Blasphemy law in Egypt
Encyclopedia
In Egypt, the law against blasphemy is one of the instruments which the government and the Sunni
majority use to victimize Egypt's minorities. The most persecuted minorities are Shia, Sufi, Christians, Bahai, and atheists. The persecution may involve surveillance, harassment, prolonged detention, mistreatment, and torture.
, the state religion
is Islam. The foundation of legislation is Sharia
. By the Constitution and the 1981 Education Act, "religious education" is compulsory in public and private schools. A "religious education" requires that all students be taught verses from the Quran. At the age of sixteen, every Egyptian must obtain an Identity Card. The card states one's religion as Muslim, Christian, or J"other". The card is necessary for most services including banking, schooling, and medical treatment.
In 1993, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the President may invoke the Emergency Law to refer any crime to an Emergency or military court. The result of the Court's ruling is that crimes regarding religious matters are often found not in the ordinary criminal courts but in other courts. Egyptian and international human rights groups assert that the primary purpose of the Emergency State Security Court and the military courts is to punish political activism and dissent, and to persecute individuals who have unorthodox beliefs or practices. In the Emergency or military courts, the accused has no right of appeal but the sentence is subject to confirmation by the President. The President may substitute his decision for a decision by an Emergency or a military court.
The "heavenly" religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sometimes, in place of, or in addition to, blasphemy, the courts hold an accused guilty of "incitement to hate Muslims," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "insulting Islam." By Articles 89 and 110 of decree law 78, all Egyptians have the right to file lawsuits against those who have transgressed an exalted right of God. In 1996 or 1998, an amendment to the law required these so-called "hisba
cases" to be initiated by the general prosecutor. Those most frequently accused of “insulting Islam” are scholars, publishers, bloggers, human rights activists, political commentators, novelists, education reformers, professors, theologians, artists, filmmakers, politicians, Muslim liberals and dissidents, members of disfavored religious groups, converts to Christianity, and members of faiths that originated after Islam.
From 1985, Al-Azhar University
's Islamic Research Council (IRC) has been an active advisor to the government on religious matters. Publishing a religious book without the IRC's approval is prohibited. The IRC has accused many writers of being blasphemous. The IRC has succeeded in having banned or censored many writings and other forms of expression. On 1 June 2004, Minister of Justice Faruq Seif al-Nasr gave clerics from Al-Azhar University
authority to confiscate books and audio and videotapes that they believe violate Islamic precepts.
Human Rights Watch
notes that the fear of being accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam has obliged writers in Egypt to censor themselves and has obliged academics to do without intellectual freedom. Find below the case of Nasr Abu Zayd
. In May 1998, Didier Monciaud, an instructor from France at the American University in Cairo
, learned through the press that his use of Maxime Rodinson’s biography Muhammad gave offense to the parents of some of his students. President Mubarak ordered that the biography be banned. The University did not renew Monciaud's contract.
In 2008, the government proposed to enact laws that would prohibit journalists from saying or doing anything that disturbed “social peace,” “national unity,” “public order,” or “public values.”
for insulting Islam.
In April 2009, an Egyptian court rescinded the publishing license of a monthly magazine Ibdaa because, in 2007, it had published a "blasphemous" poem: "On the balcony of Leila Murad" by Hilmi (or Helmi or Helmy) Salem. The court said the poem included "expressions that insulted God." Before Ibdaa was shut down, a court forced Salem to return a State Award for Achievement in the Arts. Salem had received the award for his entire body of work. The court held that "The sin that he committed ... against God and against society, challenging its traditions and religious beliefs should fail the sum total of his work, rendering him ineligible for any state honor or prize."
In October 2008, the authorities arrested a blogger, Reda Abdel Rahman, who was affiliated with a religious group: the Quranist movement. Rahman's blog called for political and religious reform in Egypt. The authorities charged Rahman with "insulting Islam." Rahman spent nearly three months in detention. He complained about being physically abused. He was released in January 2009.
In September 2008, six Christians in Port Said were arrested after local authorities raided their café because it remained open during the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan. The six were charged with resisting arrest and assaulting authorities, and were sentenced in January 2009 to three years in prison.
In February 2008, Muslims set fire to Christian-owned shops in the village of Armant in Upper Egypt after reports surfaced of a relationship between a Muslim woman and a Coptic Christian man. Security forces closed shops under a security decree and detained eight Muslims and one Copt, all of whom were subsequently released.
