[Report with postscript dated May 10, 2005]
This
article contains media critique on:
- US Copts Association and media following their
reporting
- AP, December 9 – partisan presentation tensions around alleged conversion
- Al
-Kiraza, December 18 – partisan presentation issue, inflammatory choice of photos
- Jihad
Watch, December 9, unlikely quote of Pope Shenouda
- Yousuf Sidhum, in Watanī December
19 – playing down the crisis
- Al-Usbouc and Sawt al-Umma, December 20 – pages long attention
with lots of angry inflammatory language in many of their articles.
We have briefly
reported in AWR, weeks 37 and 38, about the alleged kidnap of Wafā’ Costantine (47), the
wife of Father Yousuf Mucawwad, a priest from the town of al-Matāmīr near Damanhour,
some 150 km north-west of Cairo, populated by 75,000 inhabitants, of which the Christians claim
to represent one third [Muslims and Christians rarely agree on estimates on the number of
Christians in a particular area, especially not if an area has witnessed tensions as is the case
here over Wafā’ Costantine]. Many Muslims denied Wafā’ Costantine was kidnapped and
responded in anger. Some Copts organized a demonstration in the Coptic cathedral, seat of Pope
Shenouda, for publicity reasons and made angry statements. The emotions of both Muslims and Copts
went high and gave a local story national and international importance it would have never
obtained without those emotions. The story will could have serious consequences for relations
between the church and state.
Conversions from one religion to the other are sensitive in
Egypt and can easily result in social tensions. It is therefore important to understand the
cultural background of these stories and see how this has affected the story of Wafā’
Costantine. This, however, was largely neglected in most Western news reports.
Early Arab
and Western media reporting (December 6-22); reporting pressure on Egyptian Christians
dominates
The story was first made public by the US Copts Association with a press
release accompanied by an on-line petition to US President Bush for “immediate intervention” on
December 6 claiming Wafā’ Costantine had been kidnapped by Muslim extremists. Some smaller
Western media such as WorldNetDaily immediately reported the story based on information provided
by the US Copts Association. Others media such as Inter Press Service followed later but still
gave much credit to the early claims. Copts.com placed photos of angry demonstrators on their
website, including several wounded people. Two of these had come from al-Kirāza, the Coptic
Church’s weekly magazine.
Al-Jazeera TV channel provided counter claims and reported
Wafā’ Costantine was not kidnapped, but willingly converted to Islam.
The Egyptian
press followed. Samīr Ragab wrote in the Egyptian Gazette of December 6 about Coptic
demonstrators disturbing the funeral of prominent Christian writer Sa‘īd Sunbul. Al-
Ahrām wrote on December 7 that Wafā’ Costantine converted to Islam, making Pope
Shenouda burst in anger and pressure the government to have Wafā’ Costantine returned to the
church. This happened on December 8 but was followed by angry responses in the Egyptian
press.
The Associated Press followed on December 9 and was used by most Western media
outlets, including the Australian Times and many others such as the Jordan Times. The AP story
wrote about an “alleged forced conversion,” about the wife of a priest who “was forced by her
Muslim boss in the civil service to convert,” and quoted a security official denying these facts.
The story went on describing the demonstration in Cairo and Wafā’ Costantine returning to
church but gave practically no background as to why things had taken the turn they did. Had AP
left it as such, it could have left open for others to interpret the story without much knowledge
of the circumstances in Egypt. But a partisan interpretation was given through interviews with
Father Matiyās ‘Abd al-Masīh who claimed “the government is attacking Christians,” and
Yousuf Sidhum, Editor-in-chief of Watani, a Coptic newspaper, who accused authorities to be
reluctant to investigate and prosecute forced conversion cases. “What kind of religion is it that
accepts people who have been forced to believe in it?” he asked. As a good and respected wire
service AP should have avoided such a partisan presentation.
Christian rights
organizations such as Jihad Watch and Jubilee Campaign followed. Wilfred Wong of Jubilee Campaign
claimed that “the attempts to force Christians to convert to Islam in Egypt are on the increase
and the methods are getting increasingly varied and well organized.” Interestingly these
organizations have claimed for years that pressure on Christians is on the increase, also when US
human rights reports record improvements. Jihad Watch quoted Pope Shenouda on December 9 who
allegedly recently stated: “I have received so many letters about what’s happening to Christian
girls who go to supermarket stores to shop. At the store they tell them they have won and have to
go upstairs to receive their award and prize. After that we don’t know what’s happening to these
girls upstairs.” The story Jihad Watch spread is widespread in Coptic Orthodox churches in Egypt
and in the West [see also AWR, 2004, week 50, art. 24].
Bishop Mousa, however, earlier
explained in the Egyptian weekly Sawt al-Umma that the story was untrue [AWR, 2004, week 12, art.
16 and week 18, art. 15. See also AWR, 2004, week 14 art 15]. Bishop Mousa stated “The Pope
confirmed that nothing happened,” and “If something happened to anyone, they had better come to
me now and I will resolve it. We waited for two weeks, but no one approached us. The Pope said
that in a lecture last Wednesday.” [AWR, 2004, week 18, art. 15] and thus it is unlikely that
Pope Shenouda has made the statement Jihad Watch mentioned.
Al-Kirāza, the official
mouthpiece of the Coptic Orthodox Church, informed its readers on December 18 about the anger of
Pope Shenouda about the Egyptian State Security handling this issue, presenting the Copts as
victim. Many commentators have seen the anger unlashed by the Wafā’ Costantine issue as
frustrations about the large number of Christians converting every year to Islam and the way
State Security deals with conversion, church building and other issues of concern for Christians
in Egypt.
It is obvious that several Western media reports focused on the kidnap or
alleged kidnap of Wafā’ Costantine, the demonstration in the Cathedral, angry allegations of
Copts and sometimes denials of Egyptian authorities that seem to be common in such cases. Such
denials are needed to show a certain evenhandedness in reporting but who trusts, after reading
those reports, such government statements?
Many Egyptian media followed with declarations
about Costantine’s voluntary conversion to Islam and anger about Christian and Western claims of
a forced conversion. Many articles instead gave the impression that Orthodox church leaders had
been forcing Wafā’ Costantine to return to her Christian faith, giving an almost diametrical
picture of the events as presented in Al-Kirāza and Watanī, inturn making many Egyptian
Christians upset. These huge differences in presentation were, however, hardly noticed by Western
media.
Coptic Christian and Western reporting differed a lot from Egyptian media. There
were obvious starkly conflicting claims along the Western/Christian and Arab/Muslim divide,
seemingly indicating a clash of cultures.
The reporting shows Coptic activists have been
very active, while opposing Coptic voices were rare. Egyptian Muslim views were rarely reported
in Western media. Coptic activists have especially been able to get their view on the tensions
placed in smaller, often conservative [Christian and non-Christian], Internet publications which
could have been avoided if efforts had been made to translate Egyptian views in English and
present them to a Western public. The consequence of not doing this made a Western public
onesidedly informed and created the strong differences between reporting in Western and Arab
media.
Western mainstream publications have been giving much less attention to these news
but anyone with any interest in these subjects would search the net and practically only find the
Coptic activist view reported, reinforcing existing negative Western perceptions of
Islam.
The tensions around Wafā’ Constantine were largely reported without much
background about the cultural background which, if it would have been properly reported, could
have helped a lot to understand the events as they have unfolded in Egypt.
Later Arab and
Western media reporting (after December 23)
AP reported on December 23 that Wafā’
Costantine wanted to convert to Islam to get away from her husband and correctly noted that her
personal story had become a political issue. AP reported about tensions that many pretend don’t
exist and how the actions of both the church and the government can alienate Christians in Egypt.
The second AP report made accurate observations but only few Western media used the second AP
report. The wave of sensationalist first reports (of AP and others) were out, had been widespread
in the West, leaving the image of a possible kidnapping in people’s minds, while the more
balanced later reporting hardly had any effect.
Cultural background
Any conversion
is very sensitive in Egypt’s religious society because it is related to the popular honor-and-
shame culture that is so dominant in the Arab world, both among Muslims and Christians. Any
conversion is perceived as a great shame by the religious community one has left while the
receiving religious community will rejoice over the new convert, thus adding to the shame of the
community one has left.
Very few Muslim and Christian Egyptians are ready to accept a
conversion to another religion and, once this happens, break all ties with the convert.
Most people in the West believe religion is a personal choice and would say they were born in
a Catholic or Protestant family but no longer believe. This is impossible in the Arab world,
including Egypt where one is Muslim or Christian by birth in a Muslim or Christian family, and
thus carries a Muslim or Christian identity card, not because one has made an explicit choice for
Islam or Christianity. It is not possible in the Arab World to say one is neither Muslim nor
Christian. There are nevertheless thousands of people who are registered as Muslims or Christians
but do not believe. Some participate in religious rites for social reasons but others do not
participate in worship and do not pray. They are the so-called ‘cultural’ Muslims or
Christians.
If then later in life a person chooses to embrace a religion different from
the one he/she was born into, the community will, in most cases, object. Converting to another
religion thus practically always results in tensions between two religious communities, mostly
local, sometimes national.
The honor of the individual is linked to the honor of the
family, religious community and sometimes nation. The family comes first, and for most believers
the religious community is second. Linking one’s personal honor to that of the nation happens
mostly when one’s national pride is involved.
Keeping one’s honor and preventing shame,
that is protecting one’s image, as well as that of the family, religious community or nation, is
often more important than the principle of individual choices or than honestly presenting issues
one is personally involved in.
A conversion is seen as a big shame for the family
involved. Co-religionists look with great suspicion at families who have seen one of their
members convert and often believe something must have been wrong in that family. Families respond
by blaming members of the other religious community. This can involve unfounded suspicions and
lies. The receiving community often receives new converts with great joy. In the poorer areas
some Muslims happen to do this openly, while Christians, when they hear of a conversion of a
Muslim to Christianity, do this more subtlety since any public expression of joy would be seen as
rejoicing over Muslims’ shame and thus provoke an angry reaction from their part.
Members of both religious communities, Muslim and Christian, look with great suspicion to
any conversion and often suspect the convert must have had ulterior motives, leading to
suspicions and conspiracy theories.
The consequences of violating the honor of one’s
family can be severe. Converts in any direction often fear the wrath of their family members,
possibly taking various forms of violence which can, in rare cases, go as far as killing someone.
In one Christian family a brother killed his sister [1996]. Similarly some Christian
demonstrators have been calling for the death of Wafā’ Costantine. In most cases of
Christians converting to Islam Christians did not have the chance to kill a relative because the
convert would quickly seek the protection of his or her new religious community and of the
police.
Emotions play an important role in the way stories are presented. Stories
involving religion generate more emotions than those concerning any other issues. Self-criticism
hardly exists in such an atmosphere.
The Wafā’ Costantine story was more sensitive
than previous conversion stories because she was the wife of a priest and had actually made a
police report stating she wanted to convert to Islam.
The culture of honor-and-shame
makes the community that lost a member immediately blame members of the other community for the
responsibility of the conversion. Common allegations in that case range from kidnap, coercion
through drugs and other illicit means of attracting their members such as money, job
opportunities, women [to take members of their community through marriage] and luring one of
their members in illegal sexual conduct and thus forcing marriage.
The reason behind this
attitude is that by putting the blame on the other community you protect your own and its image
in the eyes of your coreligionists. At the other end a similar phenomenon occurs: members of the
receiving community will rarely admit that a convert joined them for any reason other than
his/her newly acquired faith.
Popular sentiments follow widely accepted cultural and
belief patterns. Religious and other community leaders can both cultivate them to strengthen
their own status or decide to go against the dominant current. In the last case a leader risks to
be accused of weakness by other community leaders.
Religious leaders have a great
authority and thus play an important role in religiously colored honor-and-shame incidents. The
great majority of their followers rarely question their interpretation of events if it follows
the dominant current. They, however, have to take the opinion of senior representatives of large
and powerful families and political authorities into account. When this does not happen, a crisis
may develop.
Religious and other community leaders, Muslim and Christian, may use or
incite local activists to encourage specific sentiments.
In times of tensions some
community leaders may encourage people to make particular statements in public, while they
themselves make less explicit official declarations. Their assertions too may vary from one
audience to another. It is also possible that people, including journalists, give far reaching
interpretations or spread rumors, perhaps believing them to be true, without receiving
corrections from the leaders of the community concerned. That gives them space to maneuver in the
direction they deem to be most beneficial to their community.
The phenomenon to
demonstrate in churches is new. Is this encouraged? Certain is that a number of members of the US
Copts Association encourage this in their electronic publications but without existing anger in
Egypt they cannot make activists in Egypt move. Do church leaders encourage a demonstration in
church? There is nothing that indicates that Bishop Pachomius has encouraged this. On the other
hand the impression has been given that church leaders have used this demonstration to pressure
the Egyptian government to address issues they are concerned about.
If activists organize
a demonstration and are not publicly criticized by clergy, they could well have silent church
support.
It would be a mistake to think that honor-and-shame culture pertains solely to
Islam or to Coptic Christianity: it transcends both religions and is equally important to members
of both religions. The Arab culture is one of honor-shame topped with a layer of Islam or
Christianity. Coptic Christianity is, in this regard, markedly different from Western culture
from which such a strong honor-and-shame concept is largely absent. This difference frequently
leads to Western misinterpretations of events involving Egyptian Christians. People in the West
are generally willing to admit mistakes after they have been pointed out. Not so in Egypt. Even
if mistakes are discovered, they will not be easily admitted and a smoke screen is created to
lure an uninformed public with different information and interpretations, all aiming at
protecting one’s honor and preventing shame.
Incidents are often the result of
unexpected spontaneous conflicts. But whenever they happen, some interested parties may try to
use them, others would say manipulate, to serve their own interests. This hijacking is only
possible because their audience have hardly any background information that is vital in
understanding a particular incident.
Over the past ten years we have investigated over
one hundred conversions of Christians to Islam and several conversions of Muslims to
Christianity.
