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Date of source: 2 May 2010
The Administrative Court has decided to suspend a lawsuit filed by Muhammad Ahmad Hijāzī, known as Bishoy Ermia Boules, to change the religion status on his identification card from “Muslim” to “Christian.”
The courts will not give a ruling on Hijāzī’s case until the Constitutional Court hands...
Date of source: 2 May 2010
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ recently-issued study on “Sectarian violence throughout two years” has been the subject of a thorough review which I presented to Watani readers in the last two editorials. I reviewed the various patterns of sectarian violence cited in the study, as well...
Date of source: 2 May 2010
In his article in al-Ahrām, Rajab al-Bannā reviews the fatwas of the late Grand Sheikh of the Azhar Dr. Muhammad Sayīd Tantāwī. He said that when Tantāwī was appointed as Mufti of the Republic in 1986, the Egyptian Association for Political Economy requested him to issue a fatwa regarding...
Date of source: 2 May 2010
The 16-year-old twins Andrew and Mario were born Christian. Their father, Medhat Ramsis, converted to Islam in 2000, back to Christianity in 2002, then again to Islam in 2005. In the meantime he divorced their mother Kamilia Lutfy who, after a bitter fight in the courts, gained custody over the...
Date of source: 5 May 2010
The State’s Administrative Court has adjourned until June 15 its session considering a lawsuit filed by Muhammad Ahmed Husayn (known as Hamām al-Kammūnī), the prime defendant in the Naj‘ Hammādī massacre, which resulted in the death of six Christians and a Muslim policeman and the injury of nine...
Date of source: 5 May 2010
Ibrāhīm al-Sa‘danī, in his article in the independent newspaper al-Maydān, pinpoints that the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) law is in dire need for radical amendments so as to conform to international agreements which Egypt has signed.
The law should emanate from full freedom of the civil...
Date of source: 6 May 2010
Expatriate Copts have launched an assembly to represent Copts in international forums, as the new parliament’s preparatory committee said in a statement on Tuesday. Work was underway, they stated, to create a legal and political legitimacy for the parliament.
Michael Munīr, a member of the...
Date of source: 27 Jul 2010
Date of source: 27 Jul 2010
Press review based on al-Shurūq al-Jadīd (July 23, 24, 25) (p. 1, 1, 4, 1); al-Misrī al-Yawm (July 23, 24, 25, 26) (pp. 1, 1, 1, 5, 5); al-Ahrām (July 25, 26) (p. 3, 1, 34); al-Ahrār (July 23, 25) (p. 1, 1); al-Ahrār (July 25) (p. 1); al-Dustūr (July 23, 24, 25) (pp. 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 4, 1); al-Wafd (...
Date of source: 27 Jul 2010
Date of source: 29 Jul 2010
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Prominent in this week’s Report are a number of issues dealing with religious freedom and tolerance in Europe and America. Recent events have sparked controversy concerning the state of Muslim-Western relations, though the issues are not limited to Islam in the West....
Date of source: 29 Jul 2010
In recent weeks there have been a number of articles translated by AWR commenting on different aspects of the educational system and curriculum within Egypt. Issues range from the teaching of religious curriculum in public schools, to the addition of Christian students to the Azhar University, to...
Date of source: 11 Apr 2010
Eddar publishing and Distribution has recently the newest book by libral writer and researcher Talaat Radwan, al-Thaqafa al-Misriya wal- Ussouliya al-Deeniya Qadl wa Baad Yulyu 1952 (Egyptian Culture and Religious Fundamentalism Befor and after July 1952). The 193-pages book, which constitutes a...
Date of source: 8 Jul 2010
The real interaction between Muslims and Christians in Egypt during the 10th century and continuing until the 14th century as Eastern Christians, solidified because of the use of the Arabic language.
Christians played a prominent role in the entrenchment of nationalism, which made sense to ...
