The RNSAW aims to provide impartial, objective, independent reporting; interpretation, analysis and commentary of and on cultural, social and religious issues, concerning the Arab World, with the objective of fostering greater understanding and tolerance between Arab and Western cultures, in the belief that only this, will result in a reduction of tensions, which is needed to enhance the development of this region
The RNSAW provides a weekly overview in English of the Arab media available in Egypt with special reports describing incidents, tensions between the Arab and Western worlds, the origins of misunderstandings and at times criticizing current reporting.
The work started with a number of individual articles by Drs. Cornelis Hulsman on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt during the years 1995-1997. Hulsman was also inspired by the work of the Royal Jordanian Institute for Interfaith Studies in Amman. This resulted in the foundation of the RNSAW in 1997 and its gradual expansion until today.
The year 2001 saw several major changes for the RNSAW. The number of subscribers increased in the year 2001 from 18 to 24 but decreased again in 2001 to 18 on December 31 2001. We lost this year 8 subscribers and won 2. One organization became bankrupt, two other organizations in Egypt were hit by the economic recession and could not continue subscription. The London Bible College had obtained finances for a study project on Islam and Christianity, but the project finished and so did their subscription of the RNSAW. A church organization in the US had great financial difficulties, fired several employees and gave their person dealing with the Middle East a different function. The representative of the Swedish Lutheran Church in Cairo returned to Sweden and his successor did not continue the subscription. Two other subscriptions were cancelled because of changes in personel. The newcomers had different priorities that did not include the RNSAW. Two new organizations, however, decided to sign up, Middle East Media and the World Council of Churches, which is a strong sign of confidence in the quality of the material we produce. In 1997, our test phase, we had only 1 subscriber, and when the RNSAW was launched on March 1, 1998 we had only five.
Quality:
The numbers may be small but our influence certainly is not. All our subscribers look for quality material. Among them are major research institutes, major media groups, councils of Churches, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Delegation of the European Community in Cairo.
We have worked hard to improve the quality of our work. The most important change in our output was the strong increase of special reports for the RNSAW. In these special reports, information is provided along with expert analysis as a result of our own investigative work in Egypt. The preparation of many such special reports has been very time consuming. The reports were well received by a wide public for their quality and accuracy.
The RNSAW asked two scholars to join the Board of Advisors in 2001: Prof. Dr. Tareq Mitri, Program Executive for Christian-Muslim Relations and Dialogue of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland and Dr. Arne H. Fjeldstad, a Norwegian internet communications specialist.
His Beatitude Cardinal Stephanos II, Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt and chairman of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Egypt, Dr. Safwat Al-Bayadi, head of the Protestant Community Council in Egypt and H.G. Bishop Mounir, head of the Episcopal Church in Egypt and North Africa and a member of the Committee for Dialogue between the Episcopal Church and the Azhar, decided to endorse the RNSAW in 2001. This is mentioned on each issue the RNSAW brings out. Of course the RNSAW is also supported in the Coptic Orthodox Church. We have not received an answer to our request to H.H. Pope Shenouda to endorse the RNSAW, but the support of the Coptic Orthodox Church is shown through three Coptic Orthodox Bishops on the Board of Advisors, the Bishops; Thomas, Marcos and Botros (January 2002).
Our media coverage:
The RNSAW continued making press reviews. This started a year earlier and has proven to be very valuable, especially when specific subjects are covered by many different media in a short period of time.
The number of articles translated and summarized hardly changed between 2000 and 2001, but a major change was in the special reports and articles for the RNSAW. The changes are obvious in the table below:
*) Between December 1999 and May 2000, shortly before editor Drs. Cornelis Hulsman fell seriously ill, the RNSAW presented an RNSAW-E, an overview from the English language press and an RNSAW-A, translations and summaries from the Arabic press with special reports. After May 2000 articles from the English language press were clipped and put in files but not sent out to subscribers because of the additional expenses involved. The translations and summaries from the Arabic press have always been seen as the core actvity since this material is, unlike the material from the English language press, not available elsewhere.
The estimated number of articles from the English press in Egypt is approx. 2800. If these were to be incorporated in the database, it would bring the total number of articles in the RNSAW database to around 8000.
The translations, summaries and press reviews were carried out by one full timer, Nirmeen Fawzy and several free-lancers. The more time consuming press reviews were preferably given to Nirmeen Fawzy or Jihan Lutfy, a professional journalist. A new category, is the listings of articles about the same subject without actually translating them. This happened for example with the articles about Christmas and Easter. A listing shows the attention given to a certain subject without actually translating them.
Special RNSAW reports:
Summary translations of articles in the Arab press give an insight into the wide variety of opinions in this press, which is a reflection of opinions in society. The special reports of the RNSAW supplement this with background information and analysis with the aim of providing an accurate understanding of the dynamics in society.
