Doaa El-Bey shares the widespread sadness caused by the racist killing of an Egyptian woman in Germany The front pages covered the death of Marwa El-Sherbini, the Egyptian woman who was stabbed to death in a German court. The banner headline of the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the Wafd Party read, "Today is the funeral of the martyr in Alexandria; thousands of Muslims performed prayers for her, and her son asks 'where is mum?'" El-Sherbini was dubbed "the martyr of the hijab " in the independent daily Nahdet Masr which warned parliament against leniency in her case. The independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom read, "The prosecutor-general requested all the details of the incident from the Foreign Ministry". The official daily Al-Akhbar wrote, "An official funeral for the martyr, and the prosecutor-general monitors the investigation". El-Sherbini, 31, was stabbed 18 times by a German who is now under arrest in Dresden for suspected murder. Husband Elwi Okaz is in critical condition in hospital after being accidentally shot by a security guard in the court as he tried to save his wife. El-Sherbini had sued her killer after he called her a "terrorist" because of her headscarf. Medics were unable to save El-Sherbini who was three months pregnant with her second child. Her three-year-old son was with the family in court when she was killed. German prosecutors have said the 28-year-old attacker was driven by a deep hatred of foreigners and Muslims. Gamal Abdel-Gawad wrote in Nahdet Masr that the main lesson to be learnt from the incident is that hatred kills. He considered El-Sherbini to be the victim of hatred and fanaticism. Both feelings can show the other as a devil who deserves death. Given that the roots of hatred and fanaticism are present in every society, the sound societies are those which manage to control these negative feelings. However, "Western societies are witnessing an escalation of extremism and hatred. At present Islam and Muslims living in the West are a target," Abdel-Gawad wrote. But, hatred and fanaticism are not only in Germany but in many places including Egypt which has recently witnessed factional violence in the village of Mit Al-Korashi. The incident left one Muslim dead and sparked sporadic violence that could have led to the death of many Christians. The logic governing hatred and fanaticism, as Abdel-Gawad explained, is the same everywhere. The killer of El-Sherbini regarded her as representing all Muslims, exactly as the mob in Mit Al-Korashi considered the Christian who killed a Muslim as a representative of all Christians. The minds that are full of hatred do not regard persons as individuals but as part of a religious, ethnic or national group. He concluded by expressing his hope that the incident could be used to show the evil face of hatred rather than inciting more hatred and extremism. The official daily Al-Ahram agreed with Abdel-Gawad that El-Sherbini was the victim of hatred and added that she would not be the last victim. The editorial read that the incident raised a number of questions namely how the knife used for the killing was smuggled into the court, and whether German authorities provide enough security for foreigners. It confirmed without doubt that Islamophobia has become a phenomenon in Western societies. It was initially made up for racist purposes to make Europe a place for Christians only. However, it was later used for political purposes, as the issue of the hijab was used in France and the issue of Turkey joining the EU was objected to on the basis that the majority of its population are Muslims. The edit concluded by calling on the media to deal with the issue as permanent rather than seasonal and that it was up to local and international human right groups to confront such hate coming from the West. Al-Wafd wrote that the demands to freeze the Committee for Inter-Faith Dialogue increased after the killing of El-Sherbini by a German extremist. A number of men of letters confirmed that the committee has failed to achieve any of its objectives since it was established. "European fanaticism against Islam is on the increase. Thus any attempts to open a dialogue between Islam and the other side are unachievable," the newspaper added. A rumour concerning the dissolution of the parliament was another pressing issue this week. Al-Ahram 's editorial referred to an interview the newspaper conducted with speaker of parliament Fathi Sorour who denied the rumour. However, as Sorour added in the interview, talk about the dissolution raised two issues: who has the power to dissolve the parliament and what are the reasons for dissolving it. The president is the only person who has the authority to dissolve parliament. "As long as the president did not mention anything about change in political life, the dissolution is a rumour or mere speculation," the newspaper edit read. Nabil Rashwan commented on the fact that not a single official talked about the rumour dissolving the parliament either by denying or confirming it. During the last few weeks, many political circles, newspapers and satellite television programmes discussed the issue. Nevertheless, not one official, including Sorour, was able to answer the question of the dissolution. The evasiveness by officials is an indication to the writer that the recent constitutional amendments did not transfer part of the authority from the president to the prime minister or the parliament. It left all authority, including dissolving the parliament, promulgating laws, changing or amending the constitution, reshuffling the cabinet, drawing policies, and ratifying the budget, in the hands of parliament, Rashwan concluded in Nahdet Masr. Mohamed Amin wrote that the rumour about the dissolution was linked to the issue of succession. It is, according to him, an attempt to test the waters. However, what the observers fear most these days is that a dissolution decision would be taken suddenly and thus the opposition parties would not be ready for parliamentary elections. The presidential institutions and officials did not bother to remove any obscurity regarding the issues of dissolution or succession. Thus the two issues became mysterious and any speculation regarding any of them was mere talk to fill the newspapers, Internet sites and Facebook. Officials who initially denied dissolution and succession, like Sorour, later said the dissolution of parliament was in the hands of the president. "We all know that officials do not have any information regarding these issues. Nothing is done in Egypt without orders from the president," Amin wrote in Al-Wafd.
