Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    US employment cost index 3.6% up in year to June 2025    Egypt welcomes Canada, Malta's decision to recognise Palestinian state    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Sterling set for sharpest monthly drop since 2022    Egypt, Brazil sign deal to boost pharmaceutical cooperation    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Egypt exports first high-tech potato seeds to Uzbekistan after opening market    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Bahais' struggle for recognition reveals a less tolerant face of Egypt
Published in Daily News Egypt on 24 - 06 - 2006


Associated Press
CAIRO: Tucked away in Labib Iskandar s pocket is a neatly folded slip of paper with fraying edges that tells the story of a community fighting for recognition.
It s a receipt Iskandar got when he applied for the computer-based identification card Egypt had just then begun issuing, more than five years ago.
Iskandar is a Bahai, a member of a religious community that regards a19th century Persian nobleman, Baha u llah, as its prophet; a challenge to the Muslim belief that Mohammed is the last prophet. Given the pivotal role of Islam in Egyptian life, the government will not issue an ID card to a Bahai, but only to members of the major monotheistic faiths: Islam, Christianity or Judaism.
The issue broke into the news in April when a court ruled members of Egypt s little-known Bahai community had the right to have their faith listed on official documents, sparking an outcry. The Interior Ministry quickly filed an appeal, and last month another court froze the case.
It s still a controversy, however. Some Muslim clerics openly declare the Bahai faith is a heresy, and civil rights advocates complain this heavy-handed approach threatens to set off clashes like those that erupted recently between Muslims and minority Christians in the northern city of Alexandria.
While the dispute directly affects only the country s Bahais, perhaps 2,000 of the 72 million Egyptians, it provides a glimpse into how a once cosmopolitan society has sunk into a culture where fanaticism outweighs theoretical protections of religious freedom.
Before, everything was simpler and everyone knew I was a Bahai and had no problem with that, says Iskandar, a 59-year-old engineering professor. There were no biases. Fanaticism started to surface only now.
The family, whose suit led to the court ruling on the Bahai faith, has refused to speak with reporters. But the Bahais experience in Egypt can be seen through Iskandar and his family.
His birth certificate and original government ID card list him as a Bahai. His sons have similar birth certificates. But when his oldest son, Ragi, 24, applied for his ID card, officials would only agree to draw a line, to indicate a blank, in the religion section.
Later, when 19-year-old Hady applied for an ID, he was told he must identify himself as a follower of one of the three officially recognized religions and never got his papers, Iskandar said.
We worry sick about them when they stay out late, especially the youngest son, since he has no ID, which could land him in trouble, says Iskandar. Because they re young, they get upset and may say let s leave Egypt. This is an option the elder Iskandar rejects.
I am an Egyptian. I was born in Egypt ... and I won t leave Egypt, he said.
The elder Iskandar was allowed to apply for the new computerized ID but never got one. His two sons applications for the new documents were not even accepted. At the end of the year, Egypt will not recognize the old, paper IDs, replacing them with the computerized ones.
Iskandar recalled attending Bahai activities until a 1960 presidential decree dissolved Bahai assemblies. Last October, he said, his sister died and the family couldn t obtain a death certificate because of her faith.
They don t want to recognize the Bahai faith. Fine, no problem, but as an Egyptian citizen: is it my right or not to have a birth certificate and an ID card? he says.
Why do you want me to change my religion? Why do you want me to be a hypocrite? I refuse to lie.
Abdel Moeti Bayoumi, a Muslim scholar, said the Bahais' demand for recognition on official documents would cement a sectarian system that could fracture the country.
Believe in whatever you want to believe in, you and your children, as long as you do so at home behind closed doors, he says. Do not undermine the public order. Bayoumi is a member of the Al-Azhar Center of Islamic Research, a leading institution of Sunni Muslim learning.
Like many Muslim scholars, he believes Bahaism is a splinter of Islam and not a religion in its own right. He said the Bahais beliefs and practices, including considering Baha u llah as a prophet, offend Muslims.
He added Bahais were lucky the Interior Ministry appealed the April verdict because otherwise extremists could have attacked them.
A statement from Al-Azhar urged Egypt to firmly stand against this group which hurts the religion of God. It urged the government to outlaw the Bahai faith, and another statement from Al-Azhar s research center, playing on the region s anti-Israeli sentiments, argued that Bahaism serves the interests of Zionism.
Bahais say their holy sites in Israel are used to discredit their community. Baha u llah died in 1892 in Akko in what was then the Ottoman Empire and is now in Israel. The international headquarters for the world s five million Bahais are in Haifa, Israel, and they have other holy places in Turkey and Iran.
Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which has monitored the Bahais case, said Egyptians ignorance of the faith has fueled a smear campaign.
It is another manifestation of the narrow and heavy-handed approach with which the Interior Ministry tackles religious affairs. There are strong similarities between these events and the clashes in Alexandria in terms of lack of tolerance, he says, referring to clashes between Muslims and Christians that left two people dead and 40 wounded in April.
Political sociologist Hoda Zakareya said Egypt - which until the 1950s was home to significant numbers of Jews, Armenians, Greeks and other foreigners - has grown less tolerant.
The religious rhetoric in the mosque and the church has become harsher and more conservative, says Zakareya, who is against listing religions on IDs at all. People don t feel secure and don t feel that the future is safe. When people are insecure they ... seek refuge in their religious identities as a Muslim or a Christian.
She said the growing influence of Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which aim to galvanize people through religion, not nationalism, contributed to the change. The brotherhood said it would reconstruct the fractured collective conscience on religious basis. But people are dividing, not uniting, around Islam.
Iskandar said many Egyptians were dangerously mixing the religious and secular.
Everyone is acting as if they were God s envoy to the world, labeling people believers and nonbelievers. This is not our job, he says. If you think we are nonbelievers, leave it for God to punish us.


Clic here to read the story from its source.