Special reports have been prepared on:
- Conversions of Christians to Islam,
- The demise of a recent Christian Holy Family tradition,
- Christian outrage after presenting Egyptian monasticism in a bad daylight,
- Court procedures following Muslim-Christians clashes in Al-Kosheh,
- Church building,
- Conspiracy theory following the death of a priest,
- Inflamatory reporting,
- Inaccurate reporting,
- The Anglican Synod of Australia giving in to Coptic expatriate lobbying,
- Reporting after September 11,
- Biased presentation of news about Egyptian media and the Azhar by the Middle East Media Research Institute,
- Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd responding to distorted Western reporting about the Qur’an,
- Can Muslims call Christians "kafir" and does this justify violence?
Hulsman wrote three articles for Christianity Today, US. The first article was followed by a campaign of the US Copts Association and Freedom House trying to prevent similar reporting.
See for a brief description of these reports the appendix to this yearreport.
Participation in conferences:
Arab Defence organized in June in cooperation with the American University in Cairo a discussion on the Arab immage in the West. The meeting was in Arabic, resulting in mainly Egyptian participants. Hulsman remarked that most discussions about the Arab image in the West take place among native Arab speakers and hardly involve non-Arabs. More effort needs to be made to involve Europeans and Americans in this discussion. Of course there is a language barrier, but the RNSAW helps to bridge this with its translations.
Missio invited Drs. Hulsman to participate in a conference in Berlin, Germany, on September 14 and 15. The theme was; "are Christians in Islamic countries persecuted?" Missio had invited church representatives from many different Islamic countries. They wanted to hear the voice from these countries, not from migrant or interest groups in the West. They first wanted to invite a bishop from Egypt. When he couldn’t come they invited our editorial board member Father Dr. Christiaan van Nispen, internationally known for his knowledge about Muslim-Christian relations, but he too couldn’t go and thus Hulsman was invited.
The papers presented at this conference were later translated and published in three languages: German, English and French. It was obvious that participants rejected language inflation in the West. The word ‘persecution’ is often used indiscriminately and often doesn’t apply to the position of Christians in Muslim countries. The meeting in September 2001 was followed up by a meeting in March 2002.
The Middle East Council of Churches organized a three-day workshop about Muslim-Christian relations in the Arab World in Cairo. Father Dr. Christiaan van Nispen and Drs. Hulsman attended. The conclusions of the workshop were formulated in “a charter for a dialogue of life and common action” [RNSAW, 2001, week 50A, art. 8].
The RNSAW in the Egyptian press:
The Egyptian weekly Akher Sa’a interviewed Drs. Hulsman about the disappearance of a holy family tree near Gebel el-Teir, approx. 220 km. south of Cairo. Egyptian Copts were saddened. Some expatriate Copts claimed this was again an example of Muslims trying to wipe out Christian heritage. Hulsman, however, showed the disappearance of the tree had absolutely nothing to do with that. Squatters saw the increasing interest for the tree, which stood on the land they worked and feared Egyptian authorities may try to take this piece of land and use it to attract tourists. Akher Sa’a had discovered the RNSAW report on this issue [RNSAW, 2001, week 3A, art. 18] and decided to interview Hulsman [RNSAW, 2001, week 7A, art. 15]. Two weeks later the same weekly reported about the first holy family visit the RNSAW organized for expatriates [RNSAW, 2001, week 9A, art. 33]. Later on, the Egyptian press wrote several positive articles about Be Thou There: the Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt, AUC-press, April 2001. Hulsman had initiated this project together with photographer Norbert Schiller and provided approximately half of the text for the book while Schiller did an excellent job providing over 100 beautiful photos. Other contributors were Dr. Gawdat Gabra (editor), Dr. Stephen Davis, church historian and Dr. William Lyster, art historian.
The Cairo Times, April 19-25, 2001, placed an article about Palm Sunday in Sarakna, 315 km. South of Cairo. Public manifestations of Christian faith become less in Egyptian society. Sarakna is one of the last villages where this is possible. The article explains that Muslims in villages want their villages to have a Muslim appearance and thus many Muslims do not like public manifestations of Christian faith. Yet, there is no problem with Christian celebrations when they are confined within the walls of churches [RNSAW, 2000, week 15A, art. 15]. The Cairo Times, September 6-12, 2001, placed an article of Claudia Wiens, about a Holy Family trip Hulsman had organized in June this year to Deir Abu Hinnis, Mallawi, 300 km. South of Cairo.
Study trips:
The RNSAW started organizing for the first time visits to locations in different parts of Egypt for members of the Maadi Community Church, a major church of expatriates in Cairo. The study trips show participants how Christians live in a Muslim society. Just as with the weekly issues of the RNSAW they show Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt are more complicated than is generally reported in the West.
