[Editor AWR: The author is a Coptic Catholic who has been living for several decades in France. He is a prison-psychologist who was highly decorated by the French Minister of Justice for his life work in the year 2000. Our editorial board member Father Dr. Christiaan van Nispen knows him well, finds him a reasonable person who is, however, does not always express his opinions in a nuanced way and knows that Adel Guindy has many Muslim friends both in Egypt and in France.
Adel Guindy has observed developments from his position in France, paid visits to Egypt, received comments from friends in Egypt, but has not been living in Egypt for many years. This has, no doubt, colored his outlook. People tend to complain about negative developments and under-accentuate positive examples that are also there. His outlook as a Copt living in France must also have been colored by reports in French media or reports from Coptic activists in Western countries, but those reports tend to be colored, focused too much on negative experiences and not the positive ones.
Adel Guindy is obviously in favor of a separation of religion and state and fears Egypt’s Islamization. Egypt has definitely changed a lot since he left. Islamization developed in the 1970s and was encouraged by late President Sadat which has definitely strengthened the Islamic character of Egypt, but it seems that Adel Guindy insufficiently distinguishes between the pace of Islamization of the 1970s and that in the 1980s and 1990s. Expatriate Copts often compare the 1960s and today and the changes are certainly huge, but this doesn’t mean that the Islamization of society is linear. Islamization was clear government policy in the 1970s, but that is less obvious today. Islamists do get space in pro-government media, but so do those who are highly critical of Islamist thinking. The picture we see in the past 10 years is one of an ongoing struggle between Islamists and those who oppose Islamism. It is not so easy to say that one party advances over the other, simply because hardly any empirical if any research has been done to quantify developments in one or the other direction.
Adel Guindy also does the same as many other Egyptians in their writings. They are engaged, motivated to get a particular point across and thus tend to be more emotional – however understandable – then rational, leading to simplifications.
The simplifications are strengthened because Adel Guindy is also observing Egypt from a distance. Adel Guindy is not known to be anti-Muslim, but such several of the oversimplifications could well be seen as anti-Muslim by many Muslims. Adel Guindy also does not notice improvements that have taken place in the past years for Christians in Egypt. Western students and scholars would be very hesitant using such one-sided observations. They are self-defeating, good to reach out to the believers, those who already support such views, but not good at all to engage in dialogue with those who hold opposite views.
Adel Guindy does raise some issues that are important for Christians in Egypt. Examples are:
That the current electoral system does not work in favor of Coptic representation in parliament
That for various reasons the Coptic representation in top-government positions and academia has declined in the second half of the 20th century. Those reasons need to be studied instead simply blamed on growing Islamism.
That Copts are not (well) represented at the very top of Egyptian security forces
That there are real problems with mentioning the religious affiliation on people’s identity cards. Watani has reported several times problems with Christians who mistakenly received a new identity card marked with ’Muslim’.
That the current social climate has helped people look more at religious affiliation and affinity than being good at the function for which you were hired. It is also true that the current social climate has made it possible for non-religious differences and conflicts develop into religious tensions and conflicts.
These are examples of real issues that Egyptian Christians and Muslims could discuss, but that is not done by presenting over-simplifications and exaggerations that hinder open and frank discussion which could lead to workable solutions and matter of common interest. It is important to present facts in context, understand why developments and events take place, compare Egyptian Muslim with Egyptian Christian religiosity and not to blast Muslims for being religious and neglect that Egyptian Christian religiosity is not much less. It doesn’t matter people show they are religious, as long as this does not harm the other.
Text Adel Guindy:
The success of the Muslim Brotherhood in gaining a fifth of the parliamentary seats in the latest elections (Sept/Oct 2005) in Egypt seems to have taken many people by surprise. Furthermore, the recent acceleration in the number of attacks on Copts in the country has also come as a surprise to many.
In fact, these two phenomena are linked, and should be seen as a natural consequence of relentless efforts, over the past few decades, to Islamize the country.
The media has played a major role in the process, but when questioned about the excessive religious ‘dose’ in the government’s media, Egyptian officials typically offer the pretext that the government, in its efforts to defeat the violent Islamist groups, has been trying to ‘pull the rug from under their feet’ by out-doing them in religiosity. However the problem may be deeper than a simple reaction to Islamists’ violence and more of a deliberate process that has continued over the past few decades.