In all cases we studied, the convert’s families have spared no efforts to
convince others that the conversion was not out of free choice or that their relative was lured
into an inescapable situation. It is especially male members, fathers, brothers and sometimes
uncles who use those justifications, and in this regard Christians and Muslims are not different.
In all cases we studied, we found the receiving religious group claiming the conversion
was voluntary, out of pure faith for their religion.
The practice is, however, almost
always a mix of variable factors, an escape from social concerns and people from the other
religion offering help to solve those problems.
We see this principle at work in the
Wafā’ Costantine story. Information is twisted and conflicting interpretations are given.
The information and presentations also changed from day to day. We spoke with demonstrators on
December 4 and wrote down the different slogans they shouted. One of the slogans was
“Hātouhā, hātouhā we ihrā’ouhā,” meaning: “Get her [referring to
Costantine] and burn her.”
But when senior journalist Eildert Mulder (Arabist and Middle
East expert for Trouw, Dutch daily newspaper) interviewed some of the demonstration organizers on
December 21 in Abu al-Matāmīr, they said it was an exaggeration and they only wanted to
express the feeling that “she belongs to us.”
Others, including Sāmih Sitī, a
local accountant who wrote the slogans in cardboards, denied they had shouted this while others
again claimed the vociferations were those of impostors. One such account mentions a group led
by a Christian from Zāwiya al-Hamrā’ trying to take over the leadership of the
demonstration; another suggests the ‘impostors’ had the purpose to smear the image of the
demonstrators from Abu al-Matāmīr. The demonstrators for their part claimed that, on
the contrary, they yelled the slogan “Hātouhā, hātouhā, ihrā’ounā
mish hānsibouhā,” (“Give her to us, burn us, we will never let her go.”) The denial was
not very convincing. They probably were criticized for having carried that banner and then denied
they had ever done so.
Christians in Abu al-Matāmīr did not want reporter
Eildert Mulder to speak to Muslims. “You cannot talk to them. Neither do they want to speak to
you. It is useless to hear their story.”
The consequence of mixing facts and lies,
manipulating stories for the sake of one’s honor makes it difficult to reconstruct what has
really happened. But piecing together elements from different presentations nevertheless brings
us as close as possible to what really happened. We would appreciate your response to this
presentation, including information you may be aware of but that was not included in this report.
The procedure for conversion to Islam in Egypt
The standard procedure for a
conversion procedure to Islam is that the potential convert goes to the police and makes a police
report [mahdar] stating he or she wants to convert to Islam. The police then notifies the
concerned church and asks a cleric to sit with that person, often twice, on which occasions the
cleric may try to convince the potential convert not to continue the conversion procedure. In
most cases the cleric fails because, as priests who have been involved in such meetings say, the
convert had already made up his or her mind before starting the official procedure. If that is
the case, the procedure is formalized by changing the religion on someone’s identity card. The
procedure is nowhere formally regulated but is part of an Egyptian tradition to make sure
converts make a deliberate choice. The procedure was probably also intended to avoid allegations
of forced conversions and thus tensions between Muslims and Christians over conversions.
Previous debates over conversions were almost always about the young age of the converts,
but in the case of Costantine it concerned a woman of 47. That it nevertheless resulted in an
outburst of anger was, probably for this reason, not anticipated by the security authorities. The
fact, however, that the woman was a priest’s wife is highly symbolic and probably accounts for
most of the commotion.
Egyptian authorities have been sensitive to heated discussions
about conversions in the country. The minimum age for conversion was 16 in 1970. In 1996 it
changed to 18. Grand Imam of al-Azhar Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantāwī confirms this
legal minimum age in an interview with al-Musawwar on December 17 but says that anyone younger
than 21 wishing to convert will not be accepted and be told to wait for his/her majority. The
Christian clergy, however, provided recent examples of converts between 18 and 21 and said
Tantāwī’s rule may be a new one. These changes, anyhow, show an effort to reduce
tensions over the conversions of minors.
A report for the New York Council of Churches
noted in 1999 [RNSAW, 1999, week 28, art. 38] that the police often did not deal with conversions
in a sensitive way, did not give parents sufficient certainty that their daughter or son had
converted out of her/his own free will. Because potential converts keep their intentions alsmost
always hidden in their own community, the police are often the first to hear about someone’s
wishes to convert. It is a shock for family members who initially refuse to accept it because
conversions are not only not accepted but also practically always result in permanently breaking
relations with once’s family. The police tend to look at conversions only from a security point
of view: making sure that angry family members will not threaten the convert. The concern for
security is real but it is highly insufficient to look at security only. Their approach often
reflect lack of concern for emotions involved. Families have felt offended and claimed to be
treated roughly. Christian families who have seen their relative convert to Islam often suspect
that the police, most of whom are Muslim, have not played a neutral role and have encouraged the
decision to convert. But claims of ill-treatment of family members can very well be the result of
them not getting their way, and failing to convince their relative to renounce to convert.
Claims of maltreatment of family members of converts are, however, often believed because
human rights organizations and media often have been reporting about rough interrogation methods
and mistreatment of people in police custody. Most violations, however, seem to occur with people
of lower social classes and low ranking policemen. The story of Wafā’ Costantine and others
seem to indicate that officers are often well aware of the sensitivities involved. When
Wafā’ Costantine asked a police officer to make a mahdar [police report] requesting
conversion to Islam, the officer asked her to come back the following day, thus making sure her
decision to convert to Islam was not an impetuous one.
There seem to be obvious
improvements between 1999 [when the report for the New York Council of Churches was written] and
today, but it is nevertheless still possible for family members and sometimes the clergy to
convince a large public that the officers involved have been steering a potential convert to
conversion through what Christians call an ‘intimidating presence’ of police officers in a
meeting between clergy and potential convert, not giving the cleric the opportunity for two
meetings.
It is obvious that in an honour and shame society it is hard to prevent
allegations of mistreatment. These can only be dealt with if the procedure makes it convincingly
clear that the conversion to Islam was indeed voluntary. Some clergy and authors have argued that
the police should not be involved in the conversion procedure. It is, however, hard to see how
that is possible with the amount of anger that unlashes each time someone converts. Greater
transparency in the procedure, however, could disarm a lot of rumours following a conversion
procedure.
A local story escalating in a story with national and international proportions
The story of the alleged kidnap of Wafā’ Costantine started with unspecified
marital problems between a priest and his wife. Dr. Mīlād Hannā stated the priest
was sick, had both legs amputated,[some sources mention only one leg, as a consequence of
diabetes problems] and was continuously complaining. Wanting to end the relationship, the wife
went to the bishop to ask for divorce, but the bishop refused her request.[al-cArabī,
December 19, p. 9]. This story was later confirmed in an e-mail through someone knowing a close
friend of Wafā’ Costantine. “The truth about Wafā’ Costantine is,” according to the e-
mail of someone who wanted to remain anonymous, “that she was so humiliated by her husband that
she wanted to be free from him at any cost. In the end, following the advice of several friends,
she sought release in Islam.” And “a handicapped person can very easily pose as a meek and
helpless person, while in private he can be very cruel with his tongue and demands.”
The
police said they notified metropolitan Pachomius. He insisted on meeting her in a monastery
instead of the police station, which is the standard procedure for conversions, but the police
refused. AP spoke with Coptic clerics who said, under cover of anonymity, that before going to
the police Wafā’ Costantine went to metropolitan Pachomius to ask to divorce the priest she
accused of abusing her [AP, December 23].
Bishop Mousa said that Wafā’ Costantine was
not kidnapped, but faced family problems, had long been in a psychological crisis, and wanted to
divorce but since the church only allows it if adultery can be proven, she converted to Islam in
an effort to end her marriage. Bishop Mousa has later repeated this in several other interviews
[see also the al-Ahram Weekly of December 23-29] but many priests and parishioners insisted it
was a kidnap and argued the words of Bishop Mousa were mere diplomatic formulations.
Lawyer Samuel al-Qummus Mīkhā’īl from al-Matāmīr says Wafā’
Costantine left Abu al-Matāmīr on November 26, telling others she was going to visit
her brother in Sādāt City. Only her daughter Shīrī was informed about the
real reasons for leaving Abu al-Matāmīr. Wafā’ Costantine went to Muslim friends
in Matarīya, Cairo, [friends from the days she was a student in university] and went the
next day at noon to the police station in cAyn Shams [others say Madīna al-Salām],
Cairo, to start the procedure for conversion to Islam.
The information of Samuel al-
Qummus Mīkhā’īl does not match the dates given by the General Prosecutor.
December 1: She went alone to the police station in Madīna al-Sālam, Cairo, to
request her conversion to Islam.
December 2: She returned to the police to inform them that
she was the wife of a priest. The police informed her about the official procedure to become a
Muslim.
December 3: 11.30 a.m. The police informed bishop Pachomius of al-Buhayra about the
woman and her wish to become a Muslim. The Bishop asked for a time and place to meet with her.
[Al-Ahrām, al-Ahbār, al-Jumhourīya and al-Wafd all reported on December 17 on the
front page the statement of the General Prosecutor.]
Samuel al-Qummus Mīkhā’
īl, nevertheless, insisted Wafā’ Costantine left Abu al-Matāmīr earlier then
reported by the General Prosecutor.
Christian human rights activist Rā’id al-
Sharqāwī discovered that when Wafā’ Costantine first asked the police on December
1 to make a police report about her wish to convert, the first step in a conversion procedure in
Egypt, a young officer rejected and asked her to come back a day later. This gave him the time to
consult his superiors and see if she was really decided. Wafā’ Costantine returned the day
after and the procedure was initiated. It is custom that potential converts meet twice with a
representative from their church before conversion is formalized. Samuel al-Qummus
Mīkhā’īl, Sāmih Sitī and Samīr Ibrāhīm from Abu al-
Matāmīr said that because it concerned the wife of a priest, Metropolitan Pachomius of
Buhayra went on November 27 [the dates here differ from those of the General Prosecutor and
Rā’id al-Sharqāwī] to Cairo to meet with her and to make an effort to convince her
to return. The bishop did not succeed in convincing Wafā’ Costantine and was accused in Abu
al-Matāmīr of being ‘weak.’ Bishop Mousa claimed on December 23 that the police should
have investigated when she first disappeared and allowed her to be questioned. “But the police
handled the matter inefficiently: policemen and the governor promised to give Costantine back to
the church, and broke their promise.”
Anyhow, the news of Wafā’ Costantine’s conversion
made Muslims respond with great joy, much to the chagrin of local Christians.
Wafā’
told the Middle East Times before meeting the church council, that she became interested in Islam
two years before when watching a TV program about the Qur’ān. She said she secretly
converted to Islam. [Middle East Times, December 16, article quoted by www.discardedlies.com,
December 17, 2004].
Inhabitants of Abu al-Matāmīr had been speaking for around
a year about Wafā’ Costantine having an affair with a Muslim colleague. A Christian
colleague of hers told Eildert Mulder that he had been warning her for a long time against being
too friendly with the Muslim colleague. When such stories start, true or untrue, it makes it
impossible for someone to remain in a certain community, and that was the case for Wafā’
Costantine in Abu al-Matāmīr.
The priests in Abu al-Matāmīr,
Rā’id al-Sharqāwī reported, rejected the outcome of Metropolitan Pachomius’s
meeting with Wafā’ Costantine and wanted to send a delegation to Pope Shenouda in protest.
Metropolitan Pachomius accepted to send a delegation of twenty people, but this was rejected by
the organizers who went ahead with the planned demonstration, reflecting widespread sentiments of
Christians in Abu al-Matāmīr.
The demonstration made Costantine’s conversion or
attempted conversion to Islam public and propelled the story into a story of national and even
international proportions. Both the demonstration and the slogans shouted at the demonstration
did much damage to Muslim-Christian relations in the country. The slogans included:
“Husnī Mubārak yā tayyār, qalb al-qibti wālic Nār!”
Translated:
“Oh pilot Husnī Mubārak, the heart of the Copts is in fire!” [the word ‘pilot’ was used
because it rhymes. President Mubārak was an airforce pilot before becoming president]
“Husnī Mubārak yā zacīm, shouf haqq al-masīhyyīn!”
Translated: “Oh leader Husnī Mubārak, look to the rights of the Christians!”
“Husnī Mubārak yā tayyār,al-layla dī hātwalac nār!”
Translated: “Oh pilot Husnī Mubārak, tonight will be on fire!”
[The first three
slogans were also used in the demonstrations against the articles in al-Nabā’ about the
sexual affairs of a former monk from the monastery of al-Muharraq].
“Hātouhā,Hātouhā we ihra’ouhā” [Give her to us and burn her.]
“Khatafou mirāt abounā we boukra hāyakhdou abounā” [They kidnapped the wife
of our father (priest) and tomorrow they will take him].
“Khatafou mirāt abounā
we boukra hāyikhtafounā” [They kidnapped the wife of our father (priest) and tomorrow
they will kidnap us].
“Bābā, yā bābā, hāt bintak yā
bābā” [Father, father [or pope], get your daughter].
“Yā bābā
Shenouda, ‘oum wehtam, ihnā shabāb nifdīk bī al-damm” [Oh Pope Shenouda,
stand up and take care, we youth can sacrifice our blood for you].
“Dī mish wihda
Watanīya, dī fitna tā’ifīya” [This is not national unity, this is sectarian
strife].
“Wihda Watanīya, wihda muolukhīya” [National unity is the unity of
mulukhiya (a popular Egyptian dish)].
“Yā Qāhirīya fīn al-ghīra
al-qibtīya” [Oh people from Cairo, where is your concern for Copts].
“Yā
Qibtī, yā Qibtīya, fīn al-ghīra cāl mesīhīya” [Oh Coptic
men and women, where is your concern for Christianity].
“Bī al-rouh we al-damm,
nifdīkī yāknīsitnā” [With zeal and blood we will sacrifice ourselves for
our church].
“Al-Injīl we al-salīb, humā el-awal we al-akhīr” [The
Gospel and the cross, they are the first and the last].