Six visits reaching 104 participants were organized around the theme ‘Holy Family,’ Egypt’s most important Christian tradition. The visits proved to be very important. None of these expatriates, many of them had lived for years in Egypt, had ever visited any of these locations. It provided them with a true culture shock, showing a Christianity that is very different from that in Cairo. The Holy Family tradition shows how the belief in visions, miracles and appearances is very real. Great authority is given to the words of spiritual leaders in the past and present.
Priests responded to questions about Muslim-Christian relations. Egypt is a society based on relations. Christians rarely experience problems with their Muslim neighbors if these relations are maintained. It was obvious that the most important issue is not Muslim-Christian relations but poverty. People in rural areas, Muslims and Christians, are struggling for survival.
The local churches have highly appreciated these visits. Bishops, priests and villagers went out of their way to provide us with warm welcomes. The RNSAW hopes the participants, who included pastors, church workers, development workers and diplomats, will be able to use the information obtained, in their work.
The expenses of the first trips were very low, 150 EgP per person including transportation, accomodation, meals and drinks for a two-day tour. They were increased in autumn to include preparation time. The total preparation time for these trips was 29 days with a return of 6008 EgP.
Finances:
The RNSAW is a non-profit activity working on a very small budget. The editor-in-chief (content, special reports, organization) and translation coordinator (scanning the Egyptian media and selection of articles) are not paid. Translators and language editors are willing to accept a payment below the market rate. The RNSAW had a student in the summer of 2001 providing work for free in exchange of credits for his study. Several authors have contributed without payment. None of the editorial board members is paid nor are the members of the Board of Advisors.
The RNSAW lives on the income obtained from subscribers, study trips and donations. The total income without donations in time is 61.863 EgP. One donation was earmarked for the development of a handbook for translators setting the guidelines for translations from the Egyptian press (5350 EgP) and a personal computer (2932 EgP). The actual translation, editing and office expenses, not calculating the donated or unpaid time, were 49,695 EgP. If the unpaid time were to be calculated the operation would result in a loss of 111,267 EgP.
Conclusions
The RNSAW reports show that much reporting about Muslim-Christian relations is highly biased, sensationalist and dramatized. This only increased after September 11. The result is a negative spiral of distrust, which can only create an atmosphere for further tensions. Christians in Egypt do not live in isolation and can only survive if they live and work together with Muslims. It is obvious from feedback obtained from different Christian leaders that development is only possible in regions where Muslims and Christians live in harmony. It is equally obvious that development projects are seriously hampered in regions stricken by deep rifts between different population groups.
Feedback from David Weaver of the National Council of Churches in the US shows that the RNSAW reports certainly had prevented escalations. Egyptian media, Egyptian authorities and intellectuals often fume at what they consider to be highly biased Western reports about Egypt, the Arab World and Islam, but their anger is primarily inward oriented, directed to an Egyptian/Arab public and thus strenghtens existing frustrations about the West. Egyptians rarely respond with reports and explanations for a Western public, often in the belief that this would not help. That doesn’t help people in the West to gain more understanding for the complicated social mechanisms at work in Egypt and the Arab world, mechanisms, which are often very different from those we are used to in the West. The RNSAW was the only organization providing frequently balanced reports on Muslim-Christian relations in the Arab world for a Western public and in this way caused a number of prominent Western organizations not to follow the path of polarization.
RNSAW reports have clashed a number of times with those of the US Copts Association, the Middle East Media Research Institute and others. The RNSAW disagreed with their press releases and reports but remains open for dialogue. It is anyhow good that organizations know their material is read and sometimes criticized. That will make them more careful in making bold statements and starting campaigns without first checking their facts, which will contribute to reducing intercommunal tensions, through more hopefully accurate reporting.
The RNSAW has produced its reports with a very limited budget and staff. It could have produced more reports, it could have done more investigative work, and it could have involved more experts if the means had been available to do so. Nevertheless, the special reports of the RNSAW in 2001 show a strong need for such reports because, as an Arab expression says, “Il mar’a ‘adu ma yaghal” [one is the enemy of what he is ignorant of]. Providing accurate information is therefore of utmost importance because, as Farid Fadel, a prominent Egyptian Christian intellectual and artist formulated it, “knowledge breeds tolerance.”
Expectations for the future:
The objective of the RNSAW is to create understanding between Arab and Western cultures, Muslims and Christians, in the belief that only this will result in a reduction of tensions between the different cultures, which is needed to enhance the development of this region. The RNSAW has thus far been used by a limited number of organizations and people. The RNSAW needs to increase its distribution in order to achieve its objective. This is, however, not so easy to realize with a very limited budget.
A second objective is to make the RNSAW able to finance its own activities. That is not the case as long as the RNSAW depends on a substantial amount of unpaid work. The RNSAW must increase income from subscribers and other sources.
The board proposed to develop a database, which should be made accessible, for a fee, through a website. No other organization in the Arab World has such a large database of articles and reports translated from the Arab press as the RNSAW. No other organization has so many special reports about Muslim-Christian relations in especially Egypt. This material is, because of its quantity, currently not easily accessible for interested users. The RNSAW expects that it will be able to increase the value of its existing material with a database, while at the same time it will help to increase the RNSAW’s exposure to a much larger public and thus, increase its income through a larger number of subscribers and individual users.