[Editor AWR: the media (generalized) has played a major role? This is an exaggeration. Please see the articles selected for Arab-West Report over the past few years. AWR has selected all articles that discussed Islamism in Egyptian media and many Egyptian writers do not present a positive picture of Islamism. When Copts are asked for examples of Islamists, the names of Zaghloul al-Najjar, writing in al-Ahrām and Muhammad Imāra, writing in al-Akhbār, are mentioned. They indeed have written several articles Egyptian Christians did not like and to which they responded. The Christians who protested against these writings of Zaghloul al-Najjar, Muhammad Imāra and others are upset that major publications as al-Ahrām and al-Akhbār have given space to Islamist writers. In Egyptian media you also find many other opinions and it is hard to conclude on basis of several examples of Islamist writers that the media have played a major role in the Islamization of Egypt over the past 25 years. One would need to do more research before such generalizing statements can be made]
Going back six decades, Egypt’s ruling system, under a corrupt monarchy, had then reached such a weak state to the point of almost falling, like a rotten fruit, into the laps of the Muslim Brotherhood. Established only two decades earlier (in 1928), they appeared to have garnered such strength that they considered it normal to take over the rule in the country and establish an Islamic state on the ruins of the dysfunctional liberal system.
Then came the army’s coup d’état, later called a ‘revolution’. Even though most of the ‘Free Officers’ had been Brotherhood members beforehand and, as new rulers, they were clear to have special connections with it; the realities of governance soon led to a clash of interests. As a result, the Brotherhood was banned in 1954 and its aspirations and designs had to be shelved. But in reality these never died.
Following the Nasser years, with the wins, losses and experimentations with Arabism and socialism, those shelved aspirations were revived with the arrival of Sadat. He started his rule by reopening the doors to the Brotherhood and other off-shoots of Islamic groups. He then initiated what we could, in hindsight, term “the Great Islamic Transformation” of Egypt. The first step was to stipulate in the Second Article of his new Constitution, promulgated in 1971, well before Khomeini embarked on his Islamic revolutionary campaign, that the Principles of Islamic Shari’a were ‘a main source’ of legislation. In May 1981, the ‘a’ was replaced with ‘the’, thus making Shari’a the term of reference of the entire constitution in whose ‘light’ all other articles would be interpreted.
[Editor AWR: This is a simplistic way of explaining art. 2 of the Egyptian constitution. One better consult Clark B. Lombardi, "State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt; The Incorporation of the Shari’a into Egyptian Constitutional Law," Brill, Leiden, 2006.]
By way of comparison, the First Article of the French Constitution states: “France is one and indivisible republic, laic (secular), democratic and social. It assures the equality in front of the law of all its citizens without distinction based on origin, race or religion. It respects all beliefs ...”That change provided the legal, political and the psychological basis for the Islamic transformation to steam ahead in an inexorable fashion. Sadat’s famous slogan ‘I am a Muslim president of a Muslim state’ was a remarkable signpost.
The Transformation
The society started to gradually transform into Islamic forms. A few indicative examples of how Egypt has changed are:
1- Not only did hijab become a kind of national dress for the Egyptian women, but also the ‘niqab’ (An all-black garment, leaving only a narrow slot for the eyes) - in the name of ‘personal freedom’ and the need to exhibit ever more piety - is becoming widely spread. Should Huda Shaarawi and Qasem Amin, the visionary champions of the women’s liberation movement of the early Twentieth Century, ever return to life, they would find the present scenes in Cairo’s streets utterly devastating.
[Editor AWR: Yes, Huda Sha‘rāwī and Qāsim Amīn would find this shocking, but most changes took place in the 1970s. How strong and deep have the changes been in the past 20 years? Instead of making generalizations, one would need to study this. One would also find difficulties in quantifying these developments]
2- If you have to go to one of the administrative offices, you should not be surprised at the sight of the employees spending most of the work hours (already among the shortest in the world) performing Islam’s ritual ablution and prayer.
[Editor AWR: Most of the working hours? That is an exaggeration. During normal working hours, one would only perform two prayers, the noon prayer and the afternoon prayer, which are often combined by Muslims. It takes no more than 10 minutes to perform ablutions and pray.]
3- Mosques broadcast prayers (including at early dawn) over public speakers in such a cacophony making Cairo and other cities among the noisiest in the world. Furthermore, religious material has replaced background music in most transport vehicles and shops.
[Editor AWR: One indeed finds this a lot in public buses and microbuses but not, for example, in trains. Most shops? That depends at lot on location and social class]
It is not unusual to see Metro (subway) carriages turning into preaching (proselytizing) forums by feverish zealots.
[Editor AWR: ’Not unusual?’ That too seems to be an exaggeration. It certainly happens and every now and then one finds articles in Egyptian media protesting this]
4- The professional syndicates, organizations and the Lawyers’ Bar, mostly dominated by Islamists, have been turned into forums for spreading an Islamic (and violently anti-Western) agenda, rather than attending to members’ needs and services.
