WATANI International 10 January 2010 Robeir al-Faris Our reading in the Cairo press this month takes us to the issue of child adoption in Egypt. While sharia (Islamic legal code) prohibits adoption on several grounds not least among which is wariness about blood lines and the possibility of neo-incest, Christianity is known to hold no qualms against adoption. The weekly State-owned Rose al-Youssef last month printed an exclusive on the draft law proposed by the Egyptian Union for Human Rights (EUHR), with the explicit purpose of regulating adoption among non-Muslims. Let Christians adopt Following the notorious case in which two couples of Christian adoptive parents were charged with child trafficking last year, and are currently in prison while their case is being seen in court, the idea of the new draft law cropped up. The law is comprised of 15 articles. It prohibits the adoption of any Muslim child at peril of a penalty of a EGP20,000-fine and a three years in prison sentence. The draft law stipulates that the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood should supervise adoption procedures. Since Egyptian legislation is based on religious principles where personal status issues are concerned, head of EUHR Naguib Gabraïl said that, through the draft law, EUHR aims to stress on the right of non-Muslims to be governed by their own legislation in their personal status matters. Dr Gabraïl cited polygamy as an example. Egyptian courts, he said, permit polygamy in case of Muslims but prohibit it for Christians. By the same token, Christians should be allowed to adopt children even if Muslims are prohibited from doing so, he said. Dr Gabraïl pointed out that the grand imam of al-Azhar had praised the draft law and referred it to the Islamic Research Centre (IRC) for discussion. Mustafa al-Shaka’a, IRC member commented that Christians are free when it comes to their legislation as long as it does not conflict with Islam. But we are wary, he said, of the adoption of children of unknown parenthood, since they may very well be Muslims. Dr Shaka’a explained that it is prohibited to convert such children to Christianity under the pretext of adoption. Therefore, he said, it would be illegal to adopt children of unknown parents unless they are proved to be non-Muslim. Christmas gift This is not the first time that Islamic scholar Mohamed Emara flagrantly attacks Christianity. It is not the first time that one of his anti-Christian books is published by a State-owned publishing house funded by Coptic as well as Muslim tax money. And it is also not the first time that such a publication is released during the Christmas season. This year’s Christmas gift from Dr Emara came in the form of a book entitled Scientific Report and distributed free of charge with the monthly al-Azhar magazine which is published by the topmost institution of Sunni Islam, al-Azhar. The book was allegedly published to refute allegations against Islam which were printed in another book entitled Ready to Give an Answer and which was circulated on the market but carried no information about its publisher, no registration number, and an alias Samir Morqos as author. The daily independent al-Dostour recently printed excerpts of Dr Emara’s book. The book explicitly brands Christianity as polytheistic paganism and the Bible as a misquotation of the original. This had several Coptic organisations up in arms. They filed a report against Dr Emara to the public prosecutor who in turn referred it to the supreme State security prosecution. Al-Azhar instantly decided to withdraw both magazine and book from the market, a move which was mocked by the daily State-owned Rose al-Youssef since by that time the 35,000 copies of al-Azhar had already sold out. In an opinion piece in the daily, independent al-Masry al-Youm, Nabil Sharafeddin commented that while Dr Emara’s new book accomplishes nothing on the Islamic faith front, it furnishes persons like Fr Zakariya Boutros, a Coptic televangelist who attacks Islam, with ammunition to further open fire on Islam. The book, Mr Sharafeddin wrote, is just one of a series of Dr Emara’s attacks against Christians, futile attacks which Mr Sharafeddin gently called upon Dr Emara to put an end to, and to direct his energy and scholarship to more constructive activities. The liberal writer Salah Eissa wrote in the weekly, State-owned al-Ahram al-Arabi attacking the publication of Dr Emara’s book. Responding to Ready to Give an Answer, Mr Eissa wrote, could have been managed by directly answering to the points raised in the book or by withdrawing it from shelves, without publishing a book which derides Christianity. Banning Christmas The weekly independent Sout al-Umma recently printed a feature on a fatwa by Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy which bans the celebration of Christmas. He confirmed that the timing of celebrating Christ’s birthday is false, since according to the Qur’an the Holy Virgin ate dates after she gave birth to the Christ, and dates are a summer not a winter fruit. Fr Abdel-Messih Basseet confirmed that celebrating Christmas, regardless of timing, concerns Christians, adding that the exact date of Christ’s birth has never been determined. For its part the weekly, State-owned al-Mosawwar printed a feature mocking the attitude of banning all expressions of joy. Al-Mosawwar compared this fatwa to the one which had banned Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus, branding these fatwas as useless and “promoting dejection”.