Appendix to the RNSAW yearreport 2001; Special reports:
Summary translations of articles in the Arab press give an insight into the wide variety of opinions in this press, which is a reflection of opinions in society. The special reports of the RNSAW supplement this with background information and analysis with the aim of providing an accurate understanding of the dynamics in society.
Special reports have focused on issues where different parties provide widely different opinions and interpretations of events. Studies showed that reports about the role of religion in society were often not accurate. Religious subjects are sensitive in Egypt, accusations, often unsubstantiated, are easily formulated, stories are often dramatized for one group of intended receivers and at the same time played down for other intended receivers. That makes it hard for outsiders to distinguish facts from opinions and interpretations, and results through the frequent mis-reporting.
Issues may be mis-presented for various reasons; reporting without sufficient information of what is happening on the spot, biased presuppositions and interpretations, use of unreliable sources, a focus on sensationalism or tailoring reports to political interests.
We have seen biased reports coming from a wide variety of sources including Mamdouh Nakhla, an Egyptian human rights lawyer, the US Copts Association, the Middle East Media Research Institute, the Egyptian press and Foreign press. No doubt this list is not exhaustive but the preparation of special reports is often very time consuming and the RNSAW had to work with very limited resources.
Mis-reporting occurs regarding the most sensitive subjects in society including conversions from and to Islam, church building, misinterpreting Islam, etc. In the overview of our main reports you see these issues coming back over and again.
The consequences of mis-reporting are huge. Both Muslims and Coptic Christians have the tendency to believe that perceived mis-reporting is (practically) always deliberate. That creates mistrust towards the other and could form the basis for other tensions, which in turn seriously hampers the necessary cooperation for development.
Because there is much mis-reporting in society people developed a skepticism to news and other reports, especially if they are believed to come from a certain denomination or interest group.
The RNSAW prepares its reports in this context. In order to prepare high quality reports that would be able to explain convincingly, the different angles to issues in society to different parties, these parties and experts were consulted; a time consuming but highly rewarding process.
Conversions of Christians to Islam
It is hard for Christians to accept that their daughters, sons, sisters and brothers convert to Islam. Such conversions are seen as a blemish on the family and since it is so important to save one’s image in Egypt the other, in this case Muslims, are blamed by claiming that children were physically forced to convert to Islam. We showed in a report in 1999 that this picture was not accurate (RNSAW, 1999, week 26, art. 37). That report was vehemently attacked by members of the US Copts Association in the USA, but this report also resulted in Dr. Rodolph Yanney, president of the Society of Coptic Church Studies in the US, to investigate this issue for himself. He published his findings in the Copts Daily Digest of the US Copts Association and allowed the RNSAW to publish them in the RNSAW (2001, week 01, art. 4) Dr. Yanney is disappointed in the responses of the readers of the Digest and the clergy. He calls the issue of converting to Islam "a threat to the survival of the Coptic Church and still it is not taken seriously."
Conversion stories are usually good for campaigns in the West, it helps organizations to proffer themselves as campaigners for human rights and helps them to push for political goals and gain revenue from supporters. The US Copts Association made it very bad with a press release on April 27 in which they claimed that the Egyptian government “moves [in other words planned, but it did not happen] to abduct two Coptic children from their own mother and hand them to strangers, under the name of Islam!” (RNSAW, 2001, week 17A, art. 16). The RNSAW contacted the concerned bishopric of Beni Suef and found out that a court case, regarding the children, corcerning a divorce between a Muslim father (a Christian who had turned to Islam) and a Christian mother, had been closed, and that the children were still with the Christian mother and that there was no threat of her losing them (RNSAW, 2001, week 17A, art. 18 and week 18A, art. 11). Bishop Ghabreal responded with a statement that the US Copts Association should immediately stop its campaign (RNSAW, 2001, week 19A, art. 22). Michael Meunier, president of the US Copts Association fumed at the bishop and threatened to destroy our editor-in-chief’s credibility. Afterall his campaign at the expense of the church in Egypt had faltered (RNSAW, 2001, week 19, art. 23).
The next issue soon followed. The Australian Coptic Association Youth Branch had reported that Muslims had kidnapped some Christian girls from Mallawi. Different Egyptian newspapers denied this in May (RNSAW, 2001, week 22A, art. 19). The Coptic youth association kept insisting their reports were accurate but Bishop Dimitrius and priests in Mallawi denied this and told the RNSAW that the girls had run away and had returned (RNSAW, 2001, week 26A, art. 26 and week 28A, art. 13)
It is obvious that conversions in any direction are sensitive and subsequently so are mixed marriages. Islam allows a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman (but not the other way around) but children from such a mixed marriage have to grow up as Muslims. All churches in Egypt therefore strongly reject such marriages. Nevertheless Egyptian TV broadcasted a serial about mixed marriages in December 2000. An Egyptian filmmaker proposed to make another film about mixed marriages in July 2001. Christians opposed his plans (RNSAW, week 29A, art. 11).