In December 2007, in the Upper Egypt town of Esna, a number of Muslims attacked one church and twenty-six Christian-owned shops. This incident reportedly was sparked by rumors that a Coptic Christian shop-owner lifted the veil of a Muslim woman whom he suspected of shoplifting.
In 2007, Egyptian police arrested Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat, who work for the Canada-based Middle East Christian Association, on the grounds that, in seeking to defend human rights, they had “insulted Islam.”
On 6 April 2005, Egyptian authorities arrested Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein Mohammed El-Akkad. The authorities insinuated that El-Akkad had committed blasphemy but did not specify his crime. An engineer by profession, El-Akkad became a sheikh (a Muslim religious leader) during more than twenty years as a member of a fundamentalist Islamic group: Tabligh and Da’wah. The group was active in proselytizing non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. El-Akkad has written two books, Islam: the Religion, and Islam and Terrorism. The second work, completed in 2005, argues for love, peace, and understanding in an Islamic context.
In October 2005, authorities held Abdel Kareem Nabeel Suleiman (Kareem Amer) for twelve days because of his writings about Islam and about sectarian riots in Alexandria. Al-Azhar University
expelled Amer in March 2006 after its disciplinary board found him guilty of blasphemy against Islam. Well-known for his secular views, Amer posted articles on his Internet blog about Islam and about the University. The Public Prosecutor in Alexandria summoned Amer on 7 November 2006. On 18 January 2007, Amer stood trial for "incitement to hate Muslims," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "insulting Islam." On 22 February 2007, a court sentenced Amer to four years in prison. Since that time, Amer has been in Borg Al-Arab prison and has been subject to mistreatment.
In 2005, authorities arrested Baha al-Aqqad, a recent convert to Christianity. The authorities jailed al-Aqqad, and repeatedly interrogated him about his “insults” to Islam. His lawyer was told that al-Aqqad was held on suspicion of "insulting a heavenly religion.” Al-Aqqad's detention was renewed every forty-five days until—after two years—he was released without explanation.
In 2001, an Emergency court sentenced Salaheddin Mohsen, a writer accused of blasphemy, to three years in prison with hard labor for writings deemed offensive to Islam. The court also ordered that all of Mohsen's books and publications be confiscated for containing "extremist" ideas. Mohsen's books promote secular thought.
In 2001, a female preacher Manal Manea was sentenced to three years in prison for atheism and blasphemy.
On 8 and 9 May 2000, students at Al-Azhar University
in Cairo rioted for two days over the publication in Egypt of Feast for Seaweed, a twenty-year old novel by Hayder Hayder (also Haidar Haidar or Haydar Haydar), a Syrian. Officials at the University had told the students the novel was blasphemous. On 9 May 2000, the Committee of the Supreme Council for Culture, a state-appointed committee, concluded that the novel was not blasphemous. Officials at the University reconsidered the novel but insisted it was blasphemous. On 1 July 2000, Muhammad Hasanain Haykal, a prominent journalist and a former advisor to President Nasser, declared that the furor was a farce. The turmoil subsided.
In 1992, Nasr Abu Zayd
(also Nasr Abu Zeid) submitted academic publications to a committee at Cairo University because he wanted to be promoted to the position of full professor. One member of the committee criticized the orthodoxy of Abu Zayd's devotion to Islam. The member said Abu Zayd's writings contained clear affronts to the Islamic faith. On 18 March 1993, Cairo University denied Abu Zayd a full professorship. Rabble-rousers called Abu Zayd an apostate, and threatened him. A lawyer made application to have Abu Zayd divorced from his wife on the ground that a Muslim woman cannot be married to an apostate. The group Egyptian Islamic Jihad called for the killing of Abu Zayd. The police had to protect Abu Zayd if he wanted to go anywhere. On 23 July 1995, Abu Zayd and his wife left Egypt. They settled in the Netherlands.
In December 1991, an Emergency court convicted Alaa Hamed (or Hamid) for violating Egypt's anti-blasphemy law by publishing The Void in a Man’s Mind. In 1990, Al-Azhar University had complained that the novel had atheist and pagan ideas.
