On Monday, April 27th, CAWU interns were able to join a delegation of Swedish theology students from Lund University for lectures and conversation hosted by the Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding and Partnership in Cairo. Professor Omaima Abou-Bakr, who teaches comparative literature at Cairo University, delivered a stimulating lecture on “Reading the Qurʾān as a Woman: Past and Present,” which discussed important examples of Muslim women resisting patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic tradition in the 19th century, recent literature in the field, the relationship between religious and secular feminism, and walked participants through interpretive approaches to several Qurʾānic passages. The group also benefitted from lectures by Emad Atef (M.Th.) on classical and contemporary Coptic Orthodox theology and Kareem Gerges (M.A.) on the history of church-state relations in Egypt. I would like to thank Professor Jakob Wiren, Professor Samuel Rubenson, and their impressive students at Lund University for helping to arrange this meaningful exchange in Cairo. 

(Professor Abou-Bakr discusses recent Arabic and English literature devoted to gender and the Islamic tradition.)

On April 22nd, the Egyptian Cabinet approved a draft version of the new Christian family law code for transmission to the Egyptian parliament for deliberation. To my knowledge, the government has not formally presented this draft to the public, but important Egyptian media sources like al-Youm al-Sabiʿ have published the draft here. In the preamble, Prime Minister Muṣṭafā Madbūlī notes that the code applies to the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Evangelical Church (which includes the Anglican-Episcopal Church and other Protestant Churches), and the Catholic Church (in its different rites). At various key points, the code differentiates the unique positions and policies of particular churches. 

The draft law comprises thirty-six pages of dense text, six primary chapters, and 153 individual articles. The first chapter, “On Marriage and Related Issues,” contains 48 articles. One of the most highly anticipated sections of the first chapter (articles 43-48) treats those circumstances which can lead to a divorce being granted by the court. Article 44 lists three grounds for divorce that appear to apply to all Christian traditions in Egypt, including the Coptic Orthodox Church: 1) adultery 2) conversion to another religion (i.e. Islam) or Christian tradition 3) sexual deviance. The article then elaborates briefly on what might be deemed an act of adultery. 

From my initial reading, it is not clear that these conditions dramatically expand the grounds for divorce for Coptic Orthodox Christians from what has been observed in recent decades. Articles 45-47 address the more numerous grounds for divorce permitted to Armenian, Syrian, and Greek Orthodox Christians, but these will be largely irrelevant to the majority Coptic Orthodox population. Article 48 discusses broader conditions that can lead to a “civil dissolution” of a marriage, but the language utilized here appears to distinguish it from a divorce. A crucial dynamic to keep in mind is that the churches of Egypt retain what appears to be an almost absolute right to grant or refuse a new or second marriage. It is not evident that the new code addresses the possibility of a state court granting a divorce or a civil dissolution while church authorities decline to authorize a new marriage. While it is possible that other parts of the code may mitigate one or more of these factors, my initial impression is that more liberal elements in the Christian community here will be disappointed by this section of the draft as it now reads. It remains to be seen whether the Egyptian Parliament will require substantial revision before ratification. Dialogue Across Borders will conduct further analysis in the coming weeks.

My sincere thanks to interns Isa Raaijmakers, an MA student at the University of Groningen, and Menna al-Moaz, a recent graduate of Menoufia University, for their translation and analysis of this code.

Matthew Anderson

Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding

Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (De Gruyter Brill)

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