He was a man who brought controversial ideas to the table. Last year, he sparked a massive upheaval after arguing that the niqab – full-face covering – should be banned from Egypt. Now, the outspoken Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Mohamed Tantawi is dead (...)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd insists that he is “very, very Egyptian†– a somewhat odd assertion, coming from a man who was born and raised in the country. But this Egyptian has been out of his country for the past fifteen years, in virtual exile, (...)
“I am against classism, racism, against all kinds of discrimination, and if God is unjust I am against him too. I cannot abide by injustice.†~ Nawal el-Saadawi
Bikya recently reported on Dr. Nawal el-Saadawi’s criticism of a coalition of (...)
CAIRO: When Mohamed Rifai left Dubai earlier this year, he thought his career had hit a wall. With the Dubai economy stalling as a result of the global financial crisis, the investment banker at a medium-sized firm in the Gulf Emirate believed he (...)
There are really only a few times that Dr. Muhammad ‘Imara has made the news, and yet he is all over it. More often, he takes on the role of commentator, putting his best efforts into shaping the way that an ever-widening audience understands what (...)
Last week, when the Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi announced his intentions to formally ban the wearing of niqab in educational institutions, it was not the first time his pronouncement on female attire stirred controversy. Back at the end of (...)
There is only a limited degree of insight and understanding that foreigners may develop regarding the political, social and moral dimensions of life in Egypt, particularly if the pool of resources for learning is restricted to Western scholarship on (...)