5- The national carrier, EgyptAir, which for years has banned serving alcohol on all flights, ensures imposing on its travelers, at every take-off and landing, the archaic ‘Invocation of Travel,’
(Originally intended for desert trips on the camels’ back). Many would find this to be of little reassurance, as it reminds every passenger that ‘their fates are in Allah’s hands.’
[Editor AWR: From our experience, the invocation to prayer is shown on television screens before take-off, but is not read over the speaker system, forcing passengers to hear this. Plenty of Middle Eastern airlines, do similar, but what is the problem that they cater to a good segment of their public that happens to be pious?]
6- While alcohol is still not totally banned in the county, local authorities in the governorates have decreed to restrict its sale to ‘tourist’ areas. This is done to feign public piety, or simply to avoid the attacks of Islamists on bars and points of sale.
7- Even the basic and familiar daily greetings of ‘good morning/evening/day,’ using expressions for which Egyptians were long renowned, were replaced with the standard Islamic ‘assalamu alaykum.’ (Literally meaning ‘Peace be upon you;’ which is not at all bad in itself. The issue is one of forced vestimentary and behavioral code on all aspects of life.)
8- The hundred-year old school of fine arts has been invaded by hijab-wearing girls and bearded men, all claiming that sculpting and drawing models are ‘illicit.’ [Editor AWR: All claiming so? I wouldn’t think so] Indeed, the Grand Mufti of Egypt has declared recently that statues are ‘illicit.’ Will the treasures of the pharos one day meet the same destiny as that of the Buddha statutes demolished by the Taliban? What a terrifying idea, but not impossible to happen; a woman has already smashed statues in the Hassan Heshmat Mueseum in Cairo, following that famous fatwa.
[Editor AWR: The muftī stated on Egyptian TV [Bayt Baytak] the journalist who initially reported this misinterpreted him. See also the discussions that followed this first article in Egyptian media. Articles in the Egyptian print media on this subject appeared in summary translations or press reviews in AWR]
9- Symbols of extremist thoughts are given a freehand to spread their ideas by all means, so long as they do not criticize the regime too much. On the other hand, efforts by the civil society are systematically obstructed and the defenders of progressive and secularist ideas have, till very recently, been extremely marginalized. The bases of critical thinking and respect of the ‘other’ are not even taught at school.
[Editor AWR: No doubt teaching critical thinking could be improved, but too many Egyptian writers believe sweeping generalizations help to get their point across to the reader, but such generalizations do not show sufficient critical thinking either. Respect for the other implies that generalizations are avoided and that differences in opinions and views are presented and statements are made in context.]
10- Egyptian nationalism and patriotism have receded, leaving the place to a new sense of Pan-Islamism where a fellow Muslim from Pakistan or Malaysia is considered to be much closer than a Coptic co-citizen. It was hence only natural to read a recent interview by the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in a government-owned paper (Roza, 13 April 2006) [AWR 2006, 15, 24 and 29] stating with no ambiguity “to hell with Egypt … Our nationality is Islam ... The Rule of the Ottoman Empire over Egypt was not an occupation, because it was a Muslim Caliphate.” To show his zeal for pan-Islamism, he says “We don’t mind to have a Malaysian president for Egypt (as long as he is Muslim).” Amazingly, few voices came up to reject such abhorrent discourse.
[Editor AWR: One may believe it was not enough, but several voices in Arab media did reject this statement. See the summarized texts in AWR]
The Religious Establishment
The examples we have mentioned above to demonstrate the Islamic Transformation of Egypt would not be complete without trying to examine the situation of the religious establishment in the country:
1- In the early years of the 20th Century, Egypt had five religious (Qur’anic) schools harboring about three thousand pupils and students, some of whom would ultimately join Al-Azhar Mosque/University to become Imams. The number of institutes mushroomed to reach seven thousand, harboring no less than one-and-half million students. (Information based on a series of articles by Sheikh Ali Goma’a, published in July/August 2005 in Al-Ahram.)[AWR: Articles purely explaining faith issues are not placed in AWR.] Even if we take into consideration the increase in population, we are still facing almost a hundred times increase, most of which took place over the past few decades.
[Editor AWR: One should not take into account population increase only, but also that education in general increased, both secular and religious. One should also take into account the tremendous increase in Christian religious teaching, for example the number of children in Sunday School classes. The changes reflect a general increase in education and religiosity. Presenting this only concerning Muslim religious education only is highly one-sided]
We should draw to attention that we are not about to examine here the curricula or the material taught, which date mostly to the Middle Ages. We should also bear I mind that at the same time, illiteracy is still close to 50% and that Egypt ranks 105 among 162 countries in the UN’s Development Indicator.
