Soapbox:

Selective memory

By Ammar Ali Hassan

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It used to be that Al-Azhar or the Muslim Brotherhood would clamour for books to be burned and banned. The shoe is now on the other foot. The Coptic Church is furious at Youssef Zeidan's novel, Azazel. So here we go again, another example of religion butting heads with art. Zeidan's novel was deemed unacceptable because it depicts the period of Christian persecution of Egyptian polytheists.

Muslim novelists are known to write about the persecution of Christians following the Arab conquest of Egypt -- Salwa Bakr's novel, Al-Bashmuri, is but a recent example. Thankfully, Al-Azhar, which often criticises works it deems as offensive to Muslim sensibilities, let that one go.

Now the church seems to be hardening its position on artistic creativity. It all started with the film Baheb Al-Sima (I Love Cinema). The church was up in arms over the film although it was written and produced by Christians. Interestingly enough, the church had been asking for more representation of Christians in Egyptian drama, something that finally began to happen in the past few years.

There is no lack of historic evidence of the persecution of polytheists by Egyptian converts to Christianity. The latter are known to have demolished ancient temples and killed some of the religious and intellectual figures of their time, including the Alexandrine philosopher Hypatia. The church doesn't want any of this remembered.

Perhaps it is safer to dispense of history until things calm down. Perhaps there is little point in Christians dwelling upon their persecution following the advent of Islam or in Muslims mulling over what early Christians have done. Perhaps we should play it safe and remember history selectively.

This week's Soapbox speaker is a political analyst.