Yousuf Sidhum, Editor-in-chief of
Watanī, wrote on December 19: “the crisis is over” but the way “in which the crisis was
managed beg answers.” Statements such as “the crisis is over,” calling the demonstration in the
Cathedral “a sit-in,” and that “Ms. Costantine is happily back with her church and her family,”
are efforts to play down the current crisis. But Sidhum also warns that tensions have been
building up throughout the years resulting in “a time bomb threatening to blow up any minute.”
Sidhum correctly stated that we needed to analyze how the crisis of Abu al-
Matāmīr was handled but it appears that the crisis was not only mishandled by local
security authorities but also by church leaders.
The current incidents are definitely
serious. Prominent Coptic thinker Dr. Mīlād Hannā said in Sawt al-Umma, December
20 (p.6), that the way both church and government have dealt with these incidents have created an
atmosphere that resembles September 1981. Pope Shenouda had vigorously defended the rights of
Christians in the 1970s with an approach that contributed to increasing Muslim-Christian tensions
and clashes. This led to the late president Sādāt arresting thousands of Muslim leaders
and hundreds of Christian leaders, including Mīlād Hannā. Pope Shenouda and
several bishops were sent in exile to their monasteries. Pope Shenouda was only allowed to return
in January 1985.
Extensive use of religious symbols where used.
Wives of priests
are important. They are often but not always active in the church community. People have more
expectations from them, holding stricter to Christian traditions, clothing, behavior, visiting
families, going to Holy Communion. The expectations are more social than counseling people
spiritually. Some Muslims know this and would therefore prize the conversion of a priest’s wife
because of the status involved.
Pope Shenouda [in al-Kirāza] called wives of priests
“spiritual mothers of the congregation,” words that were not used earlier to describe wives of
priests, indicating the phrase was created to stress that certainly the wife of a priest cannot
convert to Islam.
The Coptic Orthodox Church has undergone periods of persecution through
its long history. Those experiences are utilized in times of difficulties. The photos in al-
Kirāza are quite provocative. One shows the police with a caption indicating they are in
front of the cathedral doors. Others show injuries and all have captions mentioning “injured by
police attacks.” The last one bears a particularly emotive and dramatic description: “A photo
taken while medical treatment is given to one of the brothers after the police assaults and we
see his shirt covered with blood.” All this tends towards giving the image of a persecuted group
and clearly identifies the police as responsible.
When Wafā’ was not returned as fast
as Pope Shenouda wanted, he left the Cathedral for his monastery in the Wādī al-
Natroun, a reaction similar to the one he had to the events of the 1970s. Pope Shenouda’s retreat
to his monastery was for the demonstrators a clear sign of his anger and that no solution had
been reached so far. The demonstrations then escalated and stones were thrown in anger at
security forces. An estimated 55 policemen were wounded, as were two priests and some Christian
youth.
It is Pope Shenouda’s custom to give well attended weekly lectures in the
Cathedral. He missed two ‘out of protest’ against Egyptian authorities dealing with the
Wafā’ Costantine issue.
Bishop Yu’annis and other clergy tried to make the
demonstrators pray. Some did but others showed little interest in these prayers.
There
were rumors that Pope Shenouda had ordered a general fast. We know of many Christians who
believed this and actually started fasting. Another rumor, reported by Sawt al-Umma, 20 December,
was that a priest, shocked by the whole affair, died.
These symbols are important because
they help mobilize the Christian population and legitimizes political claims of the church. For
others it is an illustration of a church becoming more militant, going in the direction of the
approach in the seventies, in contrast to the public image built up since Pope Shenouda’s return
from his monastic arrest in 1985, an image based on cooperation with Egyptian and Muslim
authorities.
Many Muslims feel that the current response of the Church aims at forcing the
authorities to accept its demands. This actually provokes anti-Christian sentiments just as it
occurred in the late seventies regarding the responses of Pope Shenouda to these events.
We do not think Dr. Mīlād Hannā’s comparison with the incidents prior to
the mass arrests of September 1981 is an exaggeration. The comparison should serve as a warning
that there are similarities between the incidents but with those experiences in mind people
should not let the situation escalate as far as it did in 1981.
The view of the Coptic
Orthodox Church
The official version of the church views on the incidents was published
in Al-Kirāza [Titled: “Three incidents at one moment”], December 18, 2004 [p.1, 3, 4, 5 and
6, see also www.copticpope.org]. No text is published in al-Kirāza without Pope Shenouda’s
explicit approval. Al-Kirāza is spread throughout all the churches in Egypt and helps to
form popular Coptic Orthodox opinion about this issue. We present al-Kirāza’s article below
but added between brackets information from Egyptian media and interviews.
Al-
Kirāza comments “that newspapers wrote about three incidents without properly investigating
them. These three incidents led to anger resulting in the demonstrations in the cathedral.
1) The recent incidents in Assiut were reported in Watanī of November 28. The
secretary of the National Democratic Party helped Christian boys and girls convert to Islam.
There are long standing problems in building new churches and even planting trees near the
convent of the Holy Virgin at Durunka. Father Abānoub Thābit made a report about these
incidents for H.H. Pope Shenouda.
[CH&SG: The secretary of the NDP denied these
allegations in the press. No new churches could be built in the past 50 years but existing
churches have been enlarged. The trees before the convent concern land not belonging to the
convent.]
2) Munaqatīn, Samāllout. The Bishop Paphnotius wrote to Pope
Shenouda a report about the problems in this village. There are some 5,000 Christians in the
village but they do not have a church to pray in. They even had to pray for their dead in the
street. Land was bought in 1977 for the purpose of building a church. A request for a permit to
build a church was rejected for security reasons. Authorities gave a permit to pray for funerals,
weddings and organizing Sunday school classes in a building of a Coptic society in the village
[CH&SG: please note that no mass is mentioned in this list]. The village headman (‘Umda),
however, opposed this decision and was able to stop funerals, weddings and Sunday school classes
in this building. On December 3 violence broke out against Christians; two pharmacies, two
grocery stores and some cars, all owned by Christians, were burned. The house of a neighbor of
the Coptic society was attacked. Policemen did not make a move until the damages were done. The
police arrested some of the attackers.
[CH&SG: The formulation shows long standing
tensions between Muslims and Christians in the village. What is the background of these tensions?
This would need to be investigated. Such incidents are not unique especially in Upper Egypt. It
would appear to follow the pattern – Coptic worship buildings are inadequate, they use another
building and Muslims protest, showing that relations between Muslims and Christians in local
communities is often not as strong as some advocates of national unity would like us to
believe.]
3) Al-Ahrām reported on December 7 that the wife of a priest [in Abu al
-Matāmīr] converted to Islam and married a Muslim. These news reports are not
reasonable. The woman could not remarry without first getting a divorce pronounced in a personal
status court. The court has the duty to ask the husband to convert, so he can keep his wife. If
he refuses to convert the court can pronounce the couple divorced. The husband in this case is a
priest and a court cannot ask a priest to become a Muslim for fear of creating a scandal.
[CH&SG: In other words the church does not accept that the wife of a priest converts to
Islam. Neither does it accept divorce so if a marriage goes sour the wife has to remain , at
least on paper, married. Sidhum commented that “this sectarian incident, together with the
ongoing offences against Copts and their property in Assiut and Minyā in Upper Egypt, all
point to a prevailing culture of intolerance and non-acceptance of the ‘other’ of a different
religion.” Sidhum’s statement is true but incomplete. There are areas in Egypt where Muslims are
intolerant of Christians but in the same areas one also finds Christians who are intolerant of
Muslims. These Christians can make statements that are aggressive and offensive and incite Muslim
feelings. Intolerance is rarely one-sided. Negative behavior of one side invites negative
behavior of the other side, and Christians are not exempted from responsibility in this. One
should also realize that there are many other areas in Egypt where much tolerance exists and
Muslims and Christians are cooperating. In analyzing tensions one should understand why these
discrepancies in behavior exist.
The wife of a priest
Al-Ahrām Weekly,
December 16-22 and Watanī, December 19 write that the wife of a priest in Abu al-
Matāmīr, was reported missing by her brother [others reported brother and son, the
Middle East Times of December 16 mentioned her husband. That, however, seems unlikely since he
was bedridden and relations between him and his wife were not good].
The US Copts
Association had reported Wafā’ Costantine was ‘kidnapped’ and had started a letter-writing
campaign to President Bush and Congress. Egyptian papers wrote that she voluntarily converted to
Islam and that she went the police station to start the conversion procedure. The al-Kirāza
article mentions nothing about this. Al-Kirāza also gave no background information about the
woman which is, however, highly relevant to understand what happened. She was 47, an engineer and
married to a 55-year old handicapped priest, amputated of both legs who had been living for many
years in Alexandria where he was nursed. It is obvious that husband and wife had not been living
together for many years. Sidhum wrote in Watanī, December 19, 2004, that Muslim villagers of
Abu al-Matamīr claim that she had developed a relationship with a colleague [Muhammad al-
Marjoun]. Local Christians, Sidhum wrote, said it was a kidnap. But Christian demonstrators told
us on December 4 that they too believed she had an affair with a Muslim colleague. The police
questioned the accused colleague, engineer Muhammad al-Marjoun, who denies having had a
relationship with her. Many villagers do not believe his denial and claim he tried to get out of
a sensitive situation. Bishop Mousa believes al-Marjoun may have “tackled sensitive issues in her
life” [talked about personal, relational, problems].
Al-Kirāza wrote that this issue
could have been solved locally. The Bishop met with the governor of al-Buhayra on December 2 but
they could not solve it.
[CH&SG: The Al-Ahrām Weekly of December 16-22, 2004 (p.4)
reported that “the Buhayra governor and local police officials informed Constantine’s family that
she had converted to Islam and was currently in Cairo with a Muslim family.” This took place on
Thursday, December 2. Al-‘Arabī, December 19, wrote that Bishop Mousa said she left her
house [no date given in the article], took a taxi and went alone [meaning not forced] to
Madīna al-Salām, Cairo. On the day she left she called her friends by telephone, asked
them to take care of her daughter and told them she would never come back. Once in Madīna
al-Salām she went to a police station and informed them she wanted to become Muslim. The
police accompanied her to the security [Amn al-Dawla], which took care of her.
Sidhum
reported that the governor was unwilling to cooperate with the Bishop who had asked for her
return. This news resulted in unrest in the village and in Damanhour. Bishop Mousa told Al-
Ahrām Weekly that the police had not followed the regular procedure in conversions, i.e.
two meetings between a priest or priests and the potential convert who, if he/she maintains her
decision, then goes through the formal procedure of conversion to Islam.
On Thursday
evening, December 2, an Egyptian Christian from the Maadi Community Church, Cairo, called to see
us urgently. We met on Friday evening. He didn’t know much about the background of the conversion
but had been called by friends from Damanhour to inform as many foreigners as possible who should
write about the issue abroad.
The efforts to inform foreign media prior to the
demonstration are again a sign that many Copts have come to believe that foreign awareness will
help them to put pressure on Egyptian authorities. Earlier examples of this are found in the work
of lawyers Maurice Sādiq, Mamdouh Nakhla, Najīb Jibrā’īl and later in the
efforts of the Monastery of Antonius and Bishop Butrus to inform foreign media about conflicts
they were involved in. The focus was always on individual issues and own projects but not on the
possible negative impact this could have for the country at large or Muslim-Christian relations
in general. The Egyptian Christian who informed us about this issue certainly did not think of
the consequences this could have for Muslim-Christian relations in general [we will not reveal
his name in this report but we have informed the Maadi Community Church about his way of
presenting this story].
Al-Kirāza: On December 4 three busses with [angry]
inhabitants of Abu al-Matāmīr left for Cairo to demonstrate in the Coptic Orthodox
cathedral of St. Mark.
[CH&SG: Al-Kirāza does not mention these demonstrators were
accompanied by four priests from Abu al-Matāmīr but a photo presents several of them.
One of the organizers of the demonstration, lawyer Samuel al-Qummus Mīkhā’īl
called us while at the demonstration, asking us to come to the demonstration to report and make a
‘dawsha’ [Arabic for commotion] about it in foreign media. We did not go but took notes from that
conversation. Rā’id al-Sharqāwī informed us about the slogans that were shouted
during the demonstration. Rā’id estimated the number of demonstrators from Abu al-
Matāmīr to be around 300. Many had come with the three busses. Others had come by other
means of transport, minibuses and cars. The numbers swelled to around 600 with people from Cairo.
Rā’id al-Sharqāwī said many demonstrators from the village had told him of long-
term marital problems between Costantine and her husband the priest. Many of them believed she
had committed adultery in the months before her conversion.
We called Metropolitan
Pachomius after Samuel al-Qummus Mīkhā’īl had called us who then said: “You have
to realize that we are living in an oriental society. We do not convert from one religion to the
other. There should be no conversion.” The Metropolitan refused to call the conversion a
‘kidnap,’ but said “she was encouraged by bad people.” He also said he had not organized the
demonstration, that it was “a spontaneous outburst of anger.” The four priests were sent along to
“keep their anger in check.”
It is unlikely Metropolitan Pachomius organized the
demonstration but it is equally unlikely he discouraged it. The church has a tremendous authority
over village people such as in Abu al-Matāmīr. It is strongly hierarchically organized.
Priests cannot join any demonstration without the explicit permission of their bishop. Organizers
of the demonstration called foreign correspondents and organizations prior to and during the
demonstrations. The cathedral provided the demonstrators with basic food and drinks and helped
them to stay overnight. These are indicators of a church involvement in the demonstrations.
Al-Kirāza mentions in one sentence the demonstration during the funeral of prominent
Egyptian writer Sacid Sunbul on December 5 in the Orthodox Cathedral.
[CH&SG: Samuel al
-Qummus Mīkhā’īl called the funeral “a gift from heaven,” an excellent opportunity
to make use of the funeral to express their grievances. People who attended the funeral such as
Ramzī Zaqlama, member of our board of advisors, and Dr. ‘Alī al-Sammān told us the
funeral was disrupted. Rā’id al-Sharqāwī was present and estimated the number of
demonstrators on that day to be around 1000. At the funeral were some 2000 mourners, including
very prominent Egyptians such as Dr. Usāma al-Bāz, political advisor of President
Mubārak, Dr. Mustafa al-Fiqī, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Egyptian
Parliament, ministers and former ministers, Dr. al-Sammān, Mr. Zaqlama and many others. The
demonstrators entered the church at the end of the funeral. Mr. Zaqlama said the mourners did not
feel threatened. Dr. Usāma al-Bāz was surrounded by demonstrators who were screaming to
bring Wafā’ Costantine. One of the slogans used at moment was: “Hātouhā,
hātouhā we ihra’ouhā!” [Give her (referring to Costantine) to us and burn her.]