2- The Azhar University currently enrolls over 400,000 students, in 70 faculties with over 7000 teaching staff. Becoming one of the largest universities in the world, it is open only to ‘ believers’ even though some of its faculties offer secular studies in engineering, medicine and commerce, albeit tinged with religious teachings [Editor AWR: These secular studies were forced upon the Azhar in the days of Nasser, an effort to secularize the Azhar]. Incidentally, the University provides free education to some 200,000 Muslim students from over 60 countries. A simple calculation would show that in all 1,900,000 students are enrolled in various stages of religious education. [Editor AWR: I don’t know how the author calculated this]
3- Egypt boasts over 120,000 mosques, in addition to some 900,000 prayer areas. By mid 2005, some 92,000 mosques were run by the Ministry of Endowments, which, in reality, is the ministry of Islamic Affairs. A plan was under way to integrate 2500 additional mosques in the 2005/2006 fiscal year, involving 10,000 jobs of new imams and preachers (as government employees). The ministry builds and runs new mosques and also covers the entire running costs of privately-built mosques that become integrated under its auspices.
[Editor AWR: I remember attending a press conference in 1997 with Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq. Egypt had been plagued by extremist preaching in privately-built mosques, such preaching in Abu Qurqas playing an important role in the heinous murder of Coptic Christians inside their church. The minister then vowed to reduce this radical preaching through bringing mosques and preachers under government control].
Its vast expenses are covered partly by endowments, but largely from the general State budget (i.e. at tax-payers’ expense). Last year’s budget for building and furnishing mosques alone was LE 320 millions. To this, one must add the costs of salaries of over 400,000 employees. Showing where the government’s priorities lie, such large expenditures drain the national budget away from vital issues such as education, health the environment, etc.
[Editor AWR: We are dealing here with conflicting information. Dr. Hassan Wajieh at the Azhar University, told us some time ago that the majority of expenses are covered by endowments. Government expenditure, the size of which we don’t know, is no doubt an effort to keep religious sentiments under control]
One must not forget that the main message preached through the mosques is one about the absolute superiority of Islam over all other religions, if not an out right disdain for non-Muslims.
[Editor AWR: No doubt most Muslims believe their faith is superior to that of others, and most Christians believe that their faith is superior to that of others. Egyptian Muslims and Christians thus seem to be not different in this. There are, however, indications that Egyptian Muslims are, in general, more tolerant of Christian faith than Egyptian Christians are, in general, of Muslim faith. Please note the comparison is made between average Egyptian Muslims and average Egyptian Christians, not Christians from Western countries, nor is this a comparison of Egyptian Muslim intellectuals and Egyptian Christian intellectuals who do not differ much when it comes to tolerance of people of other faiths. There are several reasons for this difference between average Egyptian Muslims and average Egyptian Christians. First is the Muslim belief in Jesus and earlier prophets, creating a sense that Christian faith is somewhat related to Islam. On the other hand Christians do not accept that any prophet came after Jesus and thus the prophecy of Muhammad is rejected outright. Christians also often portray Islam as being anti-Christian, that doesn’t help creating a positive image of Islam among Christians. The disdain of a number of Christians for Islamic teachings can easily be seen in repeatedly recurring statements of Coptic activists or those of Western groups supporting these activists. One also hears this from Christians in Egypt, but because it is not wise to make such views public in a predominantly Muslim country, one will rarely find this in print. One way, however, of showing disdain for Muslims is by public critique of perceived Muslim behavior, the publications of al-Katība al-Tibīya are an example of this. An important point is that despite a possible greater percentage of Muslims being tolerant of Christians (greater than the percentage of Christians tolerant of Muslims) Christians nevertheless feel the behavior of Muslims who express their feelings of superiority openly more, because Muslims make up 92-94% of the Egyptian population]
4- Another simple calculation would then show that the number of Egyptian Muslims who devote their lives to religion; whether studying, teaching, preaching or attending to other supporting activities, exceeds a staggering two and half millions. There are then, when including the families of employees, some 8-10% of Egypt’s Muslims whose lives revolve around religion. It is worth noting that these hardly know anything outside Islam nor anybody but Muslims.
[Editor AWR: One would need to compare this with the number of Egyptian Christians who devote their lives to religion. The number of all Egyptians who have devoted their lives to religious studies, even though they are working in fields that have nothing to do with religion, has increased]
5- It would be difficult to estimate accurately the size of national expenditure on religious affairs, including in addition to the above-mentioned activities, those related to hajj and foreign religious missions (proselytizing) that fan the world. However it would be quite safe to say that these exceed the entire foreign financial aid that Egypt receives from the US, EU and other donors.