The public prosecutor contended that Hamed's novel was "a serious threat to the fundamental beliefs of Egyptian society and, in particular, those connected with the person of God most Almighty and the heavenly religions, . . . representing . . . an incitement to atheism and apostasy." The court sentenced Hamed to eight years imprisonment. The court convicted Hamed's publisher, Mohamed Madbouli, and Hamed's printer, Fathi Fadel, of abetting Hamed's crime but the President or the Prime Minister set aside all the sentences. Hamed was in jail for several months as he awaited the trial. Madbouli was detained for four days before he appeared in court. Over his lifetime, Madbouli appeared in court on twenty-four matters related to his publishing of provocative books.
In 1992, Alaa Hamed published The Bed (sometimes called The Mattress). The novel features a scene in which lovers love on a prayer-rug. Al-Azhar complained of blasphemy. The public prosecutor prosecuted. An Emergency court sentenced Hamed to one year in prison. He lost his position as inspector in the Ministry of Tax Authorities. In 1997, Egypt prosecuted Hamed again for "Voyage into the Human Mind", a philosophical reflection on faith and atheism. He received a sentence of one year. On account of his poor health, Hamed petitioned the Cairo Appeal Court to suspend his sentence. The Court released him. On 5 June 2001, the public prosecutor put Hamed on trial because of his book Sadness of Frogs.
In 1990, Al-Azhar University
succeeded in having banned Farag Foda
's book To Be or Not to Be. Foda was an outspoken critic of the repression by Islamic authorities in Egypt. Those authorities orchestrated a vicious campaign of lies to discredit and ruin Foda but Foda persisted in his criticism. On 3 June 1992, a group of "scholars" at Al-Azhar issued a communiqué which accused Foda of blasphemy. Five days later, two assassins from the group al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
shot Foda dead and wounded his son and several bystanders. Al-Azhar’s Sheikh Muhammad al Ghazali had previously declared Foda an apostate, and said that Islamic law justified his killing. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
accepted responsibility for the murder. The group declared, “Al-Azhar issued the sentence and we carried out the execution.”
In 1993, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
issued a fatwa against the playwright Karim Alrawi
, citing as a reason his defence of Farag Fouda and stating that "the defence of an apostate is proof of apostasy". The fatwa was subsequently withdrawn after the intervention of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
. Six months later, Alrawi was arrested and interrogated by Egyptian State Security. He was held without charges. On his release he was told that the state censor had deemed his play City of Peace, about the sufi poet al Hallaj, blasphemous and that all his plays for the stage were denied a performance license.
In 1959, officials at Al-Azhar University
succeeded in having banned from Egypt Children of Gebelawi, a novel by Naguib Mahfouz
, an Egyptian writer. The officials said the novel was blasphemous. In 1994, Islamic extremists attacked the 82-year-old, Nobel Prize-winning Mahfouz outside his Cairo home. The attackers stabbed Mahfouz in the neck. He survived but with permanent damage to the nerves in his right arm. Mafouz's novel was not published again in Egypt until 2006, the year of Mafouz's death.
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
majority use to victimize Egypt's minorities. The most persecuted minorities are Shia, Sufi, Christians, Bahai, and atheists. The persecution may involve surveillance, harassment, prolonged detention, mistreatment, and torture.
The constitution
According to the Constitution of EgyptConstitution of Egypt
The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt was the fundamental law of Egypt. It was adopted on September 11, 1971 through a public referendum. It was later amended in 1980, 2005 and 2007. It was proclaimed to update the democratic representative system in assertion of the rule of law,...
, the state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
is Islam. The foundation of legislation is Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. By the Constitution and the 1981 Education Act, "religious education" is compulsory in public and private schools. A "religious education" requires that all students be taught verses from the Quran. At the age of sixteen, every Egyptian must obtain an Identity Card. The card states one's religion as Muslim, Christian, or J"other". The card is necessary for most services including banking, schooling, and medical treatment.
The court system
Egypt has three levels of ordinary criminal courts: the primary, the appeals court, and the Court of Cassation. Besides the ordinary criminal court, Egypt has an Emergency State Security Court to hear cases about national security, and military tribunals to conduct hearings about terrorism and national security as well as military matters.Martial law
Since 1981, Egypt has had an Emergency Law, which is renewable every two years. In May 2010, the Egyptian government extended the Emergency Law to May 2012. The Emergency Law gives authorities the power to restrict many human rights, including freedom of religion or belief as well as freedom of expression, assembly, and association. Under the Emergency Law, the security forces arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, mistreat them, and torture them.In 1993, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the President may invoke the Emergency Law to refer any crime to an Emergency or military court. The result of the Court's ruling is that crimes regarding religious matters are often found not in the ordinary criminal courts but in other courts. Egyptian and international human rights groups assert that the primary purpose of the Emergency State Security Court and the military courts is to punish political activism and dissent, and to persecute individuals who have unorthodox beliefs or practices. In the Emergency or military courts, the accused has no right of appeal but the sentence is subject to confirmation by the President. The President may substitute his decision for a decision by an Emergency or a military court.
