When the sheikh spoke
Comments on Iraq by a sheikh from Al-Azhar provided controversial fodder for the Egyptian press.Amira Howeidy reviews the week
Click to view caption |
|
Al-Wafd's Amr Okasha depicts a doctor checking the ear of an apparent NDP official. "Strange," says the doctor. "Your hearing is fine. So why can't you hear anybody talking about political reform?"
Amr Selim in Al-Osbou' shows a little boy and his father watching news on Iraq. "What are the Arab leaders waiting for," the boy asks, to which his father replies, "their turn dear"
|
A fatwa (religious edict) issued by Sheikh Nabawi Mohamed El-Esh, a member of Al-Azhar's fatwa committee, banning any recognition of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, sparked heated debate on the legitimacy of a cleric's views on political matters on the one hand and the position of the government-appointed Al- Azhar sheikh on the other. Mohamed Said Tantawi, Al-Azhar's grand imam, fired El-Esh and denounced his fatwa following a meeting with the US Ambassador in Egypt David Welch.
The independent weekly Al-Osbou's 1 September front page devoted three stories on the issue next to a huge headline, "SHAME". Other headlines read, "A fatwa that prohibits dealing with the Iraqi council creates a storm," "Why did Al- Azhar sheikh back out after meeting with the US ambassador?!" and "Washington threatened listing Al-Azhar as a 'terrorist organisation' if it did not reverse its position." Three inside stories denounced Tantawi's position and accused him of "giving the US occupation of Iraq religious legitimacy". The 31 August issue of the Nasserist Party's mouthpiece Al- Arabi carried a headline reflecting the same sentiments, "The US ambassador demands liquidating Al-Azhar's fatwa committee." The paper's third page was devoted to the issue with special focus on a survey of the opinions of prominent Islamic scholars, all of whom supported El- Esh's fatwa. The survey was titled "Islamic scholars: the fatwa is legitimate and members of the Iraqi Governing Council are a pack of occupation lackeys."
A column by Al-Arabi's editor Abdallah El-Senawi said that "Tantawi dwarfed Al-Azhar twice in one day. First, he gave the strong impression that the American ambassador has great influence over the institution. The second time was when he said something unheard of in 1,000 years, that 'I'm the sheikh of Egypt's Al-Azhar... and no Egyptian scholar has the right to talk about the state of other countries.'"
Magdi Sarhan, managing editor of the opposition Wafd Party's mouthpiece, Al- Wafd, criticised the fatwa in the paper's 1 September issue, arguing that El-Esh "should not have passed it because it will be viewed as one being issued by a religious Sunni institution against a council with a majority of Shi'ite members..."
Ironically, in its 31 August issue, the national weekly October magazine hosted a roundtable discussion featuring President Hosni Mubarak's political adviser Osama El-Baz who opposed the notion of recognising the Iraqi governing council. "On what basis are we supposed to recognise it when it's not a government? It's a transitional council that is not in need of recognition." Asked if the council will be represented in the Arab League, El-Baz asked in response, "does it have sovereignty? Does it represent an independent entity? Was it elected by the Iraqi people?" Despite all this, he said, "we deal with the council from a practical viewpoint. We cannot say we're against it."
Iraqi Shi'ite leader Baqir Al-Hakim's assassination on 29 August made headlines in all the Egyptian publications the following day and throughout the week. "The ghost of civil war threatens Iraq," read a headline in Al-Wafd's 30 August issue. An exclusive interview by Al- Ahram's correspondents in Iraq with Al- Hakim a day before he died quotes the ayatollah as saying "there are circles that are working on creating Shi'ite-Shi'ite and Arab-Arab strife." Al-Akhbar's front page 30 August issue splashed the last pictures taken of Al-Hakim before his assassination under the headline "Massacre in Al-Najaf, the death of Shi'ite leader Baqir Al-Hakim".
Al-Ahram's 31 August editorial squarely placed the blame on the occupation of Iraq in unusually blunt terms. The massive demonstrations in Iraq following "this criminal act reflected consensus over the responsibility of the occupation forces in its attempts to ignite Shi'ite- Shi'ite and Sunni-Shi'ite strife which fall under the rubric of 'divide-and-rule', historically adopted by occupation forces." The editorial went on, "The strange thing is that the occupation forces, which stand as the primary beneficiary from this operation, have thrown the blame on Islamic terrorists in a propaganda [campaign] aimed at causing more harm to Muslims, internationally."
In the same issue, columnist Salah Montasser concluded that "there is a well- known rule: when a ruler fails internally he resorts to a sensational issue to divert the attention of citizens from the crux of the matter. Should one interpret what happened in Iraq as an implementation of this rule?"