[Editor AWR: Is this so? I would like to see figures before coming to such conclusions]
6- Egypt’s president takes upon himself to hand out in person prizes at the annual celebrations of Qur’an studies (reciting and rote learning) to students and scholars, not only from Egypt but also from around the world. Is he mistaking himself for a Caliph? A new international prize in the domain of Islamic studies, carrying Mr. Mubarak’s name, has been established last year. More mind-boggling is the prize awarded each year to the governorate in Egypt that ‘excels in the efforts to expand the centers of Quran learning to every village and hamlet.’ This occurs at a time when there are no competitive efforts across the nation addressing such areas as illiteracy, environment, reduction of road accidents, cleanliness, attracting more investments or reducing unemployment!
[Editor AWR: Adel Guindy knows well the president does not see him as caliph. There are definitely many efforts to address illiteracy. Also other areas mentioned by Guindy are addressed, however, it could always be better. The formulations used, however, are very pejorative.]
7- The special fatwa (religious opinion) department in Egypt has issued over one million fatwas. Sadly that would indicate that rather than trusting their own intelligence and conscience, average Egyptians have come to rely heavily on someone else to regulate their daily lives, with the risk of being easily manipulated by extremists who would come under a convenient religious pretext.
8- In March 2005, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on “cooperation in the domain of dawa (preaching, proselytizing), preparation and qualification of imams to inform others of Islam and its tolerance and its stance towards modern issues; … and to the service of Qur’an and Sunnah, through publishing and translations ...” However, keeping in mind the special reputation of Wahabi Islam when it comes to ‘tolerance’ and ‘modern issues’ one should dread what is befalling the religious establishment in Egypt at present.
9- One need not look further beyond the following two examples for indications on the kind of message the religious establishment spreads:
-the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest religious authority in the county wrote recently (Al-Ahram (government-owned newspaper), 15 May 2006) [AWR: This article was actually published on May 8, not May 15, and can be found in AWR 2006, 19, art. 10]: “the believer and the Islam of a Muslim would not be complete unless he fully believes that all what Islamic Shari’a contains, as rules, manners, orders and prohibitions; is the Truth that must be followed, implemented and lived in its light.”
[Editor AWR: Yes, this is traditional teaching of Islam]
As Shari’a contains several objectionable stipulations, such as stoning, amputation, killing the ‘apostate’ and humiliating the dhimmis, it was astonishing to see the Grand Sheikh (otherwise reputed for his moderate views) make such sweeping statements.
[Editor AWR: Many Muslim scholars in Egypt reject stoning, amputation and even killing of ’apostates’ from Islam. Humiliating the dhimmis is certainly not part of modern official Islamic teaching. This way of argumentation is inciting hatred against Islam. First a statement is given that most conservative Muslims would adhere to and then an explanation is given that most Muslim scholars would reject. See also the earlier mentioned book of Clark B. Lombardi, part 1, that describes the different methods of interpreting the Shari’a in 20th century Egypt.]
The official website of the ‘Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs,” an official body of the ‘Ministry of Awqaf,’ (The Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. Article’s link is: http://www.islamiccouncil.com/non-muslims_u/Chapter3.asp) posts an article titled “ISLAM VERSUS AHL AL KITAB PAST AND PRESENT.” The author, Dr. Maryam Jameelah, tries to answer the question “How can we be certain that Islam is the only infallible Truth?” The article is concluded by emphatically stating: “Peaceful relations and mutual respect among us can only be achieved through strength. We must cease indulging in apologetics and present the Islamic message to the world honestly and forthrightly. Before we can hope to succeed with Tabligh (Proselytizing) on a large scale, we must first convert the nominal Muslims into true believers. We must establish a full-blooded Islamic state where the precepts translated into action. Finally, we must crush the conspiracies of Zionism, free-masonry, Orientalism and foreign missions both with the pen and with the sword. We cannot afford peace and reconciliation with the Ahl al Kitab (People of the book, Jews and Christians) until we can humble them and gain the upper hand.” So much for ‘tolerance’…
[Editor AWR: The formulation ’we must crush’ and ’cannot afford peace’ ..’until we humble them and gain the upper hand’ certainly shows no tolerance for ‘the other’. The text of Dr. Maryam Jameelah reflects anger about Western expressions of superiority over Islam, expressions such as those of Father Zakariya Butrus, the Danish cartoons etc.. One should not take texts out of context.]
The Media
We would need volumes to document the drastic role played over the past few decades by the government-owned media (which are typically mouth-pieces reflecting the government’s directives) in the process of Islamic Transformation.
[Editor AWR: This is a derogative statement about pro-government media, which are not exactly government owned, but where the editors-in-chief are nominated in such a way that the government has some control over the papers. That makes these media pro-government, but that is not the same as "typically mouth-pieces reflecting the government’s directives." Also in these pro-government media, one finds different opinions, including Islamist and anti-Islamist opinions. That is not simply carrying out directives towards more Islamization]
But one recent example says a lot. The guest on one of the regular religious programs of Cairo’s main TV channel on 9 Dec. 2005, took the opportunity to pour out his wrath on ‘secularists’ in Egypt (He is Dr Mohamed Imara. While not lonely in his endeavours, he is one of the leading stars of extremism, a regular guest on government TV shows, and the author of a weekly column in the government-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper.)
