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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Debate over 'sinful' entertainment
By Gamal Essam El-DinSheikh Nasr Farid Wassel, the Grand Mufti of the Republic, took parliamentarians by surprise last week when he objected to a government-sponsored draft law imposing an entrance tax on a wide range of places of entertainment. The Mufti, in a message to the culture committee of the People's Assembly, argued that the bill violated the principles of Shari'a (Islamic law) "which, according to the Constitution, is the prime source of legislation." To the surprise of many, the Mufti added that "places of entertainment and amusement, as long as they distract man from the worship of God, are prohibited by Islam and collecting taxes from them, consequently, is also prohibited."
For this reason, the Mufti objected to the imposition of the tax on such entertainment activities as car, boat and horse races, pigeon-shooting, gambling casinos and discotheques.
The Mufti's message, which was read out by his adviser, Sheikh Mohamed Habashi, also said that the bill was unclear on the types of food, beverages and services offered to the customers in such venues. "This is important because some of the food and beverages offered in these places are haram [sinful]," Habashi said.
The Mufti's message was in response to a request by Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, seeking his opinion. About a month earlier, the bill was about to be passed by the Assembly, but MP Fathi El-Baradei, of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), declared that the bill went against Islam because "betting on horses is prohibited by God." As a result, Sorour sent the bill back to the culture committee and sought the Mufti's opinion.
The Mufti's intervention left committee members divided and is expected to complicate matters when the bill comes up for a plenary debate by the Assembly next week.
Finance Minister Mohieddin El-Gharib dismissed the possibility of shutting down places of entertainment on the pretext that they are prohibited under Islamic law. He also rejected the phasing out of taxes and entrance fees on those venues.
El-Gharib argued that the abolition of entrance taxes would negatively affect the state's budgetary resources. The taxes are intended to finance water, sanitary sewage and road construction projects, he said.
According to El-Gharib, the bill does not deal with the types of entertainment activities that are being taxed. "In simple terms, the bill imposes a reasonable entrance tax on these places to provide the budget with additional financial resources," he said.
Joining forces with El-Gharib, MP Tewfik Abduh Ismail argued that entertainment venues are not prohibited by Islam. "The relationship between man and God is something personal. Moreover, the tax revenues are used to finance projects intended to improve the lives of the poor," said Ismail.
MP Mansour Abdel-Rahman said that this was the first time he had heard that places of entertainment were prohibited by Islam.
Explaining the new bill, Salah El-Taroti, chairman of the culture committee, said that a host of emergent legislative, cultural and financial factors had prompted the government to bring under one unified law all types of taxes imposed on places of entertainment, including theatres and movie houses. "One of the reasons is that the current law, passed 50 years ago, has become outdated," he said. "Another reason is that tax evasion has become rampant in this sector."
According to El-Taroti, the bill originally imposed an entrance tax of 60 per cent of the entrance fee, on theatre and movie houses and other places of entertainment. "In the preliminary debates, the committee managed to gain the government's approval for reducing the tax to 20 per cent in an attempt to save the theatre and cinema industries from their current recession," he said.
As for taxes on venues where betting occurs such as horse race courses, El-Taroti said that a 20 per cent tax is imposed "for watching the races, and not for betting on horses." But he went as far as to claim that betting on horses is not prohibited by Islam. "In fact, the Hanafi school [of Islamic jurisprudence] sanctions betting on horses because it makes an important and healthy sport thrive," El-Taroti said.
This led to a verbal clash with El-Baradei, who insisted that all schools of Islamic jurisprudence are in agreement that "betting is prohibited by Islam. Betting, therefore, should be excluded from this bill because it is shameful to pass a law that goes against God's law."
The Mufti's adviser, Habashi, agreed with El-Baradei, insisting that "all that goes against God's law and religion should be considered haram."
El-Baradei then walked out of the committee meeting in protest against El-Taroti's refusal to concede to Habashi's view.
For their part, cinema producers demanded that the entrance tax for watching Egyptian movies should be reduced from 20 to 5 per cent. "This reduction is important to revive the cinema industry and encourage businessmen to produce new films and establish new cinema theatres," said producer Hassan Ramzi.
Another producer and businessman, Mohamed Abul-Enein, suggested that the entrance tax for watching foreign movies be raised to 25 per cent. "Raising the tax on foreign movies and reducing it on Egyptian movies will automatically cause the cinema industry to thrive," he said.