Dr. al-Bāz was forced to make promises ‘to do something,’ and had to be escorted out away
from the crowd by body guards. Many people attending the funeral spoke of a disgrace.
Mīlād Hannā described it in al-‘Arabī of December 19 as “a shame.”]
Al-Kirāza reports that Pope Shenouda spoke after the funeral with Dr. Usāma al
-Bāz and Dr. Mustafa al-Fiqī and explained the problem to them and why it was dangerous
because the wife of a priest is not a normal woman but is considered a spiritual mother for the
Christians. The rumors that she converted to Islam were likely to be explosive. That is why
people shouted slogans in the church saying “akhadou mirāt abounā we boukra yakhdou
mirātī” [They took the wife of abounā (our priest) and tomorrow they will take my
wife], implying people do not feel secure about their houses and wives. This is not an ordinary
individual incident but the case of a woman who has a special position which effects the public
opinion. The pope made a telephone call to Dr. Ahmad Nazīf, the Prime Minister. He said
there were problems that needed a quick answer because delaying it could make it complicated and
widespread. Dr. Usāma al-Bāz left the Cathedral to meet the demonstrators in order to
get a complete picture of the feeling of the people. The situation was made more delicate by the
number of police surrounding the cathedral. Some people mention more then 50 cars of the amn al-
markazī [riot police] and other high ranking military security. Copts outside worried about
the pope himself when they read in the media that the Cathedral was surrounded by this huge
number of policemen. They called him to know what was going on. The security forces delayed
solving the problem. It was known that the wife of the priest was with them and they didn’t make
enough efforts to solve the case, either in Abu al-Matāmīr, or in Cairo during the
funeral of Sacid Sunbul. The tense situation continued without attempts to solve the problem. The
pope then traveled to Syria for a meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches in Damascus.
[CH&SG: December 6-8. The demonstrators continued their protests at the cathedral. Media were
called and asked to report. Rā’id al-Sharqāwī saw the demonstrators relaxing on
Tuesday but then, when they were informed that a BBC photographer was coming, he saw that a
priest started shouting to incite them because that would make good photos. When Rev. Bill
Youkhedar of the Maadi Community Church was informed, he called this behavior “mocking Christian
faith. This needs to be carefronted” – a play of word on ‘confronted,’ that is, confronted with
care and concern for the church, showing them that this is not an acceptable Christian response
to what happened. On Wednesday December 8 the number of demonstrators had swollen to around 1000
people. Demonstrators started to hurl stones at the riot police, injuring several policemen. Some
say the police threw the stones back at the demonstrators.
Al-Kirāza reported that
Pope Shenouda returned in the evening of December 7 from Syria and immediately met with Dr.
Zakarīyā ‘Azmī of the President’s office. Pope Shenouda requested to see Mrs.
Wafā’ Costantine. Dr. Zakarīyā ‘Azmī agreed and arranged that the woman be
brought to a villa owned by the church on the following day at noon.
December 8 – The
woman was not at the villa at the agreed time. The clergy waited and anger developed. Pope
Shenouda decided to cancel his regular Wednesday evening meeting at 4.40 pm and left the
cathedral [in protest] and went to his monastery. At 5.40 pm he received a call informing him
that the woman had arrived at the villa. al-Kirāza asked why she was brought with so much
delay to the villa. The clergy present found her “not clear minded.”
[CH&SG: Bishop
You’annis told the demonstrators that the pope had left the cathedral because he had “waited four
hours for her return” and was “upset.”
Al-Sharq al-Awsat claimed on December 10 that
Constantine had told the paper, in a telephone interview, she believed in Islam and that her
alleged love story was not true. Others later followed that line, believing that she was forced
to recant Islam. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is known to be a serious publication. If they interviewed her,
they must have done this before Costantine was handed to the church. It is then possible that a
woman who did not want to return to her husband would make such claims. Was it an effort to avoid
being returned back? In 1998 Mark O’Keefe of the Oregonian (US) and Cornelis Hulsman interviewed
in a village some 80 km south of Cairo a young Christian girl who converted to Islam. We knew
from neighbors and family that it had been a hidden love story with a young Muslim man. Once that
became known she ran away. But when we interviewed her, she presented this as love for Islam. Her
arguments were not very convincing. She didn’t know much about Islam but she presented it this
way because the interview had been carried out in the presence of the imam and some members of
her new Muslim family. Muslims do not like hearing that a conversion was out of personal interest
and thus stories are practically always presented as if the convert indeed acted out of
conviction.
Christian leaders deny Wafā’ Costantine voluntarily wanted to convert to
Islam and pressure was exerted on her to stop the procedure. It is almost certain that Costantine
voluntarily requested that the police in Madīna al-Salām [others say in ‘Ayn Shams] to
start the conversion procedure. She was returned to the church before the legal procedure was
finished, thus resulting in a situation where some claimed that she converted to Islam.
Al-Kirāza stated that Wafā’ Costantine was ‘not clear minded’ but does not explain
what is meant by that. The explanation was given by Bishop Mousa in Watanī, December 19. She
“was brought to us in a condition of bewilderment, depression, and near-amnesia. It took her
three full days to recover, and only then did any of us clerics speak to her.” Bishop Mousa told
Al-Ahrām Weekly that she seemed “drugged.” The Al-Ahrām Weekly wrote he implied that
the security forces had drugged her. They, in turn, denied it. But did the Bishop indeed refer to
the use of medications to drug her? Or was this a way of saying she was psychologically in an
unstable state?
Conversions to Islam are often accompanied by claims from Christians that
the converts are drugged with medications. We have never been able to get such claims confirmed
by medical experts in previous cases we have studied. We know bishop Mousa personally and do not
expect he would make such a claim. The woman may have been bewildered because she had not
expected this to happen to her. She may have complained about her marriage before to the church
but received no satisfactory answer to her demand for divorce. Now the church had been able to
wrestle her out of the hands of the security forces. That may have been a shock to her.
The question can be asked why Pope Shenouda did not return to the cathedral after he received
notice in his car just outside Cairo that the woman was at the villa. He was obviously upset and
wanted others to know it. Victor Salāma writes in Watanī, December 19, that it was “a
gesture of protest against the manner in which the security apparatus had handled the situation.”
Leaving so suddenly before this important weekly meeting, always attended by large numbers of
people, was bound to result in a demonstration which ended in stone throwing.
Al-
Kirāza is upset that so few articles appeared about the problems in Assiut and
Samāllout. Only one professor from the University of Assiut wrote in Watanī [CH&SG:
this is not true, other Egyptian media reported about this].
Al-Kirāza comments:
We
[Christians] are brothers to you [Muslims] in this country, and we expected you would be there
beside us in our pain, not attacking [us]. The wife of the priest is still Christian and she
cited the Christian creed and prayed with priests until dawn. She finally returned back to us
[and our faith] because she was far away from the pressure of the security forces and
"the religious influence which is against her faith."
[CH&SG: here al-Kirāza uses a highly unusual formulation, referring to Islam as a religious influence that is opposite Christian faith. Many Christians may believe this but to formulate this so explicitly in the official publication of the church is very uncommon.]
Al-Kirāza: We still have in front of us the burning and stealing in a village in Samāllout and also the incidents in Assiut in which the Copts suffered and no one interfered to solve their problem. The story is not yet finished and we are waiting for a solution.
The pope in the monastery.
The pope went to his monastery on December 8. Three hundred priests from Cairo as well as one hundred and twenty people from Alexandria visited him, both clergy and members of the Majlis al-Mīllī [Coptic Community Council], two hundred and fifty priests came from al-Minyā and some priests came from the bishoprics in the Delta. The Pope also received hundreds of priests from Ismā‘ilīyah, Banī Suwyf, Mansoura, Port Said, Akhmīm [near Sohag], Abu Tīj, Abānoub, Helwan, Qinā, Niqāda, Luxor, Sharqīya, al-Deshna and other locations. Every person came to show their concerns to Pope Shenouda and share his feelings [of anger]. The pope also received a delegation from Assiut and the deputy general of the Majlis al-Mīllī with a group of his consultants. Mounir Fakhrī ‘Abd al-Nour, a Member of Parliament, also went to see the pope.
[CH&SG: Watanī, December 26, wrote the total number of priests that went to see the pope is 1,800. Such an enormous show of support for the pope is intended to show authorities that the pope's anger and actions are shared by many. We know from priests who attended these meetings that the pope had showed anger and told them Wafā' "had been drugged." This show of anger has resulted in little to no doubt in Coptic Orthodox churches in both Egypt and the West that Wafā' Costantine had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam until she was rescued by the church.]
Al-Kirāza: Pope Shenouda received the two wives of the priests [the other, Mary ‘Abd Allāh will be discussed later on] who changed their minds about converting. He met with Tasouni [meaning 'sister', indicating she belongs to the community] Wafā' Costantine after she had been staying for some time in a house in Cairo. After this meeting with the pope she met the prosecutor-general [ra'īs al-niyāba] on December 14 and acknowledged before him that she was Christian and wanted to remain Christian. This acknowledgement was made in the presence of the pope's lawyers, Fikrī Habīb and Munsif Sulaymān. It is them who brought her to the pope and were in charge to "make arrangements for her future."
[CH&SG: the statement is not clear but it indicates that efforts will be made to prevent the two women from converting to Islam. They may be sent to a part of Egypt where no one will find them or the church may even make efforts to send them abroad. This has happened before with some priests who had become involved in Muslim-Christian tensions].
Al-Kirāza: The pope also received Mary ‘Abd Allāh, the wife of father Ruwīs in al-Zāwīya al-Hamrā' [a poor quarter north-east of Cairo which has seen serious Muslim-Christian tensions and clashes in the 1970s] and he also spoke to her about her future in the company of bishop Armiyā [secretary of the pope], father [Qummus] Anastāsī al-Samwa'īlī and her confessor father Qummus Yousuf. Al-Kirāza closed its report with congratulations to these two women for their return back to the Christian fold.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 13, provided further background information about Mary, 21, married to a priest 24 years her senior. She had a history of marital problems, previously stayed for this reason in the convent of St. Dimyāna [a popular place where women with personal problems go to]. Her sister Mājda told the police that she left the house on December 6 after a quarrel with her husband.
Al-Ahālī wrote on December 15 that Pope Shenouda would remain in his monastery as a sign of protest. He did not say when he would return to Cairo, which could cause the Christmas celebrations [on January 6] to be cancelled.
The discussions about the women and the response of the church was intensified because facts became blended with rumors. Thus, Muhammad Barakāt, editor-in-chief of Ākhir Sāca, warned on December 15 against the risks of not responding to rumors because they can easily lead a population that responds emotionally into heated discussions about things that do not exist. Rumors are used to stimulate anger and arouse the feelings of people against others. Rumors are the disease of this time and can only be dealt with if the truth is told.
Al-Kirāza criticized, without naming them, newspapers for inflammatory writing about the three incidents without fully investigating them and taking one side only. Al-Kirāza's unspecified criticism of the media and the way the story is presented leaves Coptic readers with a feeling that they cannot trust what is written outside their own official sources. This thus adds to a situation in which distrust and rumors are able to flourish. We can also interpret it as an indication of Coptic withdrawal from wider society and being reliant on the church for civil representation.
Statement of the General Prosecutor:
December 8: 6.00 pm. Transfer of the woman to a villa belonging to the church (53 cAlī Pasha cAllālī, Mīdān al-Nacām, ‘Ayn Shams) to make it possible for clergy to meet with the woman to advise her. She met with a priest of the Holy Virgin of Zaytoun
[CH&SG: this is strange. The counseling is usually carried out by a priest from the bishopric or the bishop. It seems to indicate that she has met with clergy from her bishopric and they have not been able to change her mind.]
December 14: Transfer of all mahdars [police reports] to the General Prosecutor. Wafā' Costantine went with two lawyers to the General Prosecutor of ‘Ayn Shams and stated at 2.45 pm that she earlier asked in a police mahdar to change her religion to Islam but no longer wished to. After a discussion about her religious beliefs she said "I was born Christian and I want to die Christian."
Christian activists putting oil on the fire
Egyptian media are upset about the letter of Michael Mounir, president of the US Copts Association, on December 6 to President Bush and the letter of Coptic radical Maurice Sādiq to Premier Ariel Sharon 'to rescue' the Copts of Egypt. Most of the anger is directed to Sādiq, a Coptic lawyer. He is known to twist almost any issue he can find into a human rights issue. We have verified most of his claims when he was still in Egypt and found none to be true. Sādiq is one of the founders of the extremist National American Coptic Assembly and claims that the Copts should have their own government in Egypt. Sādiq is part of a very small circle of Coptic radicals in the US. Very few American Copts take him seriously but his acts are dangerous. He has written his letter not because he expects Sharon to interfere but because he knows that due to the great anger that many Egyptians direct towards Sharon, his letter is bound to be picked up by some Egyptian media and create anger that would show he is right. Compare this to slapping anyone in the face, register that he responds in anger and then use that for people who have not seen that slap as evidence of their anger and radicalism. Sādiq only wants to incite! He would have had no chance to do so if emotions in Egypt were not so heightened. Egyptian media would probably have ignored him. Now he is used as an example of a Coptic radical of the worst kind.
A one-page article in Sawt al-Umma mentioned several websites that are anti-Egyptian and anti-Muslim. The critique concerns Copts.com, MECA (Middle East Copts Association), PALTALK and father Zakarīyā Butrus because they all claim the Copts are discriminated against. Some Coptic extremists want to establish a Christian state in Sinai, take a canal of the Nile and half of the income of the Suez Canal [CH&SG: such extremists exist but there numbers are insignificant. But because of the current polarization their extremism is highlighted and thus adds to even more tensions].