Date of source: 4 Jul 2010
Some of the books by Father Matta al-Maskin have raised controversy and are subject to confiscation. However, there are thousands and even millions who have studied the Coptic monk's books and they are going to be the judges of these works in the annals of history.
Names:
- Dr. Waheeb Attallah (...
Date of source: 5 Jul 2010
Copts are losing in the current battle between the church and justice, as the fig leaf used to sweeten the demands of many Coptic activists to have a civil state ruled only by the law has deteriorated.
The Egyptian Church has let Copts down when it made their lives harder and precluded some of them...
Date of source: 5 Jul 2010
The delayed enactment of a law concerning adoption was due to an article in the 1998 law on this subject. In order to see light, this article must be removed, but the law never came to pass because adoption is rejected by the Sharia (Muslim law).
When a TV announcer asked Pope Shenouda whether...
Date of source: 5 Jul 2010
It is not acceptable to sum up Islam in a piece of cloth called a hijab or a niqab. Faith is something that grows in the heart and is emphasized by good deeds.
The religious obligations stressed by Islam are well-known and they do not include a dress code for women. A woman wearing the hijab should...
Date of source: 4 Jul 2010
After the Orthodox Church presided over the Middle East Council of Churches, Pope Shenouda, who was its chairman, resigned his post.
The Church has acute differences with the Evangelicals. They also have internal differences within the Church, as well as cried of rebellion growing inside the Church...
Date of source: 2 Jul 2010
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Bishouy al-Basīt, the director of the Church Chronics Center, said he was planning to issue a statement calling on the Egyptian Church to observe the teachings of the Holy Bible regarding Christian women's wearing of a hijab or headscarf.
Basīt said that there was...
Date of source: 3 Jul 2010
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Dr. Muhammad Salīm al-‘Awwā, former Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), said he declined to have his tenure renewed during the 3rd IUMS general assembly meeting, deniying that "health reasons" were behind his decision.
"I have...
Date of source: 19 May 2010
The new British government, headed by David Cameron, 43 years old, is not the first coalition government in Britain, and is not the first one to be headed by a young man. However, it is the first government in the history of Britain to appoint a Muslim Minister.
Baroness Sayeeda Husayn Warsi is...
Date of source: 7 May 2010
Q. What is the position of Islam in the West?
A. The relationship between Islam and Switzerland is an old one because the Arab conquest reached the Alpine. Some girls and women still enjoy the Arabian looks, with the dark hair and eyes.
Q. This is from a historical point of view. What about...
Date of source: 7 May 2010
Continuous attacks on Islam concerning the hijāb, which is a fard in Islam, is one of the most prominent issues attacked by the West.
Belgium has recently issued a draft law to prevent Muslim women from wearing niqāb, or anything that would hide their identity in public places like schools,...
Date of source: 10 May 2010
Just forty days after being appointed shaykh of the Azhar, shaykh Ahmad al-Tayīb made a lot of changes to the biggest religious institution in Egypt as part of his new development plan. The first meeting of the Islamic Research Academy last Thursday witnessed many disputes between a number of...
Date of source: 11 May 2010
The Grand Imām of the Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyib, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Ahmad Nazīf clarifying what was published about a phone call between al-Tayyib and Bishop Istephanus of Bibāl-Fashin and Samastā in Upper Egyptian Beni Swef.
The phone call allegedly concerned the Grand Imām’s...
Date of source: 13 May 2010
Every now and then, people seeking to arouse fitnah in Egypt look for other ways to increase such feelings between Muslims and Christians, who both form the fabric of the country. Lawyer Mamdūh Nakhlah, head of Kalimah Center for Human Rights, is helping this feeling of fitnah by asking the Azhar...
Date of source: 13 May 2010
All attempts to solve the crisis among members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan have failed, and the crisis exploded last Friday when a meeting of the Islamic Labor Party, opposite the Muslim Brotherhood, ended. The group in Jordan has been known for its unity and ability to dissolve all...
Date of source: 8 May 2010
Fāris reports on the success of contain a sectarian tension in al-Mas‘ūdī village in Upper Egyptian governorate of Asyut.
