A Salafi Speaks in Church on Shenouda
The evening was supposed to be about Fatima Naout and Pope Shenouda. It turned out to be so much more. That it included Fatima Naout is semi-exceptional in itself. St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Maadi invited her to be the keynote presenter for a memorial service for Pope Shenouda. Naout is a Muslim. Yet [...]
Sorry America, But You Have to Play “Enemy” For a While
It was 1954. Gamal Abdul Nasser had just managed to get rid of his predecessor General Mohamed Naguib and put him under house arrest. He also went ahead and banned every aspect of democracy we had before the military coup of 1952. Parliament, parties, elections and free media were all abolished when Nasser became sure [...]
Interview with a Presidential Candidate, Summarized
Dr. Abdel Munim Abul Futuh is a frontrunning candidate in the Egyptian presidential elections. He has been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Council for twenty-five years, but now finds himself officially outside the organization as a result of his desire to run for the presidency. The Brotherhood has stated it will not field [...]
Church, State, and Revolution in Egypt
Many Christians in America are keen on emphasizing that the ‘separation of church and state’ is found nowhere in the constitution. Rather, they state, it was from the personal letters of Thomas Jefferson – his guiding opinion, of course, but never adopted in America’s founding documents. This is true. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion [...]
Christmas with the Brotherhood
Following two years of bloody winter holidays, and following also resounding Islamic success in elections, the Muslim Brotherhood coordinated with security forces – and probably Orthodox Church leadership – to stand watch outside church buildings throughout Egypt. I was able to visit one installation in Helwan, to the south of Cairo. After moving from church [...]
The History of Salafism in Egypt
The title of this post requires far more than this excerpt, but Project Syndicate gives a very useful article on Egyptian Salafism: Al-Nour is one of two Egyptian Salafi groups that were organized and centralized decades ago, the other being the relatively apolitical Ansar al-Sunnah (Supporters of the Sunnah). The roots of the organization go [...]
Gamal Abdel Nasser on the “Veil”
Very interesting footage of Nasser discussing his opinion on the “hijab” — the veil. In this footage, mid sixties, Nasser relays a discussion he had, earlier on, with a representative of the MB (Islamists). The rep told Nasser that he must enforce the hijab on all women. Nasser told him…
Christianity in Ebiar Village, Tanta
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview Bishop Boula of the Coptic Orthodox diocese of Tanta. While we discussed several subjects, the timely publication stemming from our meeting concerned how local Christians are preparing for parliamentary elections, under the guidance of the church. Click here to review if you missed it earlier. [...]
Disappointment with the Brotherhood
The morning of elections, I marveled at the political acumen of the Muslim Brotherhood. By afternoon, I was disappointed. At polling stations across Egypt the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party volunteers manned tables equipped with laptop computers and logged into the voter registration system to assist confused citizens where their vote must be cast. The [...]
Recent Comments