Coptic human rights lawyer Mamdouh Nakhla who was an assistant of Maurice Sādiq in the mid 1990s, stated in press releases that Wafā' Costantine committed adultery and had two husbands, violating law 274. He stated that the situation is bleak in Manaqatin, Samāllout. The attacks were the consequence of rumors that Copts wanted to build a church. The security forces came three hours after the attacks on the Copts. Sawt al-Umma criticizes Mamdouh Nakhla and author Majdī Khalīl [writing for Watanī International], who both frequently write about discrimination of the Copts or worse, for not investigating their stories well.
Muna Madkour wrote in al-Usbou‘ about emigrant Copts who want to set Egypt on fire. She mentioned Michael Mounir who published with Nir Bomez [name transliterated from the Arabic - spelling not certain] an article in the Washington Post of November 3 about the position of the Copts. They want USAID to cut 300 million dollars from the aid to Egypt as a compensation for damage done to Coptic houses and businesses. They want the US to interfere in Egypt.
Muhammad Hasanīn Haykal told al-Jazeera TV channel in an interview that minorities, especially the Copts in Egypt, are the biggest problem facing the Arab World. Sa‘d al-Dīn Ibrāhīm of the Ibn Khaldoun Institute responded with a request to re-open the Coptic file in Egypt [reported in al-Usbou‘, December 20].
Ashouq Collin Young, former secretary general of the World Council of Churches for Middle and East Africa who became Muslim, was interviewed for the December issue of the Kuwait Society Magazine. He spoke about Christian missionary work among Muslims. He claims that he delivered 1,8 million US$ from Dutch churches to the Egyptian [Orthodox?] church with the purpose of attacking the movement of the Muslim Brothers and have their members arrested [CH&SG: this sounds complete nonsense]. Missionaries study Muslim countries before they start working there. They make use of their needs, money, food, healthcare and education. Young says he was once in a secret conference in Texas, USA, where they studied the position of each Islamic country separately and define the suitable procedure in order to convert their children.
Muslim anger
Although the church rejoiced over the return of the two women, Wafā' Costantine and Mary ‘Abd Allāh, the joy was not shared by all. Christian activists also added to the explosive situation with outrageous claims and thus, Muslims felt that the women's arms had been twisted to force them to stay in the church.
Al-Ahrām weekly of December 23-29 summarizes the Muslim anger in a few words: "Critics slammed the state's 'submissive' attitude, saying the government had 'bowed' to the 'illegitimate' demands of the Coptic Church."
Al-Hayāt, December 15 (p.9) reports that Islamists, both political activists and scholars, highly criticized the government for the way it treated this crisis. They belief the state surrendered to blackmail of Coptic extremists. Wafā' Costantine was handed over to the church which is now keeping her 'under arrest.' Dr. Rif‘at Sayyid Sa‘īd¿¿ Ahmad, author Jamāl Sultān, lawyer Mahmoud Riyād, Islamic activist Kamāl Sa‘īd Habīb and lawyer Mamdouh Ismā‘īl signed a statement asking the Copts to raise their voice to openly defend the human rights of Wafā' Costantine and not to put her under the control of a fanatic and extremist religion for ethical and national reasons. She should be free to choose. "After the Egyptian church announced that Mrs. Costantine was not kidnapped, as was claimed earlier, we ask Pope Shenouda to clearly condemn the lies of Christian clerics about the kidnap which started this fitna [strife]." They asked "to give the press the chance to meet with Wafā' Costantine." [CH&SG: Bishop Pachomius told Eildert Mulder on December 18 that Pope Shenouda does not allow journalists to meet her. "She needs rest," he said]
The influential editor-in-chief of al-Mousawar, Makram Muhammad Ahmad, claimed in the December 17 edition that Wafā' Costantine had told the police that for over one year she harbored a strong desire to become Muslim. He quoted her as having said that she read books of Shaykh Sha‘rāwī, listened to preachers such as Yousuf Tourī [a Syrian preacher who is not so well-known in Egypt] and ‘Amr Khālid [well-known modern Egyptian preacher]. She fasted during Ramadan, knew by heart one third of the Qur'ān and she could also recite several souras well. She only wanted to convert to Islam because she was convinced by the religion, not due to marital reasons. She made an effort to make her own daughter share her position on Islam. [CH&SG: It is obvious from the formulation that Makram had access to her mahdar or statement in the police station, he later published photos of the handwritten text] The police told her not to go to the Fatwa Committee of the Azhar [CH&SG: the location where conversions to Islam are made] because the state security should first investigate her wishes. Makram was upset about the texts on the banners of the demonstrators in the cathedral and the accusation her brother and son made against her boss.
Conversion is a personal issue and should not be changed into a fitna [strife] or instrument to push for something, benefit of it or obtain certain goals. Nor should it be used abroad to start another fitna [strife]. People in the area should meet without clergy, Makram says.
Shaykh Tantāwī explained that there are strict rules governing the conversion to Islam, especially of an Egyptian Copt, in order not to create a fitna. Tantāwī stated that Islam does not benefit from the conversion of one or two persons if the conversion is for worldly benefits such as divorce, marriage and job opportunities. Conversion to Islam, the Shaykh said, is not a matter of saying the shihāda [Islamic creed] but having a deep belief in Islam. Every year more than 1500 people convert to Islam at the Azhar, most of them American, Russian and people from 90 other countries. They obtain a certificate that they have become Muslim after the Azhar is convinced that their intentions are pure, can say the shihāda and declare that Moses and Jesus are only prophets. The legal minimum age for conversion to Islam is 18 but anyone wishing to convert who is younger than 21 will not be accepted. If a Copt wants to become Muslim, procedures are stricter. The security needs to prepare a report giving the true reason of one's intentions. The church must be informed about it and get the chance to meet with this person in order to convince him/her to reconsider. This session with the representative of the church can be once, twice or more, as long as the situation requires, until the responsible priest announces that he gives up and the person insists in changing his/her religion [CH&SG: The Azhar is not the only place to convert. The age limit of 21 may be Shaykh Tantāwī's instruction to the Azhar but in recent stories about conversions one hears of conversions between the age of 18 and 21 but perhaps they took place at other locations? There are usually two sessions. If the person does not want to return to his/her original faith the conversion to Islam will be formalized]
There are Muslims who change their religion, some secretly and others openly, Makram wrote. This happens for work opportunities and emigration but there is no legal punishment because the rules of the fiqh state that there is no compulsion in Islam. It is good that these people leave Islam because it rids the community of such untrustworthy people and keeps the purity of religion. No one is able to change the religion of a good believer. In all situations a Muslim wanting to change his religion should sit with a recognised scholar in fiqh [Islamic jurisprudence] before becoming Christian.
Al-Hayāt reported on December 19 (p.1) that some scholars and politicians [members of parliament] belonging to the Islamist movement requested to investigate the reason why both Wafā' Costantine and Mary ‘Abd Allāh Zakī, wife of a priest in al-Zāwīya al-Hamrā', disappeared in the monastery of Wādī al-Natroun and were isolated from their families. Mary first asked to be a Muslim in front of the Shaykh al-Azhar and then disappeared. The group requested that the monasteries be searched in order to know the future of hundreds who are kept [locked] in these monasteries. The group wanted to know if these people went to the monasteries of their own free will. They stated that respect for the holiness of praying places should not be used to create a state inside the state in which government officials have no authority. The media should have the right to meet with both women in order to know the truth and give the public opinion the complete facts. The behavior of the leaders of the Azhar should be investigated because they did not immediately accept Mary's Islam. Why did they prevent this? Why is there no freedom of religion?
Al-Usbou‘ presented on December 20 a seven-page long file with many repetitions from other media. The weekly opened with the headline "The conspiracy" and a large picture of a smiling Pope Shenouda. Editor-in-chief Mustafa Bakrī, obviously upset, described the details of the story in the opening article using inflammatory language. On page 3 Bakrī accused the priests of having led the demonstrations in the cathedral. Two priests [this is most likely in reference to the two bishops in Kamāl Zākhir Mousa's article] presented wrong information to the pope. Bakrī claims there were 'instructions' [not specified] to the church in Buhayra and others [this is suggesting a conspiracy, implying it was not an incident that went out of hand but was organized by the church i.e. unknown higher clergy] to arrange buses to bring hundreds of youth to Cairo to spoil the funeral service of Sa‘id Sunbul. Rā'id al-Sharqāwī, who has spent days with the demonstrators, informed us the cathedral supplied the youth with food and accommodation to sleep. Every morning activists informed demonstrators what to do. Texts on banners were very inciting and anti-Muslim. Christians insulted the security forces but they knew how to control themselves.
Wafā' Costantine delayed returning to the church because she first wanted to fast and then break this fast with a meal before going to the villa of the church on December 8 [the impression is given she is a pious Muslim].
The Pope said she would not return to Buhayra but would work as an engineer in the cathedral. Why didn't she return to her family, and how do we know she is not under pressure to be Christian, under pressure from terrorists in the church? Is it true that the authority of the church is above that of the state? Can the church do whatever it wants? All the signs indicate that the pope did not consult the state on this issue. The state was weak and fully accepted all conditions of the church. The state showed that the law was nothing but at the same time it is very heavy-handed on Islamists or popular sentiments. The state is practicing fitna tā'ifīya [civil strife]. The entire country may pay for this. The state broke article 46 of the constitution, which stipulates the freedom of religion. Pope Shenouda went too far and twisted the arm of the state. He now wants to stay in the monastery until the 34 demonstrators are free. The state said the matter was in the hands of the judge and the law. A cabinet member suggested that Wafā' should explain her position on TV, a proposal accepted by the state but rejected by the Copts. The escalation is ongoing at the pope's will. Tens of thousands of Copts received last Wednesday a message on their mobile to fast three days as a sign of sadness and rejoice for the return of Wafā' Costantine [CH&SG: the story of the three days fasting is confusing. We have heard many Christians believe the pope called for a three day fasting while others deny this. Is this one of the many rumors flying around this story?].
Bakrī also refers to letters extremist Copts wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, asking for his intervention.
In another article Bakrī mentioned the interest of the Jewish lobby in the US for Copts in Egypt (p.7). They formed a new committee called the 'Community of Love for the Protection of the Egyptian Copts.' They cooperate with members of Congress. The idea for such a committee was formed by AIPAC, the powerful Jewish lobby organization. Thirteen members of the Congress are willing to adopt the Coptic case to force the Egyptian government to give the Copts their rights. If the Egyptian government won't act it should be punished. [For more information on this group, see www.aipac.org]
Al-Usbou‘ published in the same issue an article of the prominent Muslim scholar and lawyer Dr. Salīm al-‘Awwa in which he addressed seven questions.
1) What is freedom of belief and choice in Islam?
The state guarantees in Article 46 of the constitution freedom of belief and freedom of practice of rites. How can this be handled regarding this issue? Our Coptic brothers are free to practice their faith in a Muslim country. Is it possible that a Muslim becomes Christian without becoming a murtad [apostate]? There is no compulsion in Islam. Every citizen is free to choose. Egypt always tried to avoid fitna [strife] by forbidding the distribution of audiocassettes with people telling their conversion stories or calling onto others to change their religious conviction. Thus the distribution of cassettes of Ahmed Deedat - a fiery Islamic preacher from South Africa who passed away a few years ago] featuring his debates with American Protestants was stopped. To avoid a fitna [strife] authorities do not allow a convert from Islam who became Christian to be a preacher. The distribution of cassettes of a priest who became Muslim in Sudan and told his story is forbidden [CH&SG: we do not know the story of the conversion of this priest but in the mid nineties tapes had been distributed about another priest converting to Islam and Pope Shenouda threatening to throw him before the lions in Wādī al-Natroun. That story sounded totally fabricated. It is good that security authorities have forbidden such garbage to be distributed. Allowing the free distribution of such material would create a lot of unrest and would not at all be good for Christians.]
Was Wafā' Costantine really forced to become Muslim or not? If she was forced, she is not accepted as Muslim. But if she was forced to become a Christian it is not acceptable either. Her belief is between her and God. If Wafā' was forced to show that she is a Christian then the guilty people are those who forced her [CH&SG: Dr. al-‘Awwa keeps the possibility open that she was forced].
2) Is it allowed bringing someone who became Muslim back to the people of his/her original faith, Copts or others? According to the Qur'ān:
"O ye who believe! When believing women come unto you as fugitives, examine them. Allāh is Best Aware of their faith. Then, if ye know them for true believers, send them not back unto the disbelievers. They are not lawful for them (the disbelievers), nor are they (the disbelievers) lawful for them." [Soura el-Mumtahina:10, trans. Yousuf cAlī]
It is forbidden for the new convert to Islam to return to one's original faith and it is forbidden for the community one came from to accept him/her. It is forbidden to return a woman [Wafā' Costantine] who came to Islam, whatever the reason. Since the time of ‘Amr Ibn al-‘Āss who conquered Egypt in the 7th century, the bishops have had the authority over Christians but once someone leaves their fold, they no longer have that authority over them. That authority goes to the Muslim ruler as long as a Wisāya [guardian] is needed. If the convert can take care of herself or if she is an adult as Wafā' Costantine, 47, this is not needed. [CH&SG: Al-‘Awwa suggests with his formulation that if a minor Christian converts to Islam the Wisāya over him will go from his Christian parents to the Muslim guardian until he is adult]
An examination is needed. We need to be certain the conversion was out of faith, not for worldly reasons. There is a hadīth that states that a Muslim should be as a brother to another Muslim, never be unfair to him, never let him down and never forsake him. When the state gave Wafā' Costantine to the church, we let her down, treat her unfairly and this is against the hadīth.
3) What is the procedure the Egyptian government used and what are the conditions of the Azhar for conversion to Islam and the possibility to give the Coptic clergy the time to counsel someone who wants to become Muslim with the purpose to prevent that conversion?
