Christians: Copts frightened by rise of political Islam By Borzou Daragahi Christians made the first crack in Egypt’s wall of fear. It was at an early January memorial service for those killed in the horrific New Year’s Eve bombing at a church in Alexandria, a low point in the country’s confessional history. The priest leading the televised ceremony began thanking dignitaries in attendance. When he began thanking President Hosni Mubarak for sending an envoy, the mostly Christian worshippers in the pews began to chant angrily. Three weeks later, the first demonstrations that would turn into the Egyptian revolution began, with Christians defying their own conservative religious leadership to join Muslims at anti-government rallies in Tahrir Square and across the country. But the blurring of the divide proved temporary. In the months since the uprising, relations between Muslims and the Christian minority appear to have taken another nosedive, with eruptions of sectarian violence becoming even more frequent than before the revolution. Christians continue to complain of harassment and discrimination. Attacks on churches have increased, including the dismantling of one near the southern city of Aswan that triggered protests in Cairo in October that left 21 people dead. But it is the rise of political Islam – especially puritanical Muslims who subscribe to a severe version of Islam called Salafism – that has contributed most to Coptic fears. Political parties appealing to Islam received 65 per cent in the first round of the voting, with the Salafist Nour party taking a quarter of the votes and about a fifth of the seats so far. Even if moderate Islamists, the military and liberals manage to rein in those with extremist positions, Christians still fear that the type of identity politics unleashed by the revolution will worsen discrimination and deepen the rift between the two communities. “I am with the revolution, and it was the right thing to do but people just need to know what is for the good of the country, and the good of the country isn’t in religion,” says Andrew Ashraf, a 21-year-old student of business. “We don’t want this country to turn out like other countries where the Muslims are separated from the Christians.” More On this story Overview Transition toward a difficult new dawn Politics Islamists set to sweep the board Stock exchange Mideast darling now in doldrums Economic overview Uncertainty and unrest scare investors Foreign relations Everything thrown into question IN New Egypt 2011 Media TV channels gripped by vested interests Muslim Brotherhood Movement puts emphasis on pursuit of social justice Labour Workers see a window of opportunity Banking Unusually liquid but profits under pressure Many Christians are terrified, wondering how their community – with roots stretching back to antiquity – will fare under the rule of Islamists, some of whom vow to impose strict religious law on the country. Some Salafis have called for Christians to pay a special tax, as prescribed by the Koran, and were behind campaigns against rural churches. The Nour party has disowned such positions, and so has the Muslim Brotherhood, now the leading political force in the country, but this has not stemmed a chorus of sectarian rhetoric from some spokesmen. Analysts say the Salafis’ political debut and their surprise electoral success has given Christians fresh incentives to withdraw from cultural and political life, further undermining the vision of the integrated democratic state that had inspired hope during the revolution. “I used to think that the Salafis are sort of Sufis, peaceful dedicated Muslims who called for reviving the old days of Islam religiously,” says Youssef Sidhom, editor-in-chief of the Coptic weekly, Watani. “But when after the revolution they stunned everybody. They say, ‘We don’t believe in the state. We only believe in Islam. No laws – only the penal code of Islam’,” he says. “We thought these were newcomers that sooner or later would integrate themselves under the Muslim Brotherhood. But they kept striking upon the Copts, time after time.” The vast majority of Egypt’s Copts are not wealthy or foreign passport holders, though, as in the rest of the Middle East, they tend to be better educated and perhaps slightly better off than Muslims, who constitute 90 per cent of the population. They will be forced to accommodate any changes and they will have to depend on good relations with Muslim neighbours, socially and commercially, in order to stay in Egypt. “We’re hopeful,” says Maryam Gergis, who works with Muslim colleagues at a series of shops near the ancient Christian heart of the capital called Old Cairo. “There’s law in this country. For now, the country is under the law.” What scares Christians is that their identity will make them stand out from the mainstream. “We don’t care who rules, which religion they are from,” says her friend, Miri Yaqoub. “We want to have our rights equally, that they don’t force us to wear the hijab [the Islamic headscarf]. But we also don’t want to live our lives normally but feel abnormal because our necklines are too deep or get harassed because we’re wearing skirts.” Another friend, Amal Ayid, chimes in. “We don’t want to be the only ones not wearing the headscarf.” Copts’ participation in Egyptian civic life has been receding ever since Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew the monarchy and squashed Egypt’s 150-year-old European-style liberalism in 1952. They have further diminished in visibility and status since the rise of political Islam in the 1970s. Now, Christians, who have already retreated culturally and politically to their churches, wonder whether a revolution that was supposed to bolster their rights will instead make them feel like second-class citizens. “I hear the Salafis talking about justice and following Islamic law,” says Adel Iskander Abdullah, 61, a businessman in Old Cairo. “What’s our role? If they come here and establish Islamic law, there is no role for us.”
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:35:57 +0000
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