The debate on liberalism and democracy which began with an article by Al-Ahram journalist Reda Helal before his disappearance almost one month ago, took up considerable space in columns this week. "Why are the drums beating?" asked the headline of Abdel-Moneim Said's article in Al-Ahram's 25 August issue. Said's column came in response to two articles published the week before by Al-Ahram's Fahmy Howeidy and Salaheddin Hafez. Both warned of American "infiltration" of the Arab media and of Arab minds. "When two columnists in Al-Ahram, who are considered heavyweights in the political and intellectual arenas, take up the same topic on two consecutive days, it must mean we're facing a very serious issue... And when the two writers refer to a 'reshaping of the Arab conscience' and 'changing thoughts and minds', then Egypt and the rest of the Arab world are undoubtedly facing serious threats to their national security," Said said. Said, who is director of the Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said that while he found Howeidy and Hafez's concerns justified he argued that they did not offer a way out. Instead they focussed on two "important" points: "that what is presented as expressing the American perspective is in fact an attempt to improve America's image, and secondly that there is a fifth column in the Arab world, a Trojan horse, or what Howeidy calls 'the party of America' and what Hafez refers to as 'the Americanised Arabs' who are striving for the same objective."
Said, who is viewed as a liberal, took issue with this categorisation which he found "unprofessional".
"It is not proper when dealing with national security issues... to talk vaguely about 'America's party' and the 'Americanised Arabs' without identifying the characteristics or, more specifically, the names of those who fall under this category. Do those who disagree with the Islamist or nationalist movements, and view them as the cause of much of the misfortune that befell the nation, fall under this category? Or are there other criteria?... one should not make accusations without proof, otherwise people might be subject to abduction and murder by those who are protective of national interests. Moreover, thought will be sabotaged by a sick state of terrorism and blackmail, and when that happens, general freedoms, journalistic and otherwise, will be lost. But then, the intentions of the two honourable writers could not -- God forbid -- be harmful to their fellow colleagues."
For those following the news of the disappearance of Al-Ahram journalist Reda Helal Al-Akhbar devoted a full page in its 30 August issue headlined, "The secret of Helal's disappearance". Along with the story, the national newspaper carried photos from the journalist's family album. Although the article added little that was new to the hitherto unresolved mystery, it included excerpts of transcripts of Helal's answering machine messages. The messages were mostly from women, one of whom was reminding him of the party she was throwing in honour of the American ambassador. The weekly independent Sawt Al-Umma's 1 September issue published an article called "The blood of Reda Helal" which criticised the Press Syndicate for the "nonchalance" of its council with regards to the Al-Ahram journalist's dissappearance. The article attributed this to the bias of the "Islamist- nationalist alliance" on the council. "Reda Helal was their intellectual rival," it said.
Al-Osbou's 1 September issue ran a story, "the mystery of Helal continues."
The report described the hunt for the missing journalist as "unheard of in Egypt, at least in a long time".
The government's economic policy continued to be severely criticised in almost all of the Egyptian papers this week. Al-Osbou's Monday 1 September headlines read "Ebeid's government raises the white flag over the rise in prices," and "Warnings of a shortage of basic commodities in Ramadan".
The weekly Al-Ahali, mouthpiece of the left-wing Tagammu Party, on 27 August titled the lead story by the party's Secretary-General Refaat El-Said, "An open letter to Atef Ebeid's government, resign or be fired". "Prices of basic commodities (flour, sugar, oil and all the essentials of this nation's poor) continue to rise at mad rates every day while the government is happy and content as if nothing has happened... The cause of this situation is corruption, bad choices and the government's extraordinary ability to lie and ignore reality... You know what losing control of the increase in prices could mean and how it will make the rise of prices in January 1977 [when violent massive bread riots rocked the country] seem petty in comparison...? It is not possible for people to remain silent while they see luxury, conspicuous wealth and even more conspicuous corruption."
A large photo of the new baladi bread was splashed across Al-Wafd's 31 August front page with the caption, "smaller than the palm of the hand for 10 piastres!" The paper's headline read "Experts: the government is responsible for the economic failure and collapse of projects."
An interview with Ebeid in the state- owned Al-Gomhouria's 30 August issue quoted the prime minister as saying, "The government is not the reason for the rise in prices... We will never succumb to pressure to increase the price of medicine."
Al-Ahram: http://www.ahram.org.eg
Al-Wafd: http://www.alwafd.org
Al-Arabi: http://www.al-araby.com
Al-Osbou': http://www.elosboa.com
Al-Ahali: http://www.alahali.com