The demise of a recent Christian Holy Family tradition
The news about the destruction of a holy tree was broken by the Associated Press. Their report was accurate but was immediately distributed by Coptic activists in the US as yet another example of Muslims wanting to destroy Christian heritage in Egypt or Muslims being negligent about Christian heritage. The RNSAW investigated this issue and found these interpretations unjustified. The tree did not stand on Christian property and had only become a venerated tree in the last few decades. The Ministry of Tourism had followed the recommendation of the Coptic Orthodox Church to list this tree as one of the sites the Holy Family visited. Farmers tending this tree became afraid the ministry might confiscate the land they were working on and subsequently chopped the tree down. It is a pity that this happened, but it was not a deliberate destruction of Christian heritage (RNSAW, 2001, week 03A, art. 18, week 05A, art. 19 and week 51, art. 1)
Presenting Egyptian monasticism in a bad daylight
Sout al-Umma, a new Egyptian weekly, presented three articles about Fa’iq Zakka Bolous, formerly father Gawargy from the Monastery of Makarios. Fa’iq Zakka Bolous had joined the monastery and had discovered over a number of years that this wasn’t the life he wanted to lead. He left despite his monastic vow, which is highly frowned upon by most Orthodox Christians. It happens more that monks leave their monastery but is rarely made public. Fa’iq, however, decided to go public with a book and a series of articles in Sout al-Umma (RNSAW, 2001, week 03A, art. 21, week 04A, art. 20 and week 05A, art. 24). Monks in Fa’iq’s former monastery were furious. He had first given a distorted picture of monastic life and Sout al-Umma had not even made the effort to contact them to check his claims or obtain a different opinion [RNSAW, 2001, week 05A, art. 25, 26 and 27, week 06A, art. 11]. The RNSAW became the monasteries’ platform to express their grievances [RNSAW, 2001, week 08A, art. 26 and 27]. It was obvious the author of the articles about Fa’iq was primarily interested in the story because of its senstionalist angle. Stories about monks leaving their monasteries are rare and it is even more rare if such a person is willing to lash out against the head of this monastery, Father Matta el-Meskeen, a widely respected Christian leader. It was important that Fa’iq’s words were accurately reported but whether his claims were true or not was hardly a consideration (RNSAW, 2001, week 08A, art. 28). Sout al-Umma reported inaccurately about an RNSAW report (RNSAW, 2001, week 11A, art. 14) resulting in more responses (RNSAW, week 11A, art. 15 and week 19A, art. 19 and 20)
Weeks later a second story broke about a former monk. Al-Nabaa, an Egyptian yellow paper reported a monk from the Monastery of Muharraq had engaged himself in sexual activities behind the altar. The controversial article and responses in other media have been translated by the RNSAW. This story was far worse than Fa’iq’s because pictures were published of the former monk in compromising positions, the nature of the claims and the location, the holiest location of Coptic Orthodox Christianity because it is believed Jesus had found refuge at this location from the soldiers of Herod and he had consecrated this altar in the first century. But the claims were not true. The accused person had been told to leave monastic life long before this story broke and the compromising pictures were taken in a house in Shubra, Cairo, hundreds of kilometers from the Monastery of Muharraq.
The outrageous publication and allegations led for the first time in modern history to Coptic demonstrations, primarily Coptic teenage boys from slums who had been incited by negative remarks of lower class Muslims about Christian life [RNSAW, 2001, week 24A, art. 11]. The US Copts Association wrote enthusiastically of a Coptic revolt. Finally Copts in Egypt didn’t accept the perceived humiliation any longer. They believed such protests should be encouraged. The Egyptian press was stung and wrote several biting articles about the US Copts Association. That caused considerable damage for Muslim trust of Coptic Christians. The Egyptian police had been able to contain the demonstrations without escalations. Thirty six teenagers had been briefly detained. Only three of them, the leaders behind the demonstrations, were kept for 35 days. The US Copts Association started a campaign for their release, apparently not realizing that by the time they started their campaign the boys had been released (RNSAW, week 26A, art. 32).
Coptic Orthodox Christians highly value monastic life and any attempt to place monastic life in a bad light results in strongly negative responses as has been obvious in the many articles the RNSAW translated and summarized.