He emphasized that Islam’s tenet as ‘a state and a religion’ is one of the fundamentals without which the faith cannot be upheld. He went on to explain that the objectives of legislation in the Muslim State must be within the boundaries of defining what is licit and illicit [halal and haram] (as stipulated by the Shari’a).
[Editor AWR: Dr. Muhammad Imāra does come down on all who are seen as secularists, not willing to apply his interpretation of the Sharī’a, but there are others who do not mince their words about the ideas and beliefs of Dr. Muhammad Imāra].
Should such ideas reflect the government’s own, and coming hardly a few weeks following the ‘surprise’ success of the Muslim Brotherhood in the parliamentary elections, it would indicate that there may be, in essence, little ideological difference between the government and the Brotherhood; the main issue being ‘who’ holds the reigns of governing, and to what extent (or rather how fast) the ideology is implemented.
[Editor AWR: Dr. Muhammad Imāra would wish there was little such ideological difference between the government and the Brotherhood. His colleague Dr. Zaghloul al-Najjar once told us he believes the government is persecuting Islamists, giving in to pressure of Christians. This is not quite an indication of being close in ideology]
The Consequences
Without trying to minimize the potential catastrophic risks associated with a possible establishment of a fully Islamist regime in Egypt, it is only fair to conclude, nevertheless, that the Great Islamic Transformation, implemented (or tolerated) by the government over the past few decades has paved the way for the Brotherhood to take over the rule in a perfectly natural, even ‘democratic’ fashion.
[Editor AWR: The increased number of seats in parliament for Muslim Brotherhood members is hardly an indication of increased Islamization, since the conditions for electing members of parliament in past elections have not been similar. The outcome is perhaps more of a reflection of a greater electoral freedom alongside a still very large indifference of the electorate to vote. If in such a situation activists, which Muslim Brothers are, rally to make their supporters vote, it of course creates a slanted outcome in their favor]
As it is a well known fact that those addicted to delusional drugs usually seek ever-increasing doses to satiate their desires. The Egyptian individual who had been conditioned, through the Islamic Transformation we referred to, might, naturally turn to those who appear apt to offer more, especially if they market their delusional drugs under the banner (or rather brand-name) of ‘Islam Is the Solution,’ which happens to be the slogan of the Brotherhood.
[Editor AWR: A very derogative statement]
Indeed, if the Brotherhood won only a fifth of the Assembly’s seats, one must not forget that they had fielded candidates in no more than a third of the total constituencies. In other words, the Brotherhood is bound to sweep elections in a fully open, fair and free elections. Hamas’s recent electoral victory in Palestine is another eye-opener.
[Editor AWR: Perhaps, but perhaps not]
The Situation of the Copts
The biggest loser, indeed the real victims, of that drastic transformation and potential disaster, are undoubtedly the Copts. “I can no more support the insults and the spits on my face because I don’t wear hijab. I became strange in my own county.” These words by a young Coptic woman from Alexandria, as quoted by the correspondent of Le Figaro (17 April 2006), say much about the overall situation of Copts in Egypt. However, it represents only the tip of the iceberg of their daily sufferance in various domains.
[Editor AWR: Both Christian and non-hijāb wearing Muslim women report that they do get insulted from time to time, but in big cities and in richer areas, this is less common. We have not heard of reports of women being spat at.]
Apart from the scores of violent attacks against them over the past 35 years, Copts have been made to endure a de-facto dhimmi status (Under the dhimmitude status, the ‘People of the Book’ are allowed to keep their faith, while living under complete submission to the reign and rules of Islam, including the payment of jiziah ‘in humbleness.’ That status had been abolished de jure in 1856 by the Ottoman Empire (under European pressure), but it still prevails de facto).
[Editor AWR: The jizya still prevails de facto? That is not true]
In fact, the famous Second Article of the Constitution provides the legal basis for discriminating against and marginalizing the Copts in their own homeland.
[Editor AWR: Clark B. Lombardi comes to different conclusions in his book "State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt; The Incorporation of the Shari’a into Egyptian Constitutional Law, Brill, Leiden, 2006]
There are numerous indications pointing to that status under which the Coptic minority, numbering around ten million in a country of 74 millions, lives.