This procedure which makes the clergy meet with potential converts is an Egyptian tradition but is not enshrined Egyptian law. I do not know how the procedure became part of Egyptian life. Perhaps it found its origin in a Qur'ānic verse that a person coming to Islam must be tested, it must be certain he/she is a believer. The importance of this procedure is to comfort and inform Copts about conversions [in other words to keep good relations]. Returning Wafā' to the Copts is a sin and unforgivable. It never happened in the 1400 years of Islam that someone was returned. It was not necessary for Pope Shenouda to give up his weekly lectures in the past two weeks. [Dr. Tāriq al-Bishrī repeated the same argument in the Al-Ahrām Weekly of December 23-29].
Testing whether someone has converted to Islam out of conviction or not are "social norms" which have been enforced for many years are almost equal to laws. It is the church's "right to discuss the matter with whoever wants to convert, to make sure the person is not under any pressure, or doing so to solve personal problems. But if a person really wants to convert, then he or she is free to do so.
[CH&SG: Bishop Mousa spoke about "legal procedures" in the Al-Ahrām Weekly of December 16-22 and explained someone wanting to convert need to be questioned by the church first.]
4) What is the role of the state security in this issue?
Should the state security stay away from the Copts as some of our friends [Copts or people supporting their position] asked? All citizens are equal before the state, for all issues. The state security has the right to follow-up on all political, cultural and religious activities and it is their duty to stop incidents that could affect the freedom of citizens. Thus the state security has the right to investigate if someone wants to become Muslim or not. It is possible that some incidents involved the state security and I do not like this, but in the case of Wafā' Costantine I have found nothing to blame the state security for. Was handing over Wafā' to the church their own decision? If that is not the case, it is wrong. Only the state security can investigate if someone wants to be Muslim or not.
5) What was the reason for handing over Wafā'to the church? Why was the meeting in a place that was under the control of the church? Why not somewhere else? How do we guarantee her freedom and that her will is respected? She was in a house with nuns and only met with members of the committee of the church. It seems she was pressed to be in this situation.
6) What are the consequences of demonstrators wounding 55 men of the security forces, including five officers? What should we think of the accusations leveled against Eng. Muhammad al-Marjoun and Nagy ‘Abd Allāh, the preacher of the mosque of Abu al-Matāmīr? These people should go to the prosecutor to defend themselves against the accusations. I am afraid the prosecutor will free the 34 [Coptic] demonstrators who were arrested just as they have handed over Wafā' Costantine to the church. Again , I am not advising this to fire up the fitna tā'ifīya [civil strife], or to silence the problem [i.e. put it under the carpet unresolved] but simply to point out that the law should be applied. When the Copts were attacked I was one of the first to criticize the security for their behavior in the case of al-Kushh [CH&SG: an indication that the way the church has handled this issue has cost her friends].
7) What to do if we discover that Wafā' Costantine was really forced to announce that she is Christian? She will become sick or will die. No one should be forced to accept another religion. [Dr. al-‘Awwa suggests that she cannot bear the pressure of the church on her].
Dr. Muhammad Salīm al-‘Awwa responded in an interview with al-‘Arabī, December 19, to a number of frequently heard Coptic claims. According to him there is no problem to build a church as long as you meet the procedures. Building a church is in the hands of the governor. It is true that some Muslims have attacked the Christian religion and there have been attacks on Islam too. These things are not acceptable but it is not the fault of the state. Christians ask for more space in the media. If their purpose is to attract people to their faith, this is not allowed because Egypt is an Islamic state. Preaching for Christianity should be done inside places of Christian worship only. The Copts want to cancel Article 2 of the Constitution that makes Egypt a Muslim state. They may ask for that but in a referendum of 1981, some 97% of the population, and the results were not falsified, accepted this change in the constitution. [Article 2 states that "Islam is the religion of the state", and that "Islamic jurisprudence is the principal source of legislation", i.e. not the only one].Why do Christians feel a minority? They are the original Egyptians and are not a minority ethnically speaking: Egypt became Muslim over the centuries. They are a minority in belief, meaning less in terms of number of believers, but not a political minority because there are no ethnic differences. [CH&SG: See Articles 8 and especially 40 of the Constitution: "All citizens are equal before the law. They have equal public rights and duties without discrimination between them due to race, ethnic origin, language, religion or creed."] Of the 454 members of Parliament there are only six Copts. This is a sensitive issue because the elections were rigged, a practice that goes against both Christianity and Islam. Some Copts accuse the state of being silent about the conversion of Christian minors. These are lies. There are no known activities of Muslims to convert Christian minors to Islam. But in Kilo 4,5 [a small location outside of Cairo], ‘Izbit al-Hajānī, al-Duwayqa and Mansha'a Nāsir Christians are involved in missionary work among Muslims.. They are treated nicely by the security authorities and Islamic activists in this area. These missionaries use poverty and the needs of the local people and we do not see the danger, not even if there were one million such organizations in our country. Islam will not leave Egypt. And if there were a million Muslim missionary organizations [dacwa], Copts would not disappear from our country. It is the destiny of Egypt that Muslims and Christians live together.
Some Copts are asking for a committee to investigate facts. It is not wise to form such a committee now because the fire is still burning. It is preferable that the government or the Minister of Interior asks twenty people, ten Muslims and ten Christians, none related to either clergy, to investigate the situation from Aswan to Alexandria and give recommendations to the Council of Ministers who can then make decisions.
A new fitna [strife] will be fired up in the coming days because our Zionist enemy is at the doors and the American enemy is within our doors. I want Muslims and Christians to stand together. I would wish church leaders would be good leaders, not retire to some monastery and use the method of 'take and receive' [CH&SG: in other words barging, playing a high game to get what they want to achieve]. I hope the Pope will return to his wisdom, otherwise he will not be able to handle this incident [CH&SG: in other words Dr. al-cAwwa warns it can get worse].
Despite all the anger there are others who are more restrained in their responses. Mahmoud Habīb wrote in Sawt al-Azhar, the official publication of the Azhar, that the Qur'ān is positive about the 'People of the Book'. We are united and should not let one incident affect this unity. Why did Pope Shenouda allow these people to demonstrate in the cathedral and did he allow them to throw stones at passers by in the street? The fitna is sleeping and God will curse the one who will wake it up.
Copts also ask for freedom of religion
Yousuf Sidhum [Watanī, December 19] quoted Metropolitan Bishoi, secretary of the Holy Synod, who said that anyone is free to change faith. You cannot be Christian except through "absolute faith." [CH&SG: That sounds like Muslim leaders saying that you cannot be Muslim except through "absolute faith." But both do not want people belonging to their fold to leave their religion.]
Sidhum commented: "We cannot disregard the harm done by the double standards which govern the official attitude towards freedom of belief and religious conversion… When an Egyptian converts from Christianity to Islam, he or she is lauded, praised, encouraged by the state and security apparatuses. But when a Muslim converts to Christianity, these same apparatuses apply extensive pressure to dissuade him or her from converting." Identity papers cannot be changed and thus basic citizenship rights are violated. This, Sidhum explained, fortifies "the culture of religious discrimination and confirms the mistaken popular view that religious conversion is a catastrophic social shame." Instead of investigating the causes for such an attitude, the "mad contest" developed, in which the religion that is winning is the one which gains more converts. The first victim of this is Egypt, resulting in greater fanaticism and a widening gap between citizens of different religions. Sidhum sees the solution in the revival of a secular, civil society. Only this will heal the sectarian inflammation, diminish the outsize power of the police and uphold citizenship rights.
The church under critique
Well-known Coptic writer Kamāl Zākhir Mousa added another element to the discussion in an article entitled "Excuses to His Holiness Pope Shenouda: judge these bishops" [al-Akhbār, December 15, p.9]. He claimed that two prominent bishops have used the incident to initiate a debate about the succession of the old pope. He wrote that the commotion around Wafā' Costantine almost burnt out Egypt. Who created the rumors that she was kidnapped? We do not have transparence, we never exactly know what is happening in our institutions. The fitna tā'ifīya [strife] fever erupts every day but we treat it with tranquilizers [instead of solving it]. The dangers came from behind the walls of the cathedral. Who said this woman was kidnapped? Was she under pressure from the church? Who organized this demonstration? Who told Pope Shenouda that security would return this woman in a few hours? Who advised the pope to continue his trip to Syria and to go to the monastery on Wednesday when the security did not deliver the woman? The demonstrators said he left for the monastery because he was upset. A bishop close to the bishop of Buhayra planned the demonstration in Cairo [CH&SG: the reference is to Metropolitan Bishoi but how does Kamāl Zākhir Mousa know he planned the demonstration?]. Another bishop was in the cathedral, known to be the main intermediary between people and the pope [CH&SG: an obvious reference to Bishop You'annis]. He presented the pope with false reports and gave wrong advice. Both bishops wanted to show that they were very concerned about the church and both have an interest in succeeding to the pope. When the church held a press conference one faced the media and the other was hiding without any reason. The author is asking Pope Shenouda to investigate both bishops.
There are questions about the transparence of the church. Some trusted people are in control and other experienced people are left out. The church is working without any modern law. Experienced laymen are left out. How long will the Majlis al-Millī remain empty [without real power] and therefore unable play its role? The church should return to its spiritual role and stay away from politics. What happened in September 1981 was almost repeated in December 2004. The balance inside the church should be returned in order to solve the problems of the Copts before the situation escalates into a fire.
[CH&SG: Kamāl Zākhir Mousa stated that there is not enough transparence in the church, which cannot be denied. He wrote that people never know what exactly is happening in the church as an institution. But how does Kamāl Zākhir Mousa know about the power struggle between the two bishops? He is interpreting the events as they unfold and became known in this light but how does he know it was a power struggle and not a miscalculation of some clergy? How does Kamāl Zākhir Mousa distinguish between popular rumors and facts?]
Īhāb Hijāzī, Amīra Malash, ‘Abd al-Hāfiz Sa‘d and Ridā ‘Awad provided a full-page article in Sawt al-Umma, December 20, 2004 (p. 2) based on their interpretation of the article of Kamāl Zākhir Mousa.
The authors give a positive description of the private life of Wafā' Costantine. She was well brought up, married a good husband from a prominent local family and she raised her children well. In other words this is not a woman who can have made an impetuous decision to convert to Islam. The authors stated that the Copts have won this case. Their opinion prevailed. Wafā' Costantine remains Christian. But the crisis will tread behind us. Many facts are hidden from us and should not be discussed in the open, the authors said.
The article refers to the above story by Kamāl Zākhir Mousa in al-Akhbār and mentions the involved bishops who are in competition for the succession to the pope: Metropolitan Bishoi and Bishop You'annis. A candidate for the papacy must be a monk for a minimum of 15 years. Bishop You'annis only recently met this requirement and is now a direct threat to the ambitions of Metropolitan Bishoi. The authors claim there is a legal abstract making it impossible for Metropolitan Bishoi to succeed Pope Shenouda but he can overcome that obstacle. [CH&SG: Metropolitan Bishoi is a diocesan bishop and the dominant opinion in the church is that diocesan bishops cannot be candidates for the papacy. The authors do not explain how Metropolitan Bishoi would be able to go around that obstacle. Are these just rumors against Metropolitan Bishoi? If they have other information they should present it].
Bishop Mousa is quite popular but he is also much criticized by conservative bishops who always remark that he has Protestant origins. He became Orthodox through bishop Athanasius. Another name mentioned for the papacy is Father Basilius of the Monastery of St. Makarius. He is open minded and very popular among main stream people [CH&SG: Did the authors consult Kamāl Zākhir Mousa? We know father Basilius personally and respect him. He is an intellectual and is respected among a group of intellectuals but we do not think he is that well known among mainstream Copts]. Another potential candidate is father Mina Ava Mina from the Monastery of St. Mina and bishop Sāwīrus of the Monastery of Muharraq.
The authors write the case of Wafā' Costantine also opens the door to other discussions:
1) The Personal Status Law for the Copts should be discussed because it prohibits divorce except for cases of adultery and conversion. Should the church not offer people who want a divorce an alternative instead of changing their denomination or religion?
2) Small incidents that could be controlled are used for certain benefits. That in turn results in fitna [strife]. That should be controlled.
3) The discussion should be opened about the way the church dealt with the problem, as it failed to control angry people.
4) The way authorities, including the security, treat this kind of problems should be discussed. Authorities should take cultural and social issues into account.
5) Disagreements within the church should be discussed before they get out of hand.
Christian writer Jamāl Ascad ‘Abd al-Malik is also upset about the role of the church in escalating the conflict. The lack of real democracy, economic problems, increasing unemployment, the disappearance of ethics, norms and idealism, as well as the growth of egoism has made the people lose hope. All of this fuels the social disease of communal strife. The problem is with people who are isolated in their own group [CH&SG: many Copts live in communities that function as small islands in a large Muslim sea] and see tā'ifīya as means to reach a solution. The atmosphere the entire population lives in helps to create these sectarian clashes. This developed over a long time, making the atmosphere loaded with sectarian behavior.
Tā'ifīya, Jamāl As‘ad wrote, became the only way to express feelings, instead of resorting to more conventional political channels. Coptic emigrants are always asking for their own deal [what is mine? - no interest in the other], an attitude Copts have rejected through the history. It is dangerous to be solely concerned with one's personal interest.
Copts often speak about building churches and the Hamayounī Law [19th century Ottoman law regulating church building] which no longer exists. They say building mosques is easy and thus why is it not the same for churches? This problem is always seen as a security issue. Why do the security forces stop building activities for security reasons after Copts have obtained permits? It is possible that this decision was made by a man who was influenced by the sectarian atmosphere. It is also possible that one open-minded man makes building easier. It is all in the hands of individual decision makers. One person should not make such decisions but it should be based on a complete report involving politics and the wisdom of the nation.
Conversions are always sensitive because leaving one's religion is interpreted as victory for one side and defeat for the other side. Religions are above considerations such as loosing or winning. No one should ever leave his/her religion because of pressures or benefits. It is not possible to stop conversions from one religion to the other. This will continue to happen as long as there is life on earth.