Blasphemy law
Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law 147/2006 states the penalty for blasphemy and similar crimes:- Confinement for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years, or a fine of not less than five hundred pounds and not exceeding one thousand pounds shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes use of religion in propagating, either by words, in writing, or in any other means, extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity.
The "heavenly" religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Sometimes, in place of, or in addition to, blasphemy, the courts hold an accused guilty of "incitement to hate Muslims," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "insulting Islam." By Articles 89 and 110 of decree law 78, all Egyptians have the right to file lawsuits against those who have transgressed an exalted right of God. In 1996 or 1998, an amendment to the law required these so-called "hisba
Hisba
The concept of hisba is an Islamic practice not explicitly in the Qur'an nor in the corpus of sahih hadith. In a book review, Mohammad Umar Memon explains, "the institution of the hisba has been generally understood as one seeking to ensure correct economic and commercial practices among the...
cases" to be initiated by the general prosecutor. Those most frequently accused of “insulting Islam” are scholars, publishers, bloggers, human rights activists, political commentators, novelists, education reformers, professors, theologians, artists, filmmakers, politicians, Muslim liberals and dissidents, members of disfavored religious groups, converts to Christianity, and members of faiths that originated after Islam.
From 1985, Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
's Islamic Research Council (IRC) has been an active advisor to the government on religious matters. Publishing a religious book without the IRC's approval is prohibited. The IRC has accused many writers of being blasphemous. The IRC has succeeded in having banned or censored many writings and other forms of expression. On 1 June 2004, Minister of Justice Faruq Seif al-Nasr gave clerics from Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
authority to confiscate books and audio and videotapes that they believe violate Islamic precepts.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
notes that the fear of being accused of blasphemy or of insulting Islam has obliged writers in Egypt to censor themselves and has obliged academics to do without intellectual freedom. Find below the case of Nasr Abu Zayd
Nasr Abu Zayd
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was an Egyptian Qur'anic thinker and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his project of a humanistic Qur'anic hermeneutics.- Biography :...
. In May 1998, Didier Monciaud, an instructor from France at the American University in Cairo
American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...
, learned through the press that his use of Maxime Rodinson’s biography Muhammad gave offense to the parents of some of his students. President Mubarak ordered that the biography be banned. The University did not renew Monciaud's contract.
In 2008, the government proposed to enact laws that would prohibit journalists from saying or doing anything that disturbed “social peace,” “national unity,” “public order,” or “public values.”
Selected cases
In March 2010, the authorities arrested nine AhmadiyyaAhmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...
for insulting Islam.
In April 2009, an Egyptian court rescinded the publishing license of a monthly magazine Ibdaa because, in 2007, it had published a "blasphemous" poem: "On the balcony of Leila Murad" by Hilmi (or Helmi or Helmy) Salem. The court said the poem included "expressions that insulted God." Before Ibdaa was shut down, a court forced Salem to return a State Award for Achievement in the Arts. Salem had received the award for his entire body of work. The court held that "The sin that he committed ... against God and against society, challenging its traditions and religious beliefs should fail the sum total of his work, rendering him ineligible for any state honor or prize."
In October 2008, the authorities arrested a blogger, Reda Abdel Rahman, who was affiliated with a religious group: the Quranist movement. Rahman's blog called for political and religious reform in Egypt. The authorities charged Rahman with "insulting Islam." Rahman spent nearly three months in detention. He complained about being physically abused. He was released in January 2009.
In September 2008, six Christians in Port Said were arrested after local authorities raided their café because it remained open during the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan. The six were charged with resisting arrest and assaulting authorities, and were sentenced in January 2009 to three years in prison.
In February 2008, Muslims set fire to Christian-owned shops in the village of Armant in Upper Egypt after reports surfaced of a relationship between a Muslim woman and a Coptic Christian man. Security forces closed shops under a security decree and detained eight Muslims and one Copt, all of whom were subsequently released.
