Background:

In May 1996, al-Sha‘b newspaper published a highly controversial article on how Muḥammad became Michael featuring the story of a Muslim who converted to Christianity by Dr. Muḥammad ʿAbbās, a prominent Egyptian author. The article allegedly accused the Christian community in Egypt of having paid the Muslim man to convert to Christianity, although this had not been proven and was much more likely to have been merely an offensive statement. The publishing of this article triggered Cornelis Hulsman to confront the editor-in-chief of al-Sha‘b, Majdī Ḥussaīn to discuss the repercussions of publishing such an article on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt.

Side A:

Majdī Ḥussaīn argued that ʿAbbās had been a writer working for the newspaper regularly and that any prominent writer in Egypt had the right to express themselves freely through writing in his publication; Muḥammad ʿAbbās, the author of the controversial article was therefore no exception. He went on to explain that such a renowned author like him definitely earned the right to get published in al-Sha‘b newspaper where he had his personal column; Ḥussaīn further highlighted that ʿAbbās was known for his literary style in writing stories, he was not a political journalist and that is why his article should be viewed as a literary piece rather than a political story based on facts.

What was especially upsetting about the article was the fact that it featured an overly-emotional mother who stated that if she were given the opportunity, she would not hesitate to burn a church or kill a priest. Hulsman raised grave concern regarding these types of articles that were likely to incite tension and violence similar to what happened in Kafr Dimyān where the response to the building of a church was outrageously disproportionate; and Hulsman believes that this is due to feeding people with articles like the one in question.

Ḥussaīn first clarifies that he did not read the article prior to its publication and adds that if he had seen the article prior to publication, he would have discussed the content with ʿAbbās, but also argues that one should not forget the numerous articles that were published in al-Shaʿb which were written by priests and Christians contradicting ideas to Islam. This is evidence of the paper not intentionally persecuting Christians, but rather allowing multiple perceptions to be published freely in the newspaper, says Ḥussaīn. He explains what he believes to be the intention of the article and stipulates that the stories mentioned in the article about Christians giving money or gold to Muslims to influence them were not describing accounts of what happened in Egypt. He argued that both Muslim and Christian Egyptians were against those kinds of missions which came from abroad and which were in most cases against the Egyptian Church itself.

He went on to further clarify that Muslim society was never afraid from fair competition amongst religions; that it is a Muslim belief that every individual must choose their own religion freely by the will of their mind and heart. What Muslims fear however, is the penetration of secularist campaigns into Muslim lives to corrupt Islamic society and leave them with no true identity. His main point of criticism to the article rests on this premise; everyone should be free to spread their religion and convert to other religions. The main emphasis according to Ḥusaīn should be placed on the difference regarding the concept of civilization amongst Islamic society and the West; highlighting that Copts are much closer to our conception than they are to the western one.

Finally, Ḥussaīn stated that he was to clarify the position of al-Sha‘b in the then-upcoming issue, and that for future reference, articles of such nature discussing individual cases should be handled with extreme caution due to their highly-sensitive nature and potentially-catastrophic consequences.

Romana Muṣṭafā Mūsā’s Comments:

Majdī Ḥussaīn had assured there would be a clarification of the paper’s values and beliefs in the next edition which are contrary to ʿAbbās’ article. After a brief informal conversation with Hulsman, however, it was made clear to me that this never actually happened. This additional information influenced my interpretation of the interview as I realized that Ḥussaīn was merely soothing what he perceived as an “agitated foreign journalist” who could have brought undesired, negative attention to the newspaper from abroad. Hulsman further informed me that Muḥammad ʿAbbās had not actually written “a piece of literature” as Ḥussaīn had put it, but rather just a very biased report in which Christians were being persecuted and accused of bribery. It is clear that Ḥussaīn’s words were in fact a maneuver of getting rid of foreign journalists snooping around.

Hulsman further added that it is not uncommon for Christians who have converted to Islam to be reported as victims of kidnapping and forced conversions while Muslims who have converted to Christianity are often reported to have been bribed by Christians. It is all related to the phenomenon of honor and shame that is still very prevalent in Egypt today.