While Al-Azhar Supports Egypt's Court Ruling on Baha'is, Ministry of Interior Contemplates Appeal!

In a statement published in today's (31 January 2008) edition of Cairo's Rose al-Yousef newspaper, Al-Azhar, represented by its Islamic Research Council, expressed its support of the 29 January court ruling that allowed the two Baha'i litigants to be issued birth certificates and ID cards with no religious classification entered in the required section of these documents.

The statement indicated that the members of the council affirmed that the Administrative Court ruling allowing these Baha'is to leave the religion section vacant or to enter the word "other" does not violate the prior decision of the Islamic Research Council in which it did not recognize the Baha'i Faith.

The article further explains, "Member of the Council, Dr. Muhammad El-Shahaat El-Gendy, clarified that the ruling is in agreement with the decision of the Islamic Research Council because the ruling did not recognize the Baha'i Faith as a congregation, a societal, political or religious entity."

On the other hand, the article also reports that Dr. Hamed Sad'diq, a professor in the National Centre for Research [?], has filed an argument with Cairo's Administrative Court requesting the annulment of the court's verdict based on his opinion that "the Baha'i Faith is not recognized in Egypt as one of the three divine religions." He then went on with the usual falsehood and arguments being propagated by Egypt's extremists regarding their views of the Baha'i Faith. It is neither clear who this person is nor whom, exactly, he speaks for!

Another article in today's edition of Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on the verdict and that it has been welcomed and hailed by Human Rights Watch, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Baha'i International Community. It also reported that "a responsible security source from Egypt's Ministry of Interior revealed that the Ministry's section on legal affairs is studying the ruling [just] issued by the Court of Administrative Justice in preparation for [the Ministry's] appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court."