Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Tal‘at Radwān opens his article by explaining to readers that a look at the first year human rights course at Alexandria University would reveal that students are being taught that Bahā’ī marriage is not legally valid because the Bahā’ī faith is not one of the three heavenly religions.

Radwān goes on to explain that in the course’s first class, students are taught that Egyptian Christians are not citizens but Dhimmīs who deserve to pay the jizyah.

Following this, students are taught that Bahā’īs should not be allowed to practice their creed and that the Bahā’ī belief is immoral. While in the third lesson students are taught to kill people who have different religious beliefs.

Radwān bemoans the fact that the lecturer is teaching these attitudes, pointing to the tolerant attitude that previous generations of Egyptians have always had, allowing people the freedom to practice their own beliefs. Yet the lecturer at Alexandria University seems to have forgotten this part of the Egyptian psyche.

The author notes that students are more likely to pass the exam if they read and study what the lecturers have taught them, i.e. the idea that Bahā’īs are apostates and that apostates should be killed. Thus, these 19-year old students are likely to adhere to the lecturer’s view that other religions or beliefs should not have any rights and that people who convert from Islam should not be allowed to change their name or religion on their official documents.

Radwan concludes his article by leaving the reader with a number of questions to consider. Firstly, he ponders that if this is what is being taught in a subject called human rights what would be taught in a subject called illegal human rights? Where will this black hole of education in Egypt lead the country? Finally, is it possible for liberals to work to have the religious data omitted from official documents?

[Reviewer: the name of the lecturer is not mentioned in the article, one would not to check the claims of course]