Response To The Mufti Of Egypt (Part-2)
In the second segment of the televised interview with the Mufti of Egypt he used the following logic: "Jews recognize Moses only, Christians recognize Jesus and Moses only, and Muslims recognize Muhammad, Jesus and Moses only, therefore there are only three religions in Egypt, and there is no place for anyone to come after that and refuse to recognize any of the previous religions...Baha'is, just as Muslims, believe in all three religions and therefore should be listed as Muslims, not Baha'is."
Baha'is do recognize all previous religions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but that fact does not automatically make them Muslims as he wants to force them to become. The same applies to Muslims having recognized Christianity and Judaism does not automatically make them Christians.
Later he indicated: "Muslims had to struggle for a long time to be recognized in Austria Holland and Belgium and finally were able to obtain their full rights there, but we will never allow the Baha'is to be recognized or obtain their rights in Egypt."
It is difficult to decipher his logic or the meaning of his statement! Aren't the Egyptian Baha'is humans as well, who deserve their right to be recognized and treated equally in their own homeland?
Another blatant fabrication is when he said that "the late Mr. Hussein Bikar, a famous Egyptian Baha'i national treasure, was the only one to have had his ID card issued with Baha'i indicated on it because he bribed an official to obtain the card, and that there was a court case because of that and he was arrested for it."
Mr. Hussein Bikar is personally known to this blogger, he never obtained the ID card--let alone having his religion indicated on it. He died without an ID card and there was never a court case because of this issue nor was he put in prison because of bribing anyone for an ID card. The Mufti should be ashamed of himself for defaming an innocent soul who had served his country with absolute devotion, nobility, humility and dignity. For his contributions to the arts and culture of Egypt, and before his death, Mr. Bikar was awarded by President Mubarak the highest prize in the land in recognition of his accomplishments and his exemplary citizenship despite the fact that he was well-known to belong to a persecuted religious minority in Egypt, as was described in this post.
Incidentally, Mr. Bikar had donated the whole sum of his "Mubarak Prize" to Egypt's Children's National Cancer Fund....
The Mufti also added that "no Baha'is had ever had their religion indicated on any official documents." Wrong again.... For many years--before the current ID card crisis--several Baha'is had their correct religion entered on official documents under the specified section for religious classification; this included birth certificates, death certificates, property purchases, old (now expired) ID cards, etc....
The Mufti, considering his status in society, must ensure the accuracy of his information before making such statements on television. Anything less than that would be irresponsible.
Last week I read an interesting item in one of the Egyptian papers (Alnaba' Al-Watani - Oct. 8 pg 3) that said (roughly translated): A lawyer has presented a legal warning to Dr. Ali Jum'a the Mufti of Egypt and to Dr. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, and to Uns Al-Faqi, the Minister of Information, raising doubts about the eligibility of the Mufti to issue fatwas .... ( I hope you can upload a photocopy of the article to your blog)
ReplyDeleteBasically (and interestingly), the premise for the legal warning is that the common view that the Mufti can issue fatwas is a mistake most people make (apparently including the Mufti himself), while the reality is that the Mufti is a government employee (of a certain rank and salary) whose "fatwas" should be limited to the cases referred to him by the government which are limited to capital punishment and to things such as determining when Ramadan begins and ends. Therefore he has no authority to legislate at all, in things that have to do with daily life, as there is a special committee in the Al-Azhar in charge of that. The lawyer goes on to criticize the proliferation of the so called 'religious scholars' who 'running after the dollar and the Euro', have been issuing fatwas left and right.
Sorry I couldn't upload the article to the comment section. I hope you can.
Faisal
What is the background life of this genial looking fellow? What has led him to his present condition? I wonder what his childhood friends have said about him.
ReplyDeleteEdo River rising
Some of these people had been in the same schools and towns where they have known Baha'is.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask adult Baha'is now, they will tell you that during their childhood they were maltreated, insulted and beaten up by some of their schoolmates that were totally ignorant of the teachings of the Baha'i Faith, and who had based their understanding on what they have always heard at their homes.
These people were generally losers and some of them followed a path of hunger for power and hate towards their fellow citizens as they climbed whatever path they had chosen for themselves. They were generally quite jealous of Baha’i children because of their upright conduct, motivation to learn and academic success; so instead of competing with the Baha’i children academically, they resented them, persecuted them and beaten them up—not understanding how possible these Baha’i children could be such exemplary students in spite of their presumed "ungodliness and debasement."
A very complex psychological and sociological upbringing based on ignorance, blind hate, jealousy and disinformation. Most teachers and school principles had normally looked the other way or resorted to blaming the Baha’i students if a conflict reached their door as a formal complaint.
Accounts of specific occurrences could be told here if you wish to hear some....