[Editor AWR: 10 Million Copts out of a population of 74 million? That is roughly 13.5% of the population, a tremendous over-estimation of the number of Coptic Christians in Egypt. The following Western studies show convincingly that the percentage of Christians is not likely to be much higher than 6%:
Denis, Eric, "Cent ans de localisation de la population chrétienne
égyptienne." Astrolabe, 2000. (Publication to be found in the library of the CEDEJ, Cairo)
Youssef Courbage, Philippe Fargues, Christians and Jews Under
Islam (Book first published in French and found in the library of the CEDEJ, Cairo, in 1998 published in English and found in the library of the American University in Cairo]
It suffices to remind ourselves of a few examples:
1- The media are not only inundated with Islamic religious material, but take little constraint to routinely ridicule Christianity and Judaism as ‘falsified’ or ‘perverted’ religions whose original
‘Books’ have been lost and/or ‘tampered with.’
[Editor AWR: The words ’inundated’ and ’routinely ridicule’ are exaggerations, but at the same time we should not deny that such language exists, but this from both Muslim and Christian sides, see our polemics report, AWR 2006, 17, art. 56]
The message propagated by mosque predicators is no less derogatory. The issue here is not about some kind of an (indecent) ‘theological’ debate; but rather that such discourse, repeated and hammered incessantly, would only turn the ordinary Muslim into a fanatic, if not a radical, rendering the harassment and violence against Copts perfectly justifiable, if not desirable ( indeed becoming a ‘ religious duty’).
On the other hand, when a few cartoons (however offensive they may have been) were published by a Danish paper, that we turned into a major international crisis ( where Egypt played a major role…), with demands to implement laws in Western countries incriminating ‘ insults’ to Islam or any of its sacred figures.
2- A presidential decree is required for every permit to build a church (which, unlike a mosque, would be paid for entirely by the faithful.) The process, dominated by the State Security apparatus, is deliberately entangled and usually takes years and years.
[Editor AWR: See the changes in presidential decrees, AWR 2006, 22, art. 58 The involvement of the State Security in allowing churches to restore or build is not transparent and there are indeed many complaints of the State Security holding up the restoration or building process]
3- Only one Copt (who was also a government minister!) was elected to the parliament among 444 members in 2005. There were only two elected in the previous elections of 2000, and none in 1995.
[Editor AWR: This is related to both the electoral system of election per district and the political apathy of many Copts. Only in few districts do Copts have the majority of the electorate, but when Dr. Muna Makram Ubayd campaigned in the last elections in a district in Shubra, Cairo, with a majority of Copts, she nevertheless lost to her Muslim opponent Muhammad Juwaylī who has represented this district for many years in parliament and has, throughout the years, addressed issues that were important for his electorate. Therefore a Muslim candidate beat a Christian candidate in a primarily Christian electoral district. The best chances are for Coptic candidates supported by the NDP, but the NDP does not have many politically-active Copts to choose from in elections because, as several Egyptian Copts reported, of Coptic political apathy]
4- The numbers of Copts accepted in military and police academies, judiciary posts and diplomatic corps and the university teaching posts are limited within a quota of 1-2%.
[Editor AWR: I have seen the claim that these functions were limited by quota only in texts of Coptic activists, but what is their source?]
There are no Copts in ‘sensitive’ sectors, such as State Security organs or the presidency. The entire local governance system is practically free from Copts! Not a single Copt occupies the post of university or faculty dean.
[Editor AWR: A few years ago I met a Copt in a prominent position with the security in Zagazig, but he did not stress his Christian identity. It seems that someone in this function must be absolutely loyal to the state first and foremost. Our board member, Prof. Dr. Mary Massoud was years ago offered the post of dean at one of the newer universities in Greater Cairo, see her comments in RNSAW 2001, 08A, comment in the US Country Report 2000 on Human Rights Practices in Egypt. The same claims have been made for years disregarding the voices of those Egyptian Christians that show reality is somewhat different, not that they are not concerned, but it is not as black-and-white as presented here].
5- The school curricula ignore the Coptic era in Egypt’s history. Courses glorifying Islam (the ‘True Religion’) and its history, while vilifying the crusaders and the Jews, are imposed on all students.
[Editor AWR: These are standard claims that have been made many years without much alteration, disregarding the studies of scholars such as Dr. Wolfram Reiss who has written several times about school curricula in AWR]
Religious (Islamic) references permeate various courses, including science. Most schools have replaced the daily flag-salute by the Islamic proclamation “Allah Akbar.”
[Editor AWR: Is this so? On what research is this conclusion based?]
6- The numerous attacks on lives, churches and the property of Copts are often conducted under the negligent, if not complacent, eyes of the security apparatus. Culprits, if caught, are seldom ‘found guilty’ by the courts. One successful ‘technique,’ often adopted by the authorities, is to declare the culprit as ‘mentally (or psychologically) unstable;’ and thus inapt to be tried. In all cases, attacks against Copts are systematically referred to as ‘sectarian conflict (or sedition),’ thus implying that
‘both sides’ are to blame.
