In 1995, the Dutch Christian organization Open Doors asked me to look into the stories of Christian girls in Egypt being kidnapped by Muslims and being forced to convert to Islam. I contacted human rights lawyer Maurice Ṣādiq, who has repeatedly defended such claims. I also contacted clergy and church workers in Cairo, Alexandria, and Upper Egypt. I have worked on this report for around one year; studying the documents of Maurice Ṣādiq, translating them, conducting interviews, and locating case studies of other conversions. I am based in Cairo, so naturally, most of the stories come from the greater Cairo region, but I also collected stories from Alexandria and Upper Egypt. It is evidently a phenomenon from Alexandria to Aswan.
The conclusion may be drawn from the information that we collected that the claim that Christian children are being kidnapped by Muslims and forced to convert is mostly exaggerated. On the other hand, the large number of minors among the converted raises other important questions. Maurice Ṣādiq automatically terms each Christian minor who converts to Islam as a case of ‘kidnap.’ But in a country where traditionally both Muslim and Christian girls marry very young, it is questionable if the term kidnap’ is the correct term to use.
In most cases, conversions from Christianity to Islam occurred in the midst of heartbreaking social circumstances, but no evidence of forced conversions to Islam could be found. The accusation by some activists who claimed that the Azhar pays for someone to convert to Islam cannot be substantiated. The collected case studies illustrate that conversions result from a variety of social difficulties, including: poverty, money offered by individual Muslims (there is no proof of this occurring at the organizational level), family problems, youth and love and a general lack of understanding the Christian faith.
This paper displays both quantitative and qualitative research. It presents statistics, social and legal issues as to why Christians convert, expanding on over 80 examples. The paper also discusses the role of the church and the Christian community as a whole.
There are multiple sources for statistics as the Ministry of Interior does not provide statistics because it does not want to draw attention to a subject which is highly sensitive in Egypt. Generally, reporting about sensitive issues like conversions need to improve. One-sided information, providing only part of the total story, creates a distorted picture in the West. This paper provides an alternative perception of the realities of conversion in Egypt rather than the distorted image often presented by politically active Christian groups in the United States.
CH: all names are available but when papers were uploaded in 2016 in the DANS-EASY database, we were requested to remove many names, locations, and other personal information concerning the individuals involved in this report. Names consequently have been censored in order to protect their privacy.