The church of the village has recently been renovated. However, when Muslims of the village heard about the intention to construct church minarets, they gathered and attacked...
Date of source: 8 May 2010
Some newspapers have written about a new document discussed among Muslim Brotherhood members concerning the improvement of relations with Copts.
The relationship of the Muslim Brotherhood with Copts has been ambiguous for many decades, ever since the emergence of the Brotherhood, which was...
Date of source: 9 May 2010
The author argues that Abū Islām Ahmad ‘Abd Allāh is following in the footsteps of the “defrocked” clergyman Zakarīyā Butrus.
‘Abd Allāh believes that his attack against Christianity is a kind of Jihād. The author criticizes Abū Islām Ahmad ‘Abd Allāh and argues that Islam does not encourage...
Date of source: 9 May 2010
Our reading of the Cairo papers this week takes us to the Islamic monthly al-Mukhtar al-Islami (Islamic Selections), the mouthpiece of al-Mukhtar al-Islami Society, a NGO registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity. This month’s issue included an article under the title “Treat captives as you...
Date of source: 10 May 2010
Author of the controversial novel ‘Azāzīl published a declaration commenting on to the complaint filed against him with the Supreme Prosecution of the State Security as to his alleged despising of Christianity. Councilor Najīb Jibrā’īl has filed a this claim.
In his declaration, Zaydān addressed...
Date of source: 12 May 2010
This article is an interview with Sāmih ‘Āshūr, a lawyer and head of the defense board of the Naj‘ Hammādī case, and Dr. Īhāb Ramzī, professor of criminal law and a member of the same defense board. This interview was conducted before the latter’s withdrawal from the defense board, due to different...
Date of source: 8 May 2010
Professor Ahmad al-Tayyib, shaykh of the Azhar, starts his article emphasizing that the Azhar is a great religious Islamic institution, and welcomes cooperation between the leaders of the Christian religion and the Muslim religious scholars, to help support the political and diplomatic efforts...
Date of source: 5 May 2010
Press review based on Al-Ahrār, May 7, 2010 (p. 9); al-Wafd, May 9, 2010 (p. 8); ‘Aqīdatī, May 11, 2010 (p. 3); al-Misrī al-Yawm, May 8, 2010 (p. 17)
Dr. Ahmad Zakī Badr, minister of education and teaching has recently issued a ruling to change the religious curricula throughout different grades...
Date of source: 11 May 2010
Marqus reflects on the educational system adopted in Egypt. He refers to the social being able to suppress public resistance. Marqus argued that usually it is public resistance that is praised and source of pride. The book represents the Roman leader Diclidianus once as a successful leader and once...
Press review based on Al-Jumhūrīyah, May 9, 2010 (p. 13); Sawt al-Ummah, May 8, 2010 (pp. 2, 9); al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, May 8, 2010 (p. 1); al-‘Arabī, May 9, 2010 (p. 9)
Egyptian businessman and leader of the ruling National Democratic Party, Ahmad ‘Iz visited Pope Shenouda III at Saint Mark’s...
Date of source: 7 May 2010
Due to the radical changes that St. Macarius Monastery has witnessed lately, Mūsá believes there is a need to re-open the issue of Coptic monasticism in an attempt to spread its message. He states that monasticism is a genuine Egyptian product, begun in this land and grown in its monastic...
Date of source: 7 May 2010
It was reported that Pope Shenouda’s weekly sermon on May 5, 2010, focused on the social problems of Copts, such as the medical examination that is conducted before marriage in governmental hospitals or laboratories. Sometimes the results are falsified, and the Pope asserted that the matter would...
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Emerging Perspectives on Intercultural and Interreligious Relations
Dialogue Across Borders is a database of summary translations of Arabic newspaper articles with references to their sources about intercultural and interreligious relations, focusing primarily but not exclusively on Muslim-Christian relations. The database also contains articles with editorial analysis and interviews on the subject.