[Editor AWR: This is a simplistic presentation of conflicts that have indeed taken place. Adel Guindy here states that the formulation ’sectarian conflict’ is incorrect since it implies that both sides are to blame. Unfortunately in most cases of conflict both sides are indeed to blame, as is obvious from the many reports describing incidents in AWR, as is also obvious from our polemics report. But numbers also play a role, when Muslims are incited against Copts, the effects are often more disastrous, with more violence and destruction than when Copts are incited against Muslims, given that 92-94% of the population is Muslim and 6-8% is Christian.]
7- Organized, and well-dissimulated, groups target young girls and women to convert them, one way or another, to Islam. The entire State system gets mobilized to facilitate the procedures of conversion, even if those concerned are minors in the eyes of the laws. On the other hand, a converting Muslim to Christianity faces despicable treatment by the authorities and would often end up having to live incognito, unless a chance to flee the county altogether becomes possible.
[Editor AWR: We have dealt with this issue repeatedly in AWR, checking many such claims. The formulation of Adel Guindy is, however, more careful than those claiming physical force, claims which we have found it to be untrue. This, however, does not mean there are no Muslim missionary groups active to bring Christians to Islam.]
8- In the case of a converting father of a Christian family to Islam, his minor children are forced to follow suit: The custody right by the mother, a well established legal principle, gets ignored in this case, as children (according to typical court rulings. A recent case at hand: On May 18, 2006, the Court of Appeals in Alexandria, upheld (in the Case #679/43) the ruling of a lower court whereby the (Coptic) defendant mother Camilla Lotfi, was ordered to give-up her twin children Andrew and Mario (aged 11 years) to their father, Medhat Ramses, the applicable law, which grants the who had converted to Islam. Ignoring custody of children below 15 years to their mother, the court decided to implement the precepts of Shari’a instead. It stated that: “Aged 11, the children can discern ... moreover, there is a danger, if left with their Christian mother, that their (Islamic) faith would be ‘spoiled’.”) are supposed to follow the ‘better (or ‘more noble’) of the two religions.’ [AWR 2006, 22, art. 7 This case prompted a fatwa from the muftī of Egypt, Dr. ‘Alī Jum‘a granting a Christian mother the right to custody of her children if the father has converted to Islam] Under current laws, if one partner in a Christian marriage changes to another denomination (say from Orthodox to Evangelical, or Catholic), the stipulations of Shari’a immediately apply to the marriage in case of any intra-marital dispute.
9- It is an obligation to declare one’s religious affiliation (amongst a short list of ‘recognized’ religions) in all official formalities , including the national identity card. Such measures make discrimination even easier to practice.
Furthermore, the ‘computer system’ of the Civil Status department quite often marks Christians as Muslims (!) Trying to correct such errors invariable proves to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, with far-reaching consequences on the lives of those concerned.
10- An administrative court recently ruled to order the Coptic Orthodox Church to remarry a divorced person. Since marriage, according to Church teachings, is a sacrament and not merely a civil partnership, such ruling (which was duly referenced to ‘constitutional principles’) simply amounts to a license to tamper with the beliefs of the Church. Naturally the same court would never dare to attempt ordering the Islamic authorities in the county to marry a Muslim woman to a non- Muslim, as such unions are prohibited by the Shari’a. Anecdotal, even if bitterly sad; another court has ruled some years ago that polygamy is permissible in Christianity.
[Editor AWR: The problem is that there is no clear distinction between civil and religious marriage in Egypt and thus the priest marrying a couple has become a civil servant registering a marriage. Religious authorities, both Muslim and Christian, reject a separation of civil and religious marriage, as is the case in Europe. If Adel Guindy really wants to advocate the separation of religion and state, which is his good right, he should advocate a better distinction between civil and religious marriage. He, however, now chooses to defend the church, also fine, but not in line with his position of separation of religion and state, and critiques the role of the administrative court.]
It is certainly sad to see that the city of Alexandria, once the capital of the Mediterranean culture, and as recent as the 1950s was a flourishing and cosmopolitan city where religions and races mixed, has become a hot point of Islamic fanaticism and repeated aggressions against Copts.
But what is especially sad about the abuse of the Copts’ citizenship and human rights is that, on the one hand, the Egyptian government still adamantly insists that there is no such a thing as a “ Coptic problem.’ . on the other hand, such abuses are all happening under the watchful eyes, with few protest or objections, of the ‘ freedom- loving ‘ nations of the world and the various international institutions which are meant to correct such wrongs.
Adel Guindy writes from France on Middle East issues.
guindya@yahoo.com.
