Egypt’s Coptic Pope,
Tawadros II, wants the constitutionally guaranteed protection given to
Christians and Jews to be extended to all non-Muslims. The spiritual leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church – the largest Christian Church in Egypt – asked for this at a meeting with the former Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa.
In recent days Moussa was elected as head of a 50-member committee which has been tasked with the revision of the Charter adopted by the Islamists last December.
The meeting took place in St. Mark’s Cathedral at the end of the Feast of Nayrouz (Coptic New Year) and was an opportunity to discuss the modifications made to the Constitution, an issue Egypt’s Churches view as crucial.
The fact that this is a battle is centred on guaranteeing the protection of all minorities, was made clear by Tawadros II’s request for modifications to be made to Article 3.
Article 3 outlines the kinds of guarantees offered to Christians and Jews in a Muslim State.
The previous Article specifies that Islam is the religion of the State. Principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation.”
The Egyptian Constitution also currently states that Christians and Jews can use their own canonical principles to regulate personal issues and religious aspects of their communities. In certain areas of civil law, Islamic tradition gives the two other faiths considered “people of the Book” jurisdiction over their own communities.
But now the Coptic Pope has asked that the new Constitution not limit this principle to Christians and Jews but extend it all non-Muslims. This would be a significant step forward on the path towards full religious freedom for the other two major monotheistic religions. At the moment, tolerance towards them (required by the Qur’an) is limited.
The fact that the Egyptian Constitution approved by the Muslim Brotherhood does not recognise the status of any other non-Muslim religion other than the Christian and Jewish faiths, has been the subject of heavy criticism from international human rights associations.
In Egypt’s case, the situation of the Ba’hai community was the most concerning: the Egyptian followers of this post-Islamic religion (it has been estimated there are a few thousand of them), are having a particularly tough time. They have been persecuted since the days of president Nasser and their children cannot attend state schools.
But things aren’t too rosy for Egypt’s 3 million Shiites either. Article 219 of the December 2012 Constitution excluded them from the Islamic community which stated Sunni Islam was the only legitimate form of Islam.
This showed the Muslim Brotherhood were clearly taking sides in the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites which has been stirring the waters throughout the Middle East.
Last June, just days before Mohammed Morsi was ousted, some Shiites were accused of proselytism and lynched in Giza, leaving four people dead and dozens injured.