The picture of Wafā' Costantine is clear. It is obvious from one of the statements of the bishops in the cathedral that she was not kidnapped [a reference to Bishop Mousa]. The local authorities told the bishop that the woman wanted to become Muslim and they had to arrange a cleric to discuss this with her [CH&SG: It seems that local clergy had spoken to her before she went to Cairo but had not been able to make her change her mind about converting to Islam]. The demonstration of the youth in the cathedral put pressure on the government to hand the woman over to the church. This was a mistake, a big mistake! The previous demonstrations about a monk from the Monastery of al-Muharraq [accused of having sex in the monastery. In fact this happened outside the monastery after he had been defrocked - but this issue resulted in the first Coptic demonstration in the cathedral] and about the Banquet of Seaweed [a demonstration against a book in the Azhar] are instances of confrontation between the religious state and the civil state. The demonstration in the cathedral also gave the issue a sectarian dimension and forced others [Muslims] to react. This demonstration illustrates clergymen's illusions that they can use political pressure on the government for any thing and at any time. Why is there all this exaggeration about a wife of a priest becoming Muslim if she was not forced? Copts respect priesthood but the wife of the priest is not the mother of the Copts [one of the slogans during the demonstration]. She is a normal woman. If the church continues to use demonstrations to get what it wants, the results will be disastrous. The danger is especially present after September 11 and the Muslims' widespread feeling that they are unfairly treated. Christians feel a false sense of strength. That is a fallacy and is not in the interest of the country.
The wise men of the nation should come together and speak their mind. Problems should be openly discussed and nothing should be hidden, starting with a discussion about the problems of the Copts from the perspective that all people are Egyptian citizens.
Al-Ahrām, al-Akhbar, al-Gumhourīya and al-Ahrār all reported in their accident pages on December 22 that 13 demonstrators were freed. Twenty-one demonstrators are still kept in custody for investigation. Al-Ahrām, December 23, reported that Pope Shenouda returned to Cairo for his weekly lecture. He then said he had stayed in the monastery "to pray and worship and to put things in order in a wise and peaceful way."
The Coptic Orthodox Church has to date not allowed any journalist, Egyptian or foreign, to meet with Wafā' Costantine, thus enhancing rumors that her return to Christianity did come without considerable pressure from the church. Bishop Mousa told Al-Ahrām Weekly of December 23-29 that she "would soon be available to meet with the press." "It remains unclear why she has been kept secluded after her discussion with church officials." And "she needed a bit of rest before meeting with the press." Not only Wafā' Costantine but also her daughter Shīrī and the second woman, Mary ‘Abd Allāh, have not yet met with the press.
Conclusions:
Did Wafā' Costantine voluntarily attempt to convert to Islam? Much of the current discussions revolve around that question. The Christian demonstrators in the cathedral claimed Muslims kidnapped her, attempted to force her to convert to Islam. That claim was taken over by Coptic activists and some Western media. Some Bishop and priests who claimed she had been drugged, strengthened those claims. It is thus not surprising many Christians do not believe that Wafā' Costantine's mahdar [police report] was voluntary.
Muslims are very upset about the Christians' claims that force had been used. Wafā' Costantine told the Middle East Times that she has grown over a period of two years to Islam. The view that Wafā' Costantine voluntarily converted to Islam has been much reiterated in Egyptian media. The view is widespread that the church tried to prevent her from carrying out her own wishes.
Several bishops stated that Wafā' Costantine wanted to remain Christian. The problem is that initially the Egyptian security and later the church have not made it possible for the press to meet with Wafā' Costantine to tell her own story. The only media who were apparently able to conduct telephone interviews are al-Sharq al-Awsat and the Middle East Times. In both those interviews Wafā' Costantine spoke about her wish to convert to Islam. Those two interviews and the church's rejection of Wafā' Costantine speaking with the press has made the belief she indeed wanted to convert to Islam very strong.
Wafā' Costantine has made a police report asking for conversion to Islam. There are strong indicators that the activists who organized the demonstration in the Cathedral did so in order to obtain (international) media attention to pressure the security to return Wafā' Costantine to the church after her request to convert to Islam.
Once Wafā' Costantine was returned, she met with many senior clergy who tried to dissuade her from converting to Islam. It took several days before the statement came that she wanted to remain Christian. Many Christians believe the statements about this from church leaders. Most Muslims and some Christians, however, believe that this statement is not genuine because the church has not made it possible for Wafā' Costantine to speak for herself in public.
Conversions to Islam practically always take place where the Christian community is weak. Conversions often take place in conjunction with social problems such as marital problems, as seems to be the case with Wafā' Costantine, poverty and sometimes a weak Christian education.
Christians are upset when they see Muslims making use of the weaknesses in their community or, sometimes mistakenly, believe Muslims are deliberately making use of the weaknesses in the Christian community. They are also upset because families and churches have often experienced delays in being informed about an intended conversion to Islam. In the case of Wafā' Costantine there are conflicting stories regarding whether the police has or has not violated the conversion procedures that stipulate that family and church have the right to meet and advice the potential convert in an effort to keep him or her in their church.
Copts have long been complaining about conversion procedures that in their view provide insufficient guarantees that a conversion to Islam is indeed voluntary.
Several commentators, Christian and Muslim, have argued that the tensions around Wafā' Costantine were not really about her alone but this issue was the straw that broke the camel's back. Christians demonstrated because of widespread frustrations about conversions of Christians to Islam and about the way Christians in especially middle and lower classes feel treated, regardless whether those feelings are reflecting actual facts or not.
Islam and Christianity are both missionary religions and of course when a Christian inquires about Islam he or she is often encouraged to convert. However, it depends on what encouragement is given. If the encouragement concerns an explanation of one's faith, it should not be criticized. If the encouragement, however, goes further and includes an offer to help find a solution for social problems (poverty, divorce, etc.) in exchange for conversion to any other religion, this should be criticized as proselytism. The problem, however, is that the explanation of the Muslim or Christian faith and social assistance are often intertwined.
Religious communities should first look at their own weaknesses without complaining about the other. They should strengthen their community where it is weak through a better effort to deal with problems its members are confronted with.
The response to the attempted conversion of Wafā' Costantine gave the impression that Christians involved were saying: "Some members may be weak but do not touch them and if you do so we will create a commotion to attract the attention of the West in an effort to defend what we believe are our rights." This attitude is certainly not limited to laymen but also involves some priests and bishops.
Egyptian Christians widely consider the conversion of the wife of a priest to Islam as a shame. But the demonstration made the shame nationally and internationally known. That does not help the image of the church in Egypt.
The demonstrations inciting the public as well as Pope Shenouda stating that he will remain in the monastery as long as the arrested youth are not released, have harmed Muslim-Christian relations. This is widely seen as a threat of not celebrating Christmas if the Pope's demands are not met. That could cause further escalations. The anger about Pope Shenouda's methods to get his way is widespread. It has resulted in extensive negative press for several weeks.
The critique of Dr. Mustafa al-Fiqī, Dr. Salīm al-cAwwa and Tāriq al-Bishrī is remarkable because they have showed sympathy for Coptic wishes in the past but now show anger.
Egyptian politician Dr. Mustafa al-Fiqī believed for many years that the positive changes for Coptic Christians in the past years would reduce the sectarian clashes and discussions that Egypt witnesses every now and then. But the recent incidents show that these efforts have not worked. This may cost Pope Shenouda and the church a lot of goodwill.
The positive changes Dr. Mustafa al-Fiqī, and with him many others, has seen for Christians in the past years have been described by others as mostly symbolic improvements, that is improvements not really affecting Christians in daily life, on the local level. This raises questions about what changes are really needed to avoid such emotional outbursts, that are easily exploited by people stirring up negative relations between Muslims and Christians such as all those who have claimed Wafā' Costantine was kidnapped by Muslims.
The issue of Wafā' Costantine has resulted in substantial negative press about the church as institute and Pope Shenouda. The criticism did not concern Egyptian Christians in general but it is to be feared that in lower social classes that distinction is not as sharp as for Egyptian intellectuals.
Major Christian writers such as Kamāl Zākhir Mousa, Jamāl Ascad and Mīlād Hannā have criticized the church and Pope Shenouda for escalating the tensions. They all believe that there is a lack of transparence in the church. Kamāl Zākhir Mousa reads in the events a struggle for the succession to the patriarchate. Jamāl Ascad writes that the lack of real democracy, economical problems, increasing unemployment, disappearance of ethics, norms and idealism, the growth of egoism makes possible the escalation we are now witnessing. All three authors believe that the church should not try to play a political role and are in favor of separating church and politics.
Some Coptic activists in the West used the story for their own purposes. Their activism, including writing public letters to President Bush has added oil on the flames. Maurice Sādiq even went as far as to write Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon. These activists would have had no chance to add to the tensions if the emotions in Egypt had not been raised so much. Egyptian media would probably have ignored them. Now they are used to show Christian radicalism and thus only further incite the Egyptian public.
Western media and organizations can easily inflame sentiments in Egypt through one-sided and inflammatory reporting along the lines of Coptic activists in the West that surely will sooner or later be picked up in Egypt. Egyptians need reconciliation, not further polarization.
Support could be given to programs that encourage efforts of reconciliation. There is plenty of rhetoric especially during festivities such as iftār banquets but this needs to be made more tangible for ordinary citizens.
The different parties involved would have better managed this conflict:
1) church could take problems between husband and wife more serious, the law of divorce is too rigid. We know of situations whereby the abuse of a husband, in one case even attempted murder, made it impossible for the woman to remain with her husband but nevertheless divorce was ruled impossible. Perhaps the church should accept that there could be situations whereby there is no other solution but husband and wife living separately.
2) When the demonstration took place the church could have immediately announced the real reasons, her wishing to divorce and the church not willing to grant it.
3) Improving the procedure for conversion, the procedures should guarantee complete transparence. Part of the effort to make procedures more transparent can be giving independent press, not those trying to protect a specific Christian or Muslim point of view, the chance to meet with potential converts or converts who have been in the news.
4) Arab and Western media could have played a much better role. Many media were very partisan, sometimes even inflammatory, in covering this issue and thus added to tensions. Some, however, have made an effort to investigate the story well or present good opinion articles,
Postscript, May 10, 2005
Since our report about Mrs. Wafā' Costantine has, unfortunately, appeared with such a great delay in AWR, we have added this postscript with the latest information we obtained about this case.
Newspaper articles in the past months have reflected much anger about the church's refusal to let Mrs. Waf?' Constantine explain what has happened.
Our board member Father van Nispen has met in the past months with many Muslims, who bluntly state that as long as no direct message is received from Mrs. Wafā' Costantine about her wish to return to Christianity or her wish to remain Christian, she will be seen as a Muslim who was kidnapped by the church. The same Muslims state that the church's claims for human rights have become unbelievable. How can church leaders plead for freedom of religion if they themselves do not apply the same principles?
Father van Nispen said prominent Egyptians have in different meetings expressed their own frustrations with the way the church has handled this issue as well. "Some demonstrators have screamed for the interference of the US. Such slogans are totally unacceptable," van Nispen said. "Authorities have also expressed uneasiness about the demonstrations later in Fayoum and Ma'asara (South of Cairo)."
Bishop Bīsintī of al-Macsara agrees the demonstrations in churches are a new phenomenon but says that church authorities are making all the efforts to ensure that people do not scream slogans against Islam or the state. "We want to keep this peaceful." The Bishop analyzes the demonstrations as a signal of "greater democratization" in Egypt, "people want and get the opportunity to express their feelings."
The demonstrations in Ma'asara in mid-April lasted for a few days and ended after the security forces had made promises that Nevine, a Christian girl who ran away from her family, allegedly with the wish to convert to Islam, would be returned. Bishop Bissenti met with Dr. Zakarīyā cAzmī, advisor to President Mubārak, on April 24, during the condolences for the death of the mother of Dr. Nabil Luqa Bebawi, a prominent Christian, and explicitly pleaded for the return of Nīvīn, but on Easter, May 1, the bishop said nothing had happened thus far.
Pope Shenouda has the excellent custom to receive prominent Egyptians, Christians and Muslims, on Easter Sunday to receive seasonal congratulations. During such receptions people speak about various issues of interest to the church or to the society of today. On that occasion Cornelis Hulsman asked H.H. Pope Shenouda, not in public but when he shook the hands of His Holiness, whether it would be possible to meet with Mrs. Wafā' Costantine. Pope Shenouda's face turned angry at the question and responded with a firm "No!" "No!" "No!" Such a strong answer was not expected. It was anticipated that the pope would say something like: "The time is not yet ripe," but the harsh "No" showed a resoluteness indicating this issue is still a problem.
The triple "No" to anyone hearing Mrs. Wafā' Costantine's own story suggests that the interest of the church, as defined by Pope Shenouda, is more important than that of an individual person. In other words, personal freedom seems to have become subject to the interest of a community. With this the Coptic Orthodox Church follows traditional cultural patterns in Egypt. Egyptian Muslims have often responded in similar ways to conversion stories.
Our board member Dr. Mary Mascoud shows understanding for the Pope's response and sees it as an effort to protect Wafā Costantine. Because the heated public discussions about whether or not she converted, her life may well be in danger if she appeared in public. The pope may also want to end the discussion by simply not allowing any interview to any one. She also believes that Wafā Costantine "simply wants to be left in peace." Father van Nispen, however, points out this is an interpretation many Christians hold but Waf?' Costantine should express this herself.
The pope's firm answer may be understandable but we believe it does not help the church. Wafā' Costantine has been kept in the papal residence of the Monastery of Bīshouī, a male monastery. Many have wondered why she did not stay in a female monastery such as for example St. Dimyana, near the Delta city of Mansoura, which has a tradition of providing shelter for more Christian women who have had problems or women who want a retreat in a spiritual atmosphere. It is unclear whether this is voluntary or not because it is very unusual for a woman to stay in an all male monastery and nothing has been heard from her. The rejection of any meeting suggests, according to many people, that Mrs. Wafā' Costantine may have to say something that the church does not want the world to know. Until now no single journalist has been able to speak to her, not even a journalist handpicked by the church, in order to hear from Mrs. Wafā'
Costantine what her own story and wishes are. This certainly does not help to dispel stories that she was kidnapped by the church, or that she is kept against her will in the Monastery of Bīshouī.