Al-Kosheh
The RNSAW reported in previous years about the death of two Christians after gambling and drinking alcohol, the arrest of large numbers of Christians for investigation and the growing tensions resulting in clashes and killing of 21 Christians and one Muslim on January 2, 2000. The suspected perpetrators were brought before court and…practically all released for lack of evidence. The court verdict has caused a strong line of division between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians. Most Muslims accept the impartiality of the court while many Christians, inside and outside Egypt, expressed their anger in articles, letters and interviews about the verdict. They believe that the court ruling was unjust and politically motivated. The RNSAW took weeks to analyse the articles about this subject, consult church leaders and legal experts, resulting in a widely appreciated report about this court verdict. The report concluded that major problems are lack of transparency and the way evidence had been collected prior to the trials (RNSAW, 2001, week 08A, art. 9).
The case is complicated because the relations between Muslims and Christians in Al-Kosheh seem to have developed into a kind of vendetta. Christians, unlike Muslims, are not strong enough to retaliate by killing those they suspected of killing their loved ones, but this doesn’t mean the feelings belonging to a vendetta are not there. The consequence is that both Muslims and Christians in Al-Kosheh do their best to protect their own, even if they know that a person was guilty of some crime, and indict the other, even if there is insufficient evidence for this. This vendetta means that the courtroom is used as a ‘battlefield’ for accusations and subsequent denials in different directions.
The effects of the vendetta in Al-Kosheh did not stay limited to the village alone. The verdict of the Criminal Court of Sohag has caused widespread distrust among Christians in the Egyptian judiciary when it comes to issues with a religious dimension.
Articles and reports in the West which present very negative interpretations on the basis of very little information make Egyptians who read them upset. A frequent problem is that there is often not sufficient information and when the little information is presented it may be out of context and result in accusations which should not be made and which lead to alienating those who too sincerely seek solutions for the country’s probems. In other words, the report concluded, positive responses, helping Egypt to overcome its problems, may be far more effective than negative responses including unfair criticism, polarizing statements and the like.
Church building
The US Copts Association issued a press release on February 26 with the title: “Egyptian Police destroy a Coptic Church and hospitalizes its priest, after local bishop asks for permission to hold prayers.” (RNSAW, 2001, week 08A, art. 20). The concerned bishop, Bishop Marcos, member of the RNSAW Board of Advisors, told the RNSAW that this report was full of inaccuracies and therefore harmful for the church. The press release neglected important facts and therefore infuriated Egyptian authorities. The church service building, not a church, was built illegally because the entire town expansion in this area had been illegal without the government able to stop it. The church felt it had to be present in this area and thus started building a church service building. The US Copts Association claimed the priest was in a terrible physical condition after the demolition but Bishop Marcos told us this was not true (RNSAW, 2001, week 08A, art. 19).
Later, editorial board member Dale Gavlak and Cornelis Hulsman investigated the story, met with both Bishop Marcos and governor Adli Hussein and obtained a large number of documents showing this issue was way more complicated than reported abroad or in Egypt (RNSAW, 2001, week 22A, articles 9 to 18). The documents gave a good insight into the procedures around church building in the governorate of Qalyubiya.
The US Copts Association presented on December 19 another press release about the ‘destruction’ of another ‘church’ in al-Ubur City, also in the diocese of Bishop Marcos (RNSAW, 2001, week 50A, art. 4). But the dramatically formulated text gave readers a totally false impression. It did not mention that the government had given the church free land for the construction of a church. The procedures for permissions were well underway, but in order to start fundraising for the building the priest had made a makeshift building to organize meetings which local officials found premature. The building had not been ‘stormed’ as the Association claimed, nor had the building been ‘flattened’ (RNSAW, 2001, week 50A, art. 5). The RNSAW made photos of the building clearly indicating this. The Coptic press release resulted in several articles published in Western media whose authors had not checked the facts in Egypt. A simple phone call to the bishop would have been sufficient, but this was not done (RNSAW, 2001, week 50A, art. 6 and 7).
The death of a priest
A car accident caused the death of Father Antonios Zaki Ghobrial and three of his relatives in Minya governorate. Human rights lawyer Mamdouh Nakhla issued a press release stating that he suspected ‘foul play’ (RNSAW, 2001, week 09A, art. 28). This was immediately translated by Copts in the US as a deliberate act of anti-Christian forces to kill the priest. The RNSAW concluded on March 17 “Conspiracy theories are rampant in Egypt and serve no other purpose but escalating problems between Muslims and Christians” (RNSAW, 2001, week 09A, art. 29).
Inflamatory reporting
The Egyptian weekly Rose el-Youssef published on July 24, 2000, a very negative story about Sudanese refugees in Egypt after Sudanese refugees and Egyptians had clashed in front of the Sacred Heart Church in Abassiya, Cairo, where Comboni fathers are making a great effort to help these refugees (RNSAW, 2000, week 31A, art.5). Students from the American University in Cairo interviewed many Sudanese and Egyptians in the area in November 2000 and April 2001 and found a very different story from what Rose el-Youssef had reported a year before (RNSAW, 2000, week 26A, art. 24). Rose el-Youssef’s cover page article was highly inflamatory against Sudanese refugees. This was, however, not characteristic for Rose el-Youssef, which had provided balanced reporting on the same refugees earlier or in other subjects.