In December 2007, in the Upper Egypt town of Esna, a number of Muslims attacked one church and twenty-six Christian-owned shops. This incident reportedly was sparked by rumors that a Coptic Christian shop-owner lifted the veil of a Muslim woman whom he suspected of shoplifting.
In 2007, Egyptian police arrested Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat, who work for the Canada-based Middle East Christian Association, on the grounds that, in seeking to defend human rights, they had “insulted Islam.”
On 6 April 2005, Egyptian authorities arrested Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein Mohammed El-Akkad. The authorities insinuated that El-Akkad had committed blasphemy but did not specify his crime. An engineer by profession, El-Akkad became a sheikh (a Muslim religious leader) during more than twenty years as a member of a fundamentalist Islamic group: Tabligh and Da’wah. The group was active in proselytizing non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. El-Akkad has written two books, Islam: the Religion, and Islam and Terrorism. The second work, completed in 2005, argues for love, peace, and understanding in an Islamic context.
In October 2005, authorities held Abdel Kareem Nabeel Suleiman (Kareem Amer) for twelve days because of his writings about Islam and about sectarian riots in Alexandria. Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
expelled Amer in March 2006 after its disciplinary board found him guilty of blasphemy against Islam. Well-known for his secular views, Amer posted articles on his Internet blog about Islam and about the University. The Public Prosecutor in Alexandria summoned Amer on 7 November 2006. On 18 January 2007, Amer stood trial for "incitement to hate Muslims," "defaming the President of the Republic," and "insulting Islam." On 22 February 2007, a court sentenced Amer to four years in prison. Since that time, Amer has been in Borg Al-Arab prison and has been subject to mistreatment.
In 2005, authorities arrested Baha al-Aqqad, a recent convert to Christianity. The authorities jailed al-Aqqad, and repeatedly interrogated him about his “insults” to Islam. His lawyer was told that al-Aqqad was held on suspicion of "insulting a heavenly religion.” Al-Aqqad's detention was renewed every forty-five days until—after two years—he was released without explanation.
In 2001, an Emergency court sentenced Salaheddin Mohsen, a writer accused of blasphemy, to three years in prison with hard labor for writings deemed offensive to Islam. The court also ordered that all of Mohsen's books and publications be confiscated for containing "extremist" ideas. Mohsen's books promote secular thought.
In 2001, a female preacher Manal Manea was sentenced to three years in prison for atheism and blasphemy.
On 8 and 9 May 2000, students at Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
in Cairo rioted for two days over the publication in Egypt of Feast for Seaweed, a twenty-year old novel by Hayder Hayder (also Haidar Haidar or Haydar Haydar), a Syrian. Officials at the University had told the students the novel was blasphemous. On 9 May 2000, the Committee of the Supreme Council for Culture, a state-appointed committee, concluded that the novel was not blasphemous. Officials at the University reconsidered the novel but insisted it was blasphemous. On 1 July 2000, Muhammad Hasanain Haykal, a prominent journalist and a former advisor to President Nasser, declared that the furor was a farce. The turmoil subsided.
In 1992, Nasr Abu Zayd
Nasr Abu Zayd
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was an Egyptian Qur'anic thinker and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his project of a humanistic Qur'anic hermeneutics.- Biography :...
(also Nasr Abu Zeid) submitted academic publications to a committee at Cairo University because he wanted to be promoted to the position of full professor. One member of the committee criticized the orthodoxy of Abu Zayd's devotion to Islam. The member said Abu Zayd's writings contained clear affronts to the Islamic faith. On 18 March 1993, Cairo University denied Abu Zayd a full professorship. Rabble-rousers called Abu Zayd an apostate, and threatened him. A lawyer made application to have Abu Zayd divorced from his wife on the ground that a Muslim woman cannot be married to an apostate. The group Egyptian Islamic Jihad called for the killing of Abu Zayd. The police had to protect Abu Zayd if he wanted to go anywhere. On 23 July 1995, Abu Zayd and his wife left Egypt. They settled in the Netherlands.
In December 1991, an Emergency court convicted Alaa Hamed (or Hamid) for violating Egypt's anti-blasphemy law by publishing The Void in a Man’s Mind. In 1990, Al-Azhar University had complained that the novel had atheist and pagan ideas.
