Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Karīma Kamāl thinks that the idea of discussing Copts’ issues publicly is highly sensitive amongst both Copts and Muslims.

The author thinks that the majority of Copts prefer not to discuss their Personal Status Law publicly, while other Copts believe that civil courts use the Islamic sharī‘a in dealing with their cases.

In fact though, civil courts use Law no. 462 of the year 1955, which is applied only to non-Muslims and is based on the personal status draft law prepared by al-Majlis al-Mīllī in 1938. It contains nine conditions under which Copts are allowed to get divorced. Until 1971, Copts who had been divorced were allowed to re-marry again after obtaining a license from the church.

Since he became the patriarch of Copts, Pope Shenouda has announced clearly that he disagrees with the conditions for divorce among Copts mentioned in the personal status law. He asserts that according to the Bible, only if one of the partners has committed adultery is divorce permitted.

Accordingly, he issued a papal decree no. 7 for the year 1971, preventing the issue of any re-marriage licenses, unless the court verdict was granted because of adultery. Yet more than one hundred thousand Copts have already had verdicts of divorce, often for reasons other than adultery.

In 1979, the three Christian denominations agreed on a unified personal status law. It allows divorce for only one reason, adultery.

Karīma Kamāl believes that Copts who have had divorce verdicts are in a complicated situation because of the church’s denial of these verdicts, and they can only ensure their divorces are recognized if they change their denominations or religion.