Inaccurate reporting
A problem with media is that stories and claims are often not checked which in turn can lead to frictions. An inaccurate article of AFP resulted in an angry response from the US Copts Association against Bishop Yo’annis, secretary of H.H. Pope Shenouda (RNSAW, 2001, week 05A, art. 14), which later had to be cleared in a private meeting between the bishop and the association.
The Egyptian weekly Al-Usbua claimed thirty members of the American Congress signed a memorandum that advocates making one of the Egyptian local newspapers specialize in representing the rights of Egyptian Christians and highlighting their opinions regarding Egyptian internal affairs. Such a claim is highly explosive in a country where already strong sentiments exist against foreign interference in its internal religious affairs. The RNSAW investigated the story and found it not to be true (RNSAW, 2001, week 28A, art. 10 and 11).
The Anglican Synod of Australia giving in to Coptic expatriate lobbying
The Anglican General Synod of Australia accepted a resolution speaking about persecution of Christians in Egypt. The resolution was accepted without consulting the Anglican bishop in Cairo or Anglican experts in England who are not only well acquainted with the church in Egypt but also strongly disagree with the wording of the resolution (RNSAW, 2001, week 37A, art. 4). The German Pontifical Mission Aid Society Mission organized a two-day conference on the use of the word ‘persecution’ for Christians in Muslim societies and called for care in using such heavy accusations (RNSAW, 2001, week 37A, art. 5). Mr. Joe Stork, Middle East Coordinator of Human Rights Watch in Washington supports the call for care in using the word ‘persecution.’ (RNSAW, 2001, week 38A, art. 28).
September 11
Reporting changed after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The attack made a deep rift visible between East and West, the Islamic world and the Western world. This first showed in a widespread joy in Arab and Islamic countries that the most powerful nation on earth was hit in its commercial and military heart. This joy was not over the death of innocent citizens but reflected an anger with American foreign policy towards the Middle East (RNSAW, 2001, week 37A, art. 21).
Muslims became more and more convinced of a Western conspiracy against the Islamic world, strongly increasing the already existing distrust against Western powers, organizations and individual politicians, journalists, thinkers, etc. This distrust was strengthened by many reports in the West which were perceived to be presenting a very unfair picture of feelings in the Arab World. The RNSAW has analysed a number of these western reports without pretending to give a full overview.
Middle East Media Research Institute
The Washington based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) profited from the increased Western interest in the Islamic world. It presents translations of selected material from the Arab media. The selections seem to confirm widespread preconceived Western views about the Arab and Islamic world: extremist thinking, opposed to democracy, anti-Israel, a struggle between reactionary forces and civil society forces, etc. The selections, however, do not show the context of those articles. As any reader from the RNSAW knows, the Egyptian media provides a wide scope of opinions, people of many different backgrounds present their views and are in discussion with one another. It is unfair to take articles out of this context and present them in a different context. MEMRI presents itself as independent and academic, but the reports we analyzed strongly suggest MEMRI is persuing a pro-Israeli political agenda. That is its right to do so, but it becomes misleading if the agenda is kept hidden.
The Middle East Media Research Institute produced a report in October, about responses in the Egyptian media to the attacks in the USA, giving the impression that the Egyptian government, opposition, and independent press all celebrated the terrorist attacks on the USA. Coptic activists in the US and others distributed this report, sometimes with negative comments such as “this is sick.”
After reading the report and comparing it with the actual Egyptian news coverage we concluded that the selected quotes were not placed in the context of Egyptian frustration with American foreign policy in the Arab and Islamic world. Taking them out of context gives the Western reader the impression that the quoted authors rejoiced over the death of so many innocent people. It also makes one believe that Egyptian authors support the ideas and actions of Osama Bin Laden. This is not true (RNSAW, 2001, week 39A, art. 36).
Next was a MEMRI report titled, "Egypt’s Al-Azhar Clerics: We declare war on America," The title implies that many if not most Azhar scholars declared war on America. This was certainly not true. The report mentioned six scholars, two of whom have nothing to do with the Azhar, and the other four did not have the authority to speak on behalf of the Azhar. Other scholars with views opposed to these six were not mentioned at all (RNSAW, 2001, week 44, art. 5)
MEMRI published a special dispatch on Jihad and Terrorism Studies on December 5, 2001 giving statements from a selected number of Azhar scholars about Muslim victories during Ramadan after the US decided to continue bombing Afghanistan during the fasting month of Ramadan. Editorial Board member Dr. Abdel Mo’ti Bayoumi had already earlier explained that none of these scholars spoke on behalf of the Azhar.
