Religious edicts, enraged Ahli fans, the black cloud and an ailing pope paint a rather grim picture, observe Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed All things are not bright and beautiful this week, the pundits concurred. The most worrying of all was the fast worsening pollution of Cairo and the dreaded black cloud that hangs ominously over the city. It was in this context that a curious fatwa, or religious edict, issued by the Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa, solicited much attention. The mufti came under fire from the commentators. Distinguished columnist Salama Ahmed Salama writing in the daily Al-Ahram about the controversial issuing of two fatwas by the mufti prohibiting the burning of rice straw and the illegal immigration to European countries was concise and to the point. The mufti angered many when he declared that the Egyptians seeking job opportunities who drowned near Italian shores were not martyrs. Salama's criticism was poignant. "Such fatwas render the victim guilty and acquit government bodies and society of short-sighted and dysfunctional policies both in the case of burning rice straw and in the provision of jobs and training opportunities needed in job markets for the hundreds of young people who escape abroad," argued Salama. He pointed an accusing finger at the real culprit, whom he identified as the government. "Such fatwas serve apologetic [governmental] policies and they are a curious mix of religion and politics. Such fatwas are like those that prohibited boycotting elections, organised demonstrations and many similar ones. It seems that the civil state which they talk about these days is not purely civil, since religion could be used in it with a certain degree." In much the same vein, Galal Amin writing in the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom about the fatwa issued by the mufti about the Egyptians who drowned near Italy lamented the state of joblessness of the country's youth. "Why does the mufti throw his weight behind a government that deprived these destitute people of job opportunities which forced them to risk their lives to get what they cannot find in Egypt? Why this emphasis [by the mufti] that entering Italy is an illegal or illegitimate act? Is he the mufti of Egypt or Italy?" Amin remarked sardonically. "This fatwa must have delighted the government, for it did not include a single word about those responsible for the misery of these young men, while putting the whole blame on them." The inference here is that the mufti is merely a government spokesman. And again in much the same vein, the daily opposition Al-Wafd ran a provocative headline, "Scholars call for the sacking of the mufti". It quoted former head of Al-Azhar University Ahmed Omar Hashem as saying, "those who drowned near the Italian shores are considered martyrs." Clearly, the pundits reflected the public mood of sympathy with the youth who drowned trying to escape unemployment in Egypt for greener pastures in Italy. The controversial issue of a proper Muslim dress code also busied the pundits. The niqab (a loose garment that fully veils a woman's body and face and shows nothing but her eyes), in particular, came under fierce criticism. The weekly liberal magazine Rose El-Youssef ran a feature story about the phenomenon of nurses in government hospitals that wear the niqab. "A medical and civilisational scandal", the paper trumpeted. "Nurses are wearing the niqab in the Ministry of Health's hospitals", the paper lamented. Again the government came under fire for turning a blind eye to the issue. "Nurses are wearing the niqab and the Ministry of Health is unable to [do anything about them]," the paper protested. "The minister of health knows very well that these nurses are not individual cases. Rather, it is a collective trend. Most probably, his silence on this phenomenon is due to hateful social blackmailing which labels anyone that objects to such a phenomenon an enemy of Islam," the paper concluded. Meanwhile, issues of international trade and the unfair global trading system came under scrutiny by one of the country's leading commentators. Makram Mohamed Ahmed writing in Al-Ahram about the losses that African and Egyptian cotton farmers sustain because of the subsidies the American government gives to its cotton farmers was sardonic and embittered. "Unfortunately the World Trade Organisation is unable to remedy this [unfair] situation while admitting the illegality of the American position which creates a kind of monopoly. It failed in committing the United States to restrain such unjustified subsidies that harm the interests of millions of poor people in African countries, because cotton farmers pay a lot to lobby groups in Congress so that subsidies would continue to flow to a handful of American farmers. Meanwhile, African [farmers] die of hunger because of unfair and illegal competition," the writer concluded. This week, like the previous week, the proceedings of the ninth annual congress of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) came under intense scrutiny. Amr Elshoubaki writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom about the conclusion of the NDP congress did not mince his words. "The NDP congress did not differ from previous ones, for it repeated the same talk it initiated in 2002 about fake reforms achieved and what will be achieved. It considered the recent constitutional amendments 'political reform' despite the fact that it was a standstill," he concluded. The deteriorating health of Pope Shenouda III dominated headlines. The daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr on Sunday devoted a whole page to the pope's health and the question of who might succeed him if he dies. The headline read, "Doctors [are] postponing the time of the pope's leaving hospital", while the weekly opposition Al-Arabi pondered his successors: "among the seven candidates to succeed the pope are Archbishop [Beshoi] and Anba Moussa." Sports, too, preoccupied the press. The daily business newspaper Al-Alam Al-Yom reported that Ahli football club lost $2.25 million after losing in the final match of the African Champions League to Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia. The surprise defeat of Egypt's powerhouse club was the talk of the town during the past week. Violence by Egyptian fans dominated reports, a sorry state of affairs that seemed like madness.
