There have been efforts from within Islam to invoke law to silence all criticism of Islam-witness the persistent efforts at the UN (in various organs including UNESCO) to ban defamation of religion. In early versions, the language read "especially Islam." But whatever the merits or demerits of allowing private acceptance of religious law- see the debate in Ontario over family law a couple of years ago- it is hard to see any justification in law for singling out Islam. A challenge to that is hardly an effort at a veto of all criticism of Islam, or religion generally, which is a horse of a very different color.
Marc D. Stern Associate General Counsel 165 East 56th Street NY NY 10022 ste...@ajc.org 212.891.1480 646.287.2606 (cell) -----Original Message----- From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Douglas Laycock Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 11:56 AM To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu Subject: Why We Have Standing Rules The column below is from an online religion series edited by Martin Marty at the University of Chicago. I assume the author is a religion scholar and not a lawyer. But he has a very interesting description, short and nontechnical, of what sound like citizen suit provisions in Islamic law. I am confident that no list member who is frustrated with the lack of standing in Oklahoma is proposing anything remotely like this. But this is a reminder of the dangers of the other extreme. And maybe some hint of what CAIR was thinking when it rushed into the Oklahoma lawsuit. ----- Forwarded message from divsighti...@gmail.com ----- Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:53:42 -0600 From: Sightings <divsighti...@gmail.com> Subject: *Sightings* 11/11/2010 - Religion vs. Fiction in Egypt To: sighti...@lists.uchicago.edu *Sightings* 11/11/2010 *Religion vs. Fiction in Egypt* - M. Lynx Qualey Two years ago, a relatively unknown Egyptian professor of Arabic and Islamic studies took home the second annual International Prize for Arabic Fiction-or "Arabic Booker"-for his novel *Azazel*. It was only while in his forties that Dr. Youssef Ziedan, who has written 50-some books about Sufism, Islamic philosophy, and Arabic medicine, turned his attention to fiction. He published his second novel, *Azazel* (sometimes translated as *Beelzebub*), at the age of 50. Ziedan's prize-winning book purports to be the memoirs of a passionate fifth-century monk named Hypa, whose scrolls are unearthed by a twentieth-century translator. In writing *Azazel, *Ziedan became one of a few contemporary Egyptian novelists to tackle religion in his literary work. After all, writing about religion has had its dangers: The newspaper *Al-**Youm Al-Saba'a's *website was hacked because of their reported intention to publish Anis Deghreidi's fictional *Trials of the Prophet Muhammad **earlier this year*. Authors have had their books preemptively censored by publishers, such as Mohamed Mansi Qandil's lovely *Moon over Samarqand, *which has since been printed in full. Others have been dragged to court by fellow citizens such as author Nawal El-Saadawi. It is thus not surprising that Ziedan and *Azazel* have caused controversy. Members of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, including the outspoken Bishop Bishoy, have written extensive rebuttals to the 2008 fictional work. Coptic Christians make up most of Egypt's Christian population, the largest in the region. The word Copt once simply meant "Egyptian," and the current Copts remained Christian during Egypt's shift to Arab-Muslim rule. Exact population figures are not known, but the most commonly given figure is six to eight million Copts among a total population of 80 million Egyptians. It was late this spring when a group of Coptic Christian lawyers filed a * hesba* lawsuit against Ziedan demanding a five-year prison sentence. They claim that, in statements made during a symposium, the author defamed Christianity. A group of Islamist lawyers also filed suit, because of Ziedan's statements about religion. Such *hesba* cases, through which citizens can file suit against other citizens, have become increasingly popular in Egypt. The attorney Nabih El-Wahsh-according to a suit filed against *him*-has filed more than a thousand such cases. Most of these have reportedly been against TV producers, filmmakers, and authors. It was El-Wahsh who dragged prominent novelist Nawal El-Saadawi and her husband, Sherif Hetata, to court in 2001, seeking to divorce the couple-against their will-on the grounds that El-Saadawi had expressed views that made her an apostate. El-Wahsh filed suit against El-Saadawi a second time in 2007, seeking to have her Egyptian citizenship annulled because of her views on religion. Fortunately, these cases, like nearly all those filed by El-Wahsh, were dismissed. *Hesba* is a long-established principle in Islamic jurisprudence. *Guardian *reporter Brian Whitaker quotes Egyptian scholar Gamal El-Banna as saying * hesba* was originally "used to promote the good and criticize the bad. Every individual in an Islamic society is responsible for the actions of the society." Lately, however, *hesba* cases have been used by interest groups, often to intimidate novelists, filmmakers, and poets. One was recently brought by a group called "Lawyers without Shackles" against the editors of a new edition of *1,001 Nights. *The case has since been dismissed, as has the Islamists' case against Ziedan. The Christian lawyers' case against Ziedan, meanwhile, is still under consideration. When I recently told the author *mish mumkin *(it's not possible) that he could be sent to jail because of this case, Ziedan's publisher, Ibrahim El-Moallem, agreed. But Ziedan did not: "*Mumkin*," he said. "In Egypt, anything is possible." It is not really the contents of the book that matter but rather Ziedan's broader reputation and general outspokenness. Most critics agree with Ziedan's own assessment that the book is "not against Christianity but against violence, especially violence in the name of the sacred." Indeed, the lawsuit particularly mentions statements Ziedan made at a symposium held by the daily *Al-Youm Al-Saba'a*. "He insulted priests and bishops and said many things with no proof or evidence from books or history," lawyer Mamdouh Ramzi told Reuters. "He is not a Christian man, what does he know about the Church?" The case has been supported by Coptic groups in the United States, the Netherlands, Canada and Austria. Ziedan, who in mid-October was given the shield of St. Mark in recognition for his preservation of Christian manuscripts, is clearly not anti-Christian. Nonetheless, he has become a target of some Copts' frustrations in a country where the minority does have legitimate grievances. The author has also remained a target of Islamists. The English translation of *Azazel *is set for a summer 2011 release from Atlantic Books. Had the book been under attack solely by fringe Muslim groups, one would assume this might be a selling point for many Western book-buyers. But the novel has also been decried by an Arab Christian minority, even if mistakenly, and how this will affect the award-winning novel's reception is difficult to predict. *References* Khaled Diab,* "*Egypt's Coptics Find Book Insulting<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/12/egypt-c optics-book-insulting>," *The **Guardian*, May 12, 2010. M. Lynx Qualey, "In Support of Anis Al Degheidi<http://arablit.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/in-support-of-anis-al-deghe idi/>," *Arabic Literature (in English)*, August 5, 2010. Brian Whitaker,* "*Egyptian law gives fanatics free rein<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/28/egypt-thousand-one- nights-ban>," *The **Guardian, *April 28, 2010. Nadia Abou el Nagd, "'Abuse' of Islamic rule lands lawyer in court<http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/abuse-of-islamic- rule-lands-lawyer-in-court>," *The National*, October 9, 2009. Yasmine Saleh, "Egypt Christians want action on 'insulting' novel<http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6444CQ20100505>," *Reuters*, May 5, 2010. *M. Lynx Qualey* writes about Arabic literature for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including *Al Masry Al Youm*, *The Believer*, *World Literature Today*, and *The Quarterly Conversation*. She blogs daily at http://arablit.wordpress.com. ---------- *Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty Center<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/>at <http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/%3eat> the University of Chicago Divinity School. Submissions policy *Sightings* welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to illuminate and interpret the intersections of religion and politics, art, science, business and education. Previous columns<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/>giv e <http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/%3egive> a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to current issues and events. Attribution Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Contact information Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Shatha Almutawa, managing editor of *Sightings*, at divsighti...@gmail.com. Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the *Sightings* subscription page <https://lists.uchicago.edu/web/info/sightings>. Too many emails? Receive *Sightings* as an RSS feed. Sign up at http://divinity.uchicago.edu/rss/sightings.xml. ----- End forwarded message ----- Douglas Laycock Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law University of Virginia Law School 580 Massie Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-243-8546 _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