A day later MEMRI published a report on a planned Ramadan TV Special on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a notorious anti-Semitic document claiming that Jews want to rule the world with the intention to corrupt it. The planned TV special was never broadcasted but that was not reported by MEMRI. MEMRI also left out the context widespread Egyptian anger about Israel’s handling of the Palestinian intifada. Anti-semitic documents such as the protocols typically pop up when Egypt’s relations with Israel are at a low end.
Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd
US Copts had distributed a very negative article about Islam and violence written by a Christian leader days after the terrorist attack. We passed this on to Dr. Nasser Abu Zayd for a response and contacted his organization for their feedback. They were upset about the distribution of their document by US Copts, and replied that it was an internal document only and asked us to remove their name from Dr. Abu Zayd’s response. Dr. Abu Zayd agreed and wrote about common mistakes in Western reporting about Islam creating an atmosphere of polarization.
Dr. Abu Zayd’s comment was preceded by an introduction of the RNSAW editorial Board: “The attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11 has led to a host of articles on Islam in the West, often linking Islam to extremism and terrorism which has resulted in many angry Muslim responses about the misrepresentations of their religion.
“The problem for many people in the West is that Western media generaly focusses on the most extreme statements of the Taleban or other radical groups. They read the interpretations of the Qur’an and hadith by some Muslims or Muslim groups who are often described as extremist without knowing how those interpretations are viewed by leading Muslim scholars whose views are generally not reported in the West. That, in turn, makes many people believe that the interpretations they hear represent mainstream Islamic orthodoxy. They do not realise that most Muslim scholars of Islam do not accept many of those interpretations.
“Yet, when western authors do not take care in presenting Islam as mainstream Muslims believe it is, they, willingly or unwillingly contribute to a polarization between Muslims and non-Muslims which will effect Muslims in the West and Christians in the Islamic world.
“The RNSAW believes Islam and any other religion should be presented in such a way that a follower of that religion would recognize his or her faith in that text. This does not imply we need to agree with the thoughts represented by that religion. It also does not mean no criticism is possible, but the followers of a religion should not get the impression from reading a text that their religion, their faith, has been misrepresented. We should certainly avoid claiming that the explanation of certain religious texts of certain individuals represent the followers of an entire faith” (RNSAW, 2001, week 41A, art. 3).
Can Muslims call Christians "kafir" and does this justify violence?
The Egyptian weekly Al-Musawwar published on November 23 an article with the title "Is the West still Dar Kufr." The article gave an overview of an internal Islamic discussion about this term. Some Muslims believe Christians can be called "kafir" or unbeliever while others believe this should not be done for Christians and Jews are, in Islamic terms, ‘people of the book.’ Nevertheless, the US Copts Association saw an occasion to launch a campaign on November 28 against this article, claiming that calling someone a “kafir” is a call to violence and thus a public attack on Christianity. The Bishops Bissenti of Ma’asara and Helwan and Marcos of Shubra al-Kheima, Dr. Abdel Mo’ti Bayoumi of the Azhar, Father Dr. Christiaan van Nispen, member of the RNSAW editorial board, and Prof. Dr. Tareq Mitri, Program Executive for Christian-Muslim Relations and Dialogue of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, all rejected this highly polarizing negative interpretation. Dr. Mitri called this a “political misuse of a theological discussion.” Father van Nispen concluded that the US Copts Association gives the impression that they practise exactly what they accuse those Muslim intellectuals of doing, that is, they incite a large public to an attitude of enmity and refusal (and so finally of injustice) towards Muslims (RNSAW, 2001, week 47A, art. 14, 15 and 16).
Christianity Today
Hulsman reported in May for Christianity Today about the visit of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to Egypt (USCIRF). Bishop Marcos had organized that editorial board members Hulsman and Gavlak could meet with the commission and thus it was natural for Bishop Marcos to see the text of the article for Christianity Today before it was sent to the editor of Christianity Today (RNSAW, 2001, week 12A, art. 10 and week 16A, art. 14). The article was published and caused an outcry from the US Copts Association and the Freedom House against it, because the article showed a widespread Egyptian frustration about American political interference in Egypt’s religious scene. They had hoped that the USCIRF would come with a strong statement against Egypt and felt, David Weaver of the National Council of Churches of the US later said, that the RNSAW presentation had played a role to soften the stance of the USCIRF. The US Copts Association and Freedom House joined hands in a campaign to pressure Christianity Today and other American media never to accept any contribution from us again. Their campaign failed. Only a few activists responded to the call to write letters to the editor of Christianity Today while several expatriate Christians from Cairo, not related to the RNSAW, responded that Hulsman’s reporting had been accurate.
Christianity Today asked Hulsman to write a cover page article on the Flight-to-Egypt of the Holy Family and another article about the relations between Pope Shenouda and Father Matta el-Meskeen, two reformers in the Coptic Orthodox Church with widely different views about the relation of church and politics. (RNSAW, 2001, week 51A, art. 11, 12, 13 and 14). The articles were well received and later over 100 of them were distributed to Pope Shenouda, many bishops and priests in Egypt
