malak, a Coptic leader, said Christians overestimate
the clergy, and when the church expels a
monk it should announce it, we have no
secrets.
Sedition Fires on the Internet:
In
his article, in al-Arabi, Magdi
Abdel Karīm strongly criticized a Coptic site on the Internet and the provocative
material on it. He
recalled their demands to abolish an old rule controlling the construction of churches and
asking for
broadcasting of Christian programs on national TV.
According to the weekly the site found
a
golden opportunity to demand dangerous things and claim that Christian girls had been kidnapped and raped by
Muslims under police protection. The site also demanded abolition of the religious definition on Egyptian
identification cards and the freedom to change religions and modify the school’s
programs.
Michael
Meunier, the head of the US Copts Association, accused the Egyptian media
of backing the paper’s fall as the
ministry controls papers before they are printed.
He
criticized the TV backing religious stars, who
used to attack Christianity, like Shaykh Sha’arawi and
Zaghloul al-Naggar; and condemned governmental papers,
which allowed extremists large spaces to say
whatever they want but when priests did the same they were tortured by
the state security department and
accusations of espionage were prepared.
He wondered how could this
film have reached the
hands of Mahran? Why was the paper allowed to publish the article, did it pretend to
humiliate Christians
and turn the church away with its demands? he asked.
The weekly reported that
the same site
claimed that many demonstrators were in detention, and that 500 ID cards were taken in order to
terrify
people with detention threats.
Michael Meunier, according to al-Arabi, sometimes uses the
words ’thawra’ (revolution) or intifada.
Another writer on the Coptic site [Copts Daily
Digest],
Mounir Beshay, said that al-Nabaa’s fall was one in a series of incidents and attacks against
Copts aimed at
destroying the Christian’s spirits in order to stop them demanding their
rights.
Edward Rezqalla
said these articles aimed to increase pressure on Copts, while
Yasser Habib believed that this article was aimed at
drawing attention away form the current corruption
scandals.
According to the weekly "Habib believes
that the woman, who confessed to having
sex with the man, and the writer of the article were both used by the
government to kill the truth and stop
talk about corruption."
"The site claimed that 80 per cent of
foreign investment in Egypt
are from US Copts, and a large amount of this was used to promote Islamic Da‘wah
[Islamic missionary
activity]. Moreover the Church spent a large sum of money on announcing in the American media
that there
was no persecution of Copts in Egypt," reported al-Arabi.
"Ashraf Labeeb warned Copts: we
have to pay attention and not let the government or Islamic extremists hit our Orthodox Christian
principles. Be
proud you were able to save your faith along with the barbaric Islamic regimes," said the
weekly.
Meanwhile al-Hayat denied a security attack with rubber bullets against
demonstrators. The
daily revealed that the journalist association had revoked the membership of Mahran and
his son.
Al
-Hayat of June 23 reported about a police statement denying a security attack
with rubber bullets against
demonstrators. The statement also condemned that Meunier demanded the
international community to investigate the
role of the Egyptian government’s encouragement in what he
called "the slaughter of al-Kosheh" and what is
published in the newspapers al-Nabaa and Akher Khabar about
the case of the expelled priest.
The
daily reported that the journalist association had
revoked the membership of Mahran and his
son.
Journalists’ reaction:
In an
article, in al-Arabi entitled, "Mahran the son of
the state" Nadia Ameen listed Journalist’s opinions on
the incident, and blamed the state for backing and
pampering Mahran. The article said that was why he
claimed in his famous article that President Mubarak said to him
"you are the only one who understand
me."
Hussein Abdel Razq believes the same, while Kamel Zoheiri
said the paper was caught in
the very act of publishing pornographic photos and disrespecting religion. Meanwhile
Yehya Qalash revealed
that the paper’s file in the association was full of
contraventions.
Intellectuals reject
sedition:
- The Lawmaker, Hesham Sadek, said
what had been published was a crime though
there was hypersensitivity on the Egyptian street.
- Christian
intellectual, Younan Labeeb
Rizqalla: Hidden hands incited the youth to demonstrate.
- Edward Ghali: The
youth exaggerated the
importance of this problem.
- Dr. Atef al-Iraqi: Hostile powers tried to plant
sedition.
-
Mahmoud Amin: It was a fabricated problem to turn us away from Palestine, Iraq and
corruption.
-
Dr. Asem al-Desouqi: A fanatical environment is an open hole for foreign countries to
interfere.
The weekly, mouthpiece of the Nasserist Party, stressed the party’s condemnation
of the
incident and its trust in the nations awareness, which would soon contain this
crisis.
In his short
article, Ra’afat Basta, blamed the church in a friendly way for hiding
the monk’s expulsion and the state for its
slow intervention.
Pope Shenouda: Everything is
alright.
Al-Ahram daily quoted Pope
Shenouda as saying, during his interview with Egyptian
Television, that "Copts and Muslims have an excellent
relationship" and that "al Muharraq monastery is
one of the most important Christian sanctities like the Aqṣá
Mosque for Muslims." He demonstrated he was a
"defender of the free, responsible press but in al-Nabaa’s case
there were impossible lies and claims
with irrational details," said the pope.
Al-Gomhuria also
reported this interview stressing
the "pope’s demand to officially register priests dress."
