WATANI International
30 October 2011
The Maspero massacre of the Copts comes as the natural outcome of a great many faulty conditions and concepts in the Egyptian community. A writer and intellectual asks:
Is it any surprise?
The details of the heinous Maspero attack against the Copts have been fully covered by the media, so I would prefer not to go through the events but to focus instead on the core of the problem. Analgesics never cure cancer; rather, they allow it to grow more vicious.
With this in mind, it is impossible to see the 9 October ‘Bloody Sunday’ in isolation from Aswan governor Mustafa al-Sayed’s statement that “Copts [Christians is the right term to use, because all Egyptians are Copts] violated the law and the village Muslims remedied the violation.”
If the Christians did make a violation, where was the rule of law? I wonder why the powers-that-be did not hold him accountable for allowing some people to grab the role of the State. Indeed, the governor’s attitude takes us to the bad old days before the advent of civilisation.
Is it possible to see the latest horrific events in isolation from the rampant sectarian tension between Muslims and Christians? Is it possible for anybody with a semblance of reason to deny that Christians do not enjoy full citizenship rights, including building places of worship? Why does the hegemonic culture ignore the role of Islamic groups in agitating against the erection of churches?
No citizenship rights for non-Muslims
I well remember the fatwa (legal opinion issued by Muslims scholars) on church building that a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) Guidance Bureau issued a few years ago. “In case of new towns in lands with Muslim majority—in Egypt that would be towns such as 6 October or Helwan—building churches is not acceptable. When it comes to the towns Muslims invaded through use of force, such as Alexandria, it is not permitted to build churches there; some scholars said the existing churches there should be razed altogether. In areas that had been peacefully invaded, churches could be kept intact, but building new churches and restoring already existing ones is not allowed.”
Mohamed Habib, the former MB’s deputy General-Guide, wrote: “We, the MB, reject any kind of constitution that is based upon secular principles. Hence, Copts are not allowed to form their own political entities in this country. When the MB takes over the reins of power, it will substitute an Islamic constitution for the present one. According to the new constitution, non-Muslims will not occupy leading posts in the State or the armed forces. It should be indicated that these rights will be confined to Muslims.”
A book published in London in 1984 entitled Namuzag al-Dostour Al-Islami (An Islamic Constitution Model) said that citizenship rights should be restricted to Muslims. And al-Azhar students are taught that non-Muslims should not be allowed to benefit from the resources of Muslim states, because they are outsiders.” In light of all the above, is it any surprise that extremists in the village of al-Merinab zealously demolished and burned the church?
Exploiting children
Extremists do not mind exploiting children in their propaganda. At a recent conference convened by al-Assala (Authenticity), a Salafi party in the Cairo suburb of Matariyya, children holding banners shouted the slogan “We sacrifice our souls and blood for Islam.” In his speech, the Salafi leading figure Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud said that those who opposed the application of sharia, “do not love God, and will have no part in Paradise”.
Obviously, the children who today hear these words are tomorrow’s extremists.
Statements by leading Islamic figures and the practices of extremists are no less disastrous. MB figures welcomed the Turkish Prime Minister with slogans as bizarre as “we want the Islamic Caliphate back”, before turning their praise into condemnation when he talked about the relevance of the secularisation of State institutions.
Ahmed Abu-Baraka, the MB’s legal advisor, denied the existence of sectarian tension altogether. At a recent conference by al-Nour (the Light), the largest Salafi party, a leading party figure warned that “we are ready to provide thousands of martyrs if needs be; we are confronting a group of secularists, sons of the devil who use everything in their battle.”
Ruinous future
Could one possibly read the events of Maspero in isolation from 29 July, the ‘Friday of sharia’, when extremist groups across the spectrum gathered in Tahrir Square chanting, “The people want to apply sharia”? It is sad to admit that those fanatics managed to infiltrate people’s minds by distorting concepts of ‘secular’ and ‘liberal’. On the evening of 28 July, a daily newspaper quoted Mohamed Salah, a barber, as saying: “Yes, I will go to Tahrir tomorrow to support the implementation of sharia; do you want a secular State, in which anybody can kiss a young woman in the street?”
Others, however religious, had a different opinion. A few days after 29 July, al-Ahram quoted Asmaa’, a young face-veiled woman, as saying: “What happened on 29 July does not serve the cause of the Revolution.”
Amid such an atmosphere of fanaticism, there is a strong possibility that the dreadful events of Maspero might recur. Seculars and liberals should join forces and stand up to religious fascism. The fact that Egyptians are by and large moderate offers a strong basis for those who are sincere in their pursuit to rescue our homeland from a ruinous future.