We informed board member and scholar Father Dr. John Watson, who knows the pope personally and who wrote several books about the church in Egypt, about the triple no of the pope and he responded: "I do know the case of that lady and heard much about it. I believe that it is quite possible that she seriously wishes to convert to Islam. As you know, my hold upon interfaith dialogue is very much that of Kenneth Cragg's, but we both had the experience with some of 'our converts' who had problems similar to those of the lady. She should do what she really wants, especially if she has been subject to abuse of any kind by anyone."
The story of the second woman, Mary, took a different turn. The responsible bishop, Bishop Mārtirus of Sharabīya and al-Zawīya al-Hamrā', a popular area in Cairo, said on May 1 that there had been marital problems. Her husband, the priest, did not allow her to leave the house, not even to go to a priest for confession. The church does not allow divorce but she has agreed to live with her children separately from her husband in her own flat, thus a de-facto separation but not a legal divorce. The husband is still serving as a priest in the diocese. The bishop admitted this was 'not an ideal situation,' but the best solution under these circumstances.
Sources:
We have twice conversed with Metropolitan Pachomius of Buhayra, the diocese Abu al-Matāmīr belongs to; spoken with Coptic activists in Egypt and demonstrators; Coptic Orthodox priests in different parts of Egypt; Christian human rights activist Rā'id al-Sharqāwī, who works as a translator and stringer for different Western journalists; Dutch senior journalist Eildert Mulder of the main stream Christian daily Trouw who visited Abu al-Matāmīr; Member of Parliament and professor at the Azhar University Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘ti Bayoumī Coptic emigrants in the West and followed both Western and Egyptian reporting. We have included in this report articles covering the period of December 13 -20. A draft text of this report was presented in the last
days of December to the board of advisors of AWR. Their comments have been included.
Arab media:
- Aljazeera, December 8, 2004, Copts demonstrating in Cairo, sectarian clashes in al-Minyā, Abu al-Matāmīr Christians go to Cairo to protest inside cathedral
- Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 10, Costantine: my relation with Islam started a TV program, author: ‘Abd al-Latīf al-Mināwī, Cairo office
- Al-Ahrām Weekly, December 9-15, 2004, "No one is convinced: Christian claims of forced conversions in Asyout and Al-Buhayra catalyze angry protests in Cairo
- Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 13, 2004, "The return of the wife of the priest of al-Zāwiya al-Hamrā' to extinguish the fire of a new fitna tā'ifīya" (p. 11). Author: not mentioned.
- Sabāh al-Khayr, December 14, "This is the wrong number emigrant Copts! (p.3) Author: Rashād Kamāl.
- Ākhir Sā‘a, December 15, 2004, "Facing rumors to eradicate the fitna" (p.15), Author: Muhammad Barakāt
- Al-Hayāt, December 15, "Wafā' Costantine returned to Christianity" (p.9), Author: Muhammad Salāh
- Al-Akhbār, December 15, "Excuses to His Holiness Pope Shenouda: judge these bishops" (p.9), Author: Kamāl Zākhir Mousa.
- Al-Wafd, December 16, "Copts reject a behavior before Muslims" (p.1,4). Author: ‘Abbās al-Tarabilī
- Al-Ahālī, December 15, "The Pope's self-exile continues" (p.1), Author: Khālid Hārib
- Al-Ahrām Weekly of December 16-22, 2004, "When the social becomes political: Was an incident involving a priest's wife allegedly converting to Islam totally overblown?" (p.4), Author: Rīm Nāfi‘.
- Sawt al-Azhar, December 17, 2004, "Muslims and Christians are one unity" (p.1) Author: Mahmoud Habīb
- Al-Ahrām, Al-Ahbār, Al-Gumhourīya and al-Wafd all reported on December 17 on p. 1 the statement of the general prosecutor concerning Wafā' Costantine.
- Al-Mousawwar, December 17, 2004, "The complete story of the case of the wife of the priest of Abu al-Matāmīr and who is responsible for the start of this fitna" (p. 18-21 and 74), author: Makram Muhammad Ahmad
- Al-Kirāza, December 18, 2004, "Three incidents at one moment" (p.1, 3, 4, 5 and 6). The author is not mentioned but the text was approved by H. H. Pope Shenouda.
Al-Akhbār, December 18, 2004, "A day in the cathedral" (p. 32). Author: Mustafa al-Fiqī
- Watanī International, December 19, 2004, "Crisis containment…Insufficient; aftermath of the sectarian crisis" (p.1), author: Yousuf Sidhum
- Watanī, December 19, 2004, "Born Christian; the priest's wife …sequel," (p.1), Victor Salāma.
- Al-Hayāt, December 19, "Islamists request a search in the monastery of the Wādī al-Natroun after this became a state inside a state where hundreds are kept" (p.1). Author: Muhammad Salāh
- Al-cArabī, December 19, "The Bishop of Coptic Youth: Wafā' Costantine is not kidnapped but she wanted to announce she wished to become Muslim for social reasons" (p.1), Nashwa al-Dīb,
- Al-‘Arabī, December 19, "Is it possible to look quietly at the last sectarian incident?" (p.11). Author: Jamāl Ascad ‘Abd al-Malik.
- Al-‘Arabī, December 19, 2004, "A call for a committee of the wise men, a warning against the enemy at the door and others who are inside" [interview with Dr. Muhammad Salīm al-cAwwa] (p.8). Author: Nashwa al-Dīb
- Sawt al-Umma, December 20, 2004, Wafā' Costantine's story between Christianity and Islam; important clergy created a trap for the pope in order to obtain his chair"(p. 2), authors: Īhāb Hijāzī, Amīra Malash, ‘Abd al-Hāfiz Sacad and Ridā cAwad.
- Sawt al-Umma, December 20, "Those who stimulate the fitna, from the White House till cAbbāsīya" [about extremist Christian groups] (p.4). Fādī Imīl and Wisām Kamāl.
- Sawt al-Umma, December 20, "The president is responsible for the security of the Copts" (p.6), Author: Muhammad al-Bāz
- al-Usbou‘, December 20, 2004, "The origin of the story" (p. 1, 3)
- al-Usbou‘, December 20, 2004, "They want to fire up the fitna tā'ifīya" (p.6), Author: Muna Madkour
- Al-Usbou‘, December 20, 2004, "Importing fitna [strife] from Washington" (p.7). Author: Mustafa Bakrī
- Al-Usbou‘, December 20, 2004, "Reading in a sectarian incident" (p.7). Author: Kamāl Zākhir Mousa
- Al-Usbou‘, December 20, "Questions about what is permitted in the case of Wafā'Costantine", (p.5). Author: Dr. Muhammad Salīm al-cAwwa.
Al-Ahrām Weekly, December 23-29, 2004, "Unresolved matters" (p.3). Author: Jihān Shāhīn.
Al-Ahrām Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Issue 25, December 2004. Author: Dr. Hasan Abu Tālib
- Petitiononline.com, December 2004, Free the Coptic Priest Wife.
Western media:
- U.S. Copts Association, December 6, 2004, "A Coptic priest's wife has been abducted by Muslim extremists" (press release).
- U.S. Copts Association, December 6, 2004, "Open letter of US Copts Association President Michael Mounier to US President Bush requesting US intervention."
- WorldNet Daily [electronic publication], December 6, 2004, "Christians protest kidnapping, forced conversion. Wife of Coptic priest allegedly taken by Muslim extremists in Egypt." Author: Aaron Klein.
- Glocktalk.com, December 6, 2004, "Christians protest kidnapping, forced conversion."
- AINA.org, (Assyrian International News Agency), December 6, 2004, "3,000 Egyptian Copts Protest Mubārak's Neglect of Coptic Persecution", (Story taken from the U.S. Copts Association)
- Jihad Watch.org/Dhimmi Watch [electronic publication], December 7, 2004, "Egypt: Christians protest kidnapping, forced conversion of priest's wife", author not mentioned.
- The Scriptorium [electronic publication], December 7, 2004, "Christians protest kidnapping, forced conversion", author: Jennifer Rast
- BigPharao.com, December 7 and 8, two letters from Egyptians who have witnessed the demonstrations. One of them wrote that "tensions between Muslims and Christians is very minimal within the upper and middle class societies. They both live in relative harmony in Egypt's major cities, however, the situation is not so in the poorer rural areas." (A web site to post thoughts and interact with people, owned by Google)
- Thequran.com, December 7, 2004, U.S. Copts Association: "3,000 Egyptian Copts Protest Mubārak's Neglect of Coptic Persecution" (usnewswire.com)
- Rightwingerz.com, December 7, 2004, "Christians protest kidnapping, forced conversion" (taken from WorldNet Daily)
- Middle east Times, December 8, 2004, "Egyptian Copts protest over missing priest's wife." (AFP wire report)
- The Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation, December 8, 2004, "Stop the oppression against Egyptian Christians" (press release).
- Al-Jezeera TV website, aljezeera.net
- Middleeastinfo.org, December 8, 2004, "Muslim extremists have allegedly abducted a Coptic priest's wife in Egypt and forced her to convert to Islam."
- Associated Press, December 9, 2004, "Christians take over cathedral", author: Maggie Michel
- Liberty Post (electronic news discussion forum), December 9, placed article of AP, December 9 with few responses of readers
- MSNBC (website of prominent US TV station), December 9, 2004, "30 hurt in Egypt religious conversion dispute Police, Christians battle over alleged forced conversion to Islam." MSNBC republished the AP story.
- PhillyBurbs.com, December 9, 2004, "Christians in Egyptian Church Stone Police," placement article AP (commercial website with news, sports, entertainment, guides and shopping.
- Talkaboutreligion.com (message board), December 9, "The religion of peace gains a convert" (very sarcastic title), reprint of the Jihad Watch story of December 7, 2004
- BBC (website), December 9, 2004, "'Conversion' sparks Copt protest," author: Hibah Sālih. Photo of demonstrators with caption "Relations between Christians and Muslims are occasionally tense."
- Beliefnet.com, December 9, 2004, "Christian Protesters Take Over Cathedral, Hurling Stones at Police, in Demonstration Over an Alleged Forced Conversion", reprint of the AP story (Christian website with e-cards, news, discussions, meditations, prayers, dating)
- Christianpost.com, December 9, 2004 "Four-Day Protest in Egypt Ends with Clashes, Arrests" (AP story) - an independent, inter-denominational, Christian media company, which serves to provide direct, and current news information the general Christian public.
- Jihadwatch.org, December 9, 2004, "Persecution, Kidnapping and Forced Conversions of Christians in Egypt."
- Mymotherlode.com, December 9, 2004, "Christians in Egyptian Church Stone Police" (AP story) - a web site about features news and information for residents and visitors to the heart of the Mother Lode region-- Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties.
- Jmm.aaa.net - John Mark Ministries - World Wide Religious News, December 9, 2004, "Christians in Egypt protest kidnapping, forced conversion", a web site "dedicated for thoughtful people in or out of the church, who want to think more maturely/critically about the Christian faith."
- Arabicnews.com, December 9, 2004, "Cairo: some 34 detainees, 55 injured in confrontation between the police, Copts."
- Ntnews.com - Northern Territory News, December 9, 2004 "Christians take over cathedral" (AP story)
- Freerepublic.com, December 9, 2004, "Christians take over cathedral" (AP story)
- Discardedlies.com, December 10, 2004, "Wafā' Costantine - As if things weren't complicated enough between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, people go and have love affairs" (electronic publication).
- Gulf-news.com, December 10, 2004, "Christians occupy Cairo cathedral during protest" (AP story)
- Jordantimes.com, December 10, 2004, "Copts take over cathedral, hurling stones at police" (AP story)
- Arabist.net, December 11, 2004, "Follow up on Coptic-Muslim tensions" (al-Hayāt story)
- Arabist.net, December 12, 2004, "More on the Coptic conversion to Islam" (al-Hayāt story)
- Egypt Search, December 12, 2004, web based discussion forum on subject "demonstration in Main Church in Egypt (cAbbāsīya) cause priest's wife convert to Islam," covering the period December 6-12. Many of the comments are harshly anti-Islamic, some Muslims tried to defend themselves. The divide between a Western/Christian public and a Muslim public was clearly visible in the responses. Several links were given to other websites, one linking to a previous incident claiming a Christian woman had been kidnapped, another claiming that priests and Christian missionaries had converted to Islam followed by someone. providing a link to a list of Muslims who converted to Christianity.
- Asher813blogspot.com, December 13, 2004, "Muslims and Christians in Egypt."
- Australian Copts, December 14, 2004, "Christian Copts Cry for Justice Australian Copts pray for a peaceful Christmas" (press release).
- Aina.org, (Assyrian International News Agency), December 12-15, 2004, "Religious Tension Rises In Egypt After Years of Calm" (IPS story).
- Ipsnews.net, December 15, 2004, "Egypt: Religious Tension Rises after Years of Calm."
- AFP, December 16, 2004, "Top cleric in desert protest over arrest of Egypt Christians."
- Middle East Times, December 16, 2004, "Muslim, Christian relations sour over 'forced' conversions." Author: Ahmad Abu al-Wafā.
- Youthbishopric.com, "Mrs Wafā' Costantine Declares Holding on to her Christian Faith."
- Discardedlies.com, December 17, 2004, "Wafā' Costantine - part two"
- Middleeastinfo.org, December 17, 2004, "When the social becomes political."
- France-echos.com, December 18, 2004, "Pétition pour libérer Wafā Costantine Messiha des griffes des mahométans."
- Aina.org, December 23, 2004, "A Christian Seeks to Convert to Islam, and the Personal Becomes Political" (2nd AP story).
- Wkrc.com, December 23, 2004, [refers to CBS TV, Columbia Broadcasting Station. The website presents entertainment and news, much of it Cincinnati based], "A Christian seeks to convert to Islam, and the personal becomes political" (2nd AP story)
- Fox23news.com, "A Christian seeks to convert to Islam, and the personal becomes political" (2nd AP story).
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