"The
pope assured that he was in
favor of freedom but people are free unless they attack others freedom; he stressed
that churches are open
places and nobody controls their gates" said the pope, in a clear challenge to the paper’s
claims.
The real size of the problem:
In an article titled " Consolation is
enough
stop complaining" Karam Shalaby from Sout al-Azhar urged Copts to stop complaining and listed the
swift actions of
all the official and public institutions to help Christians to contain their
anger."
He criticized
Mahran’s understanding of the journalism mission and discarded the
rumors of Israel’s or Usama Ben Laden’s
involvement in this crisis.
He warned Copts about
"continuing their anger and emotional remarks
because this would be putting fuel on the
fire."
On the other hand al-Hayat daily summarized Pope
Shenouda’s demands following the
second demonstration, in which 65 people were injured, he urged for measures be
taken against Mahran and
his paper and asked for an official penalty code for priest’s dress."
The
Pope rejected the
"use of what has been published to make fun of Christians in their work places or in means of
transport, "
"we have always defended Egypt" he said pointing out that he "rejected any foreign
intervention."
He believes that Mahran wrote this article intentionally in order to
disrespect and
libel Christianity.
The daily stressed that many intellectuals, among them
"Nobel prize winner,
Naguib Mahfouz, strongly condemned the sedition." A statement from the Supreme Council
for Culture was signed by
many celebrities.
Crisis on its way to calming
down:
Following Mahran being referred
to the State Security court, and the repeated calls
from Christian clergy and intellectuals to calm down, the
stormy reactions started to disappear. Especially
when Bishop Yo’annis told demonstrators that the "pope’s
decision to cancel the meeting was his own
decision not a security department demand," reported Asharq al-
Awsat.
According to the daily
"Mamdouh Nakhla, head of the World Center for Human Rights, issued a
statement expressing his satisfaction
with the measures taken to resolve the problem." The daily also revealed the
Supreme Council for the Press
initiated legal measures to withdraw the paper’s license."
Counter
attack
The daily moreover pointed out that Mahran launched a counter attack and filed a case
before
the general prosecutor asking for help to stop the authority’s molestation.
The
press committee in
parliament warned about making other media guilt with al Nabaa, while 500 journalists
from al-Nabaa company
carried out a sit-in objecting to the mass responsibility for Mahran’s
article.
The
Azhar
A positive reaction from the biggest Islamic institution
also helped in calming down the
situation. Sout al-Azhar, weekly, published the Azhar Sheikh’s
condemnation of the publication of such "abominable
stuff especially if this could lead to uncertainty
between members of society," said the
statement.
At the same time Watani reported a
statement from Dār al-Iftā’ [office of the Muftī][,
in which the Islamic institution considered the
article "contradictory to religious and public
moralities."
Islamic writer
In
his article in October magazine, Rajab al-Banna,
stated that "freedom should be responsible or else it
would transform the society into a chaotic forest" pointing
out that "al-Nabaa put us in a situation that
we were afraid of and hoped no to be involved
in."
"Freedom doesn’t mean the authority to
destroy society, and a journalist can’t use his
freedom to attack other’s freedom and dignity," he said.
Normal status in the
monastery
v
During the virgin mulid in the monastery al-Ahram
met with clergy there and they stressed that
things are normal, and that the festivities took place as
usual with the attendance of 75 percent Christians and 25
percent Muslims in one
spirit.
Analysis:
In his editorial in al-Usboa, weekly,
Mustafa Bakry made a
brief analysis of the crisis:
"Everybody knows that the United States and
Israel are
planning to turn Egypt away from her role, and force her to treat her interior problems and agitate
sedition" said Bakry pointing out that "we have to ask ourselves who gained access to the film and who
pushed
Mahran to deliberately libel the monastery in order to plant sedition?"
Some people
accused the
security department based on three points:
1- To create a scandal about the former
monk similar to the
scandal of the recently detained Shaykh Sawerki.
2- The refusal of the Church to
take efficient measures
against the monk.
3- To hit the Coptic Church for the stiff stance of some
monks and their implementation of
the Status Quo on some important issues that come under the security
department’s
responsibilities.
"These three points are baseless because security understand
the dangerous
repercussions of such an act. Then who did it?" Bakri wondered.
They should be
"elements who do not
want good for either Christians or Muslims, or people having differences with Pope
Shenouda and who wanted to
embarrass him, but most probably there are hidden fingers behind this story,"
wrote Bakry.
The
author didn’t discard the idea that the same fingers moved Copts to
demonstrate, and warned of the big bomb upon
which we are sitting regarding calling the president for a
real change from corrupt political
leaders.
The trial
For its part Watani
listed the four principal charges against
Mahran
1- Publishing provocative propaganda that
threatened public security.
2- Inciting a
certain sector of society through publishing.
3-
Possessing pornographic material for the purpose of
publishing.
4- Publishing things that could
influence a trial currently being undertaken by the
prosecution.
In an interview with the
judge, Ali Abdel Shakour, who ordered the confiscation of the
two papers, al-Nabaa and Akher Khabar, he
called the incident a "crime" and rejected any attempt to harm our
historical national
unity.
Giving Thanks:
Al-Usboa reported mutual thanks between the
Church and
officials for their reasonable handling of the crisis.