The public prosecutor contended that Hamed's novel was "a serious threat to the fundamental beliefs of Egyptian society and, in particular, those connected with the person of God most Almighty and the heavenly religions, . . . representing . . . an incitement to atheism and apostasy." The court sentenced Hamed to eight years imprisonment. The court convicted Hamed's publisher, Mohamed Madbouli, and Hamed's printer, Fathi Fadel, of abetting Hamed's crime but the President or the Prime Minister set aside all the sentences. Hamed was in jail for several months as he awaited the trial. Madbouli was detained for four days before he appeared in court. Over his lifetime, Madbouli appeared in court on twenty-four matters related to his publishing of provocative books.
In 1992, Alaa Hamed published The Bed (sometimes called The Mattress). The novel features a scene in which lovers love on a prayer-rug. Al-Azhar complained of blasphemy. The public prosecutor prosecuted. An Emergency court sentenced Hamed to one year in prison. He lost his position as inspector in the Ministry of Tax Authorities. In 1997, Egypt prosecuted Hamed again for "Voyage into the Human Mind", a philosophical reflection on faith and atheism. He received a sentence of one year. On account of his poor health, Hamed petitioned the Cairo Appeal Court to suspend his sentence. The Court released him. On 5 June 2001, the public prosecutor put Hamed on trial because of his book Sadness of Frogs.
In 1990, Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
succeeded in having banned Farag Foda
Farag Foda
Farag Foda , also Faraj Fawda, was an important Egyptian thinker, human rights activist, writer, and columnist.Based in Cairo, he was noted for his critical articles and sharp satires about Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt. In many newspaper articles, he demonstrated weak points in Islamic ideology...
's book To Be or Not to Be. Foda was an outspoken critic of the repression by Islamic authorities in Egypt. Those authorities orchestrated a vicious campaign of lies to discredit and ruin Foda but Foda persisted in his criticism. On 3 June 1992, a group of "scholars" at Al-Azhar issued a communiqué which accused Foda of blasphemy. Five days later, two assassins from the group al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is an Egyptian Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments...
shot Foda dead and wounded his son and several bystanders. Al-Azhar’s Sheikh Muhammad al Ghazali had previously declared Foda an apostate, and said that Islamic law justified his killing. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is an Egyptian Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments...
accepted responsibility for the murder. The group declared, “Al-Azhar issued the sentence and we carried out the execution.”
In 1993, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is an Egyptian Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Egyptian governments...
issued a fatwa against the playwright Karim Alrawi
Karim Alrawi
Karim Alrawi is a British/ Canadian/ Egyptian writer born in Alexandria, Egypt. His family emigrated to England then to Canada. Alrawi graduated from University College, University of London and the , England...
, citing as a reason his defence of Farag Fouda and stating that "the defence of an apostate is proof of apostasy". The fatwa was subsequently withdrawn after the intervention of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights , founded in April 1985 and with its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, is a non-profit NGO and one of the longest-standing bodies for the defense of human rights in Egypt. It investigates, monitors, and reports on human rights violations...
. Six months later, Alrawi was arrested and interrogated by Egyptian State Security. He was held without charges. On his release he was told that the state censor had deemed his play City of Peace, about the sufi poet al Hallaj, blasphemous and that all his plays for the stage were denied a performance license.
In 1959, officials at Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
succeeded in having banned from Egypt Children of Gebelawi, a novel by Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie...
, an Egyptian writer. The officials said the novel was blasphemous. In 1994, Islamic extremists attacked the 82-year-old, Nobel Prize-winning Mahfouz outside his Cairo home. The attackers stabbed Mahfouz in the neck. He survived but with permanent damage to the nerves in his right arm. Mafouz's novel was not published again in Egypt until 2006, the year of Mafouz's death.
See also
- Apostasy in IslamApostasy in IslamApostasy in Islam is commonly defined in Islam as the rejection in word or deed of one's former religion by a person who was previously a follower of Islam...
- Freedom of religion in EgyptFreedom of religion in EgyptThe Egyptian constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites, although the Government places restrictions on these rights in practice...
- Islam and blasphemyIslam and blasphemyBlasphemy in Islam is any irreverent behavior toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs that Muslims revere. The Quran and the hadith do not speak about blasphemy. Jurists created the offence, and they made it part of Sharia. Where Sharia pertains, the penalties for...
- Religion in EgyptReligion in EgyptReligion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and is endorsed by law. The 2006 census counting method did not include religion, so the number of adherents of the different religions are usually rough estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies.Egypt is predominantly Muslim,...