Privatising
faith
By Khaled
Diab
I – Restoring faith in
national unity
II – Sacred unity
As much as we
may aspire to equality between all Egyptians, as long as Islam is the only
constitutionally recognised state religion and Copts cannot run for president –
nor even build churches freely (based on an archaic Ottoman-period law) – then
they will remain a little less equal, in the eyes of the law, than their Muslim
brethren. In the social sphere, as well, Copts are seeing their star falling,
as more and more Muslims look upon them with suspicion as potential ‘fifth
columnists’.
One step in
the right direction would be to level the legal playing field. I believe that the
constitution should be amended to recognise Christianity as Egypt’s second
state religion and that the trend towards exercising archaic Islamic legal
concepts, such as ‘hisbah’, should be stopped. On theological grounds, the
Quran does not set a punishment for apostasy and the days in which it was
dangerous for the nascent Islamic community are long past.
In addition,
someone who is born into a particular religion has no choice in the matter and
should be allowed to make a conscious decision as an adult. This is implicitly
recognised in the Muslim term for apostate, murtad (a rebounder). More
importantly, in the modern society we should be striving for, each individual
should have the freedom to choose whatever belief system she or he wishes to
govern their private life. If they make the wrong choice, they’ll find out
after they die.
Another
important move would be to remove a citizen’s religion from his or her identity
card and other official documentation to avoid charges of official
discrimination. In addition, it would avoid the complications of how to note
down non-standard faiths, such as the recent spat over Egypt’s 2,000-strong
Bahai community underlined.
The
Administrative Court upheld the right of Bahais to be identified as such on
their ID cards on 4 April. This ruling “sent a strong message that it is the
right of every Egyptian citizen to adopt the religion of their choice”, Hossam
Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Private Rights (EIPR), was
quoted as saying.
But not
everyone is happy with the ruling. One sheikh interviewed on TV expressed his
horror at the ruling. Although his tone was calm and measured, his words were
not. He claimed calmly that Bahais were effectively heretics, according to
Islamic belief. But because Egypt was a tolerant society, he added, they have
been left to their own devices since the 19th century. However, he
asserted his view that they have no right to be described as Bahais on official
documents and, since the default state religion is Islam, they should be
identified as Muslims.
Removing
religion from officialdom would avoid such uninvited prying into people’s
religious convictions. In addition, it would help Egypt deal with the
complexities of being a modern society, as the day is bound to come when there
will be, say, Hindus or Buddhists seeking identification papers.
ã2006
K. Diab. Unless otherwise stated, all the content on this website is the
copyright of Khaled Diab.