He who believes that we have freedom of belief in Egypt is mistaken. It is true that the constitution provides an article stating that "Freedom of belief is absolute". It is also true that the freedom of practicing religious rituals and the establishing of houses of worship to the followers of Abrahamic religions is a right regulated by the law. There are, however, reservations about the text itself and about practices too. The text carries a glaring contradiction, where it mentions absolute freedom of belief while freedom of practice is only considered for monotheistic religions. This is in complete disagreement with all charters of international human rights. The first and foremost of which is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration stipulates in Article 18 that "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion". In addition to all of the above, we may like to add the United Nations General Assembly Resolution No. 36/55 of November 25th 1981, which prohibits all discrimination between humans whether in terms of religion or belief. There are dozens of other texts to be found in International law which totally proscribe any discrimination between human beings based on belief. This sort of discrimination happens in Egypt, the country of religions, publicly and openly. The "Other" is deemed "Godless" and he gets to hear this every day through loudspeakers that invade homes to stress on this difference and godlessness. Where else in the world can this happen? Curses are heaped over non-Muslims during religious speeches. Al Azhar did not even begin to approach this heavy heritage that advocates hatred of the other. A heritage that considers any non-Muslim to be Godless, although the Holy Koran clearly respects the beliefs of others, "You have your religion and I have mine", so says the Holy Koran. Religion is an essential component of Egyptian culture where calling someone a non-believer is an extremely serious offense. It is never regarded lightly. Announcing it on street corners in a strident voice is even more intimidating to all people who are not of the same religion. In many cases it also induces fear. Our customs and traditions are filled to the rim with negative notions and innuendos towards the other. These aspects need to be corrected through an education system. Ours is already worn out. Al Azhar institutes are disseminated all across the country; Egypt being the sole custodian of Islam since its onset. 35 thousand religious institutes have been built in 30 years, as if the noble Al Azhar, that has been sponsoring religious sciences for hundreds of years, was not enough. Egypt is in dire need of an enlightened education system willing to uphold tolerance, coexistence, and respect of all faiths whether Monotheistic or not. More than half the world population follows non-heavenly religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism among others, so what should our position be towards them? Do we respect their religions in a direct clear way, and confirm this in all our education curriculums? Or should we rather leave teachers to work their own haphazard way, leading us into the unknown? Should we leave Egypt to suffer under a culture of ignorance and decadence that incites violence? I would like to tell you a short story: I have a relative who lived in the west for quite some time and married a British lady who gave him children. His daughter came to live in Egypt as a foreigner who knows nothing about the Arabic language. She got married to a young Egyptian who had limited education. I met her in a social event and was surprised to see this British lady, from Southern England, wearing the Hijab (veil). Her husband forbade her to shake hands with men. He also refused to shake hands with female relatives. After a while he started issuing religious fatwas and eventually became a Mufti, repeating information that some fanatic sheiks have overstuffed his head with. Extremism starts in mosques and prospers easily in the absence of a solid education system, at a time when it is most needed in Egypt. What Egypt needs right now is a modern education that is open to the rest of the world. India, the country of many religions is achieving amazing development through the advancement of sciences. China is also attaining great success. Some Latin American countries are on their way to progress. As for us, we are leaving scientific endeavors to a bunch of uninformed individuals who are leading us to a future of more ignorance!
