Muslim, Christian relations sour over 'forced' conversions
Ahmad Aboul Wafa
Middle East Times
Published December 16, 2004
Ahmad Aboul Wafa
Middle East Times
Published December 16, 2004
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20041217-063338-4383r
CAIRO -- Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt soured last week after Coptic Christians around the country held demonstrations against what they said was the government's failure to stop forced conversions to Islam.
Yet the wife of a Coptic priest, who is at the center of the storm, told the Middle East Times that she willingly embraced Islam.
Some 3,000 protestors in Cairo, Minya, Assuit and Beheria claimed that Muslims had kidnapped Christians and forced or paid them to convert to Islam.
The demonstrations were sparked after Youssef Constantine, minister of Abul Mat! amir church in Beheria governorate, north-west of Cairo, said that his wife, Wafaa, had been kidnapped by her Muslim employer and forced to convert to Islam.
Police later handed Wafaa over to priests at the Coptic cathedral in the Cairo district of Abbasiya where hundreds of Copts held an open round-the-clock sit-in demanding the authorities return Wafaa to her husband.
Dozens of people were injured in clashes with police, who detained 34 Christians on charges of attacking police and using religion to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims.
The priests whisked Wafaa to a safe house affiliated with the cathedral where she spent five days talking with the church council. On Monday the church announced that Wafaa had never abandoned Christianity.
"She ! returned to practice the Christian rituals and has asked the church for forgiveness," said Bishop Bokhimous of Beheria governorate who headed the church council meeting.
Other reports say, however, that she still insists on her conversion to Islam. In a phone interview with the Middle East Times before Bokhimous' announcement on Monday, Wafaa said that she became interested in Islam two years ago when watching a TV program about the Koran.
"I've studied science and felt that the Koran was using the language of science, so I asked a colleague of mine to bring me books about Islam. Later I secretly converted to Islam," Wafaa recounted.
"But I felt that I could not live like that forever, so I left to stay with a Muslim family in Cairo, until I was taken to police," she said.
She told the Middle East Times that she was shocked that her conversion has resulted in public demonstrations.
"I want to say to Christians that I willingly took this decision and I am not an immature girl who can fall under pressure from anyone," she added.
Bokhimous on Monday, however, said that Wafaa had been coerced to abandon her Christian faith, but did not elaborate.
He said that she never officially announced her conversion.
An analyst at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies who wished to remain anonymous said that Bokhimous said this to protect her life.
"The church had to say that she never officially announced her conversion to Islam,! because otherwise she would be considered an apostate for leaving Islam and would have to be killed," the analyst said.
Wafaa's high-profile case may be the tip of the iceberg.
Church officials in the Upper Egyptian province of Assuit have asserted that the local head of the ruling National Democratic Party forced or bribed Copts to convert to Islam.
Bishop Abanob of Assuit said that families had complained to him that family members were being targeted for religious conversion.
"Dozens have come to me and complained that [Mohammed Abdel] Mohsen has offered them houses, money and jobs if they would convert to Islam," Abanob said.
"Even prisoners were told they would be set free if they converted to Isl! am," he said, claiming he had tape recordings and other evidence to support his accusations, adding that Mohsen had paid poor, young Muslim men to coerce young Christian girls into converting and marrying them.
Mohsen denied the accusations, challenging Abanob and others to talks in order to prove his innocence, an invitation he said Abanob has refused. Mohsen told the Middle East Times that he thinks Abanob "spread these rumors" because he was not given a permit to build a church in Assuit.
"There were two requests to build a church in the neighborhood - one of them was submitted by Abanob - and they were turned down," said Mohsen, adding, "The governorate decided that a church was not necessary because few Christians live in the area."
Muslim relations with Christians, who make up from 5 to 10 percent of ! the 70 million Egyptians, have sometimes turned violent in Upper Egypt. In 2000 sectarian violence erupted in the village of Kusheh resulting in the deaths of 20 people.
Some observers think that the clashes were instigated by outside forces. Coptic veteran thinker and writer Milad Hanna, told the Middle East Times that at least three separate sectarian clashes had erupted in the space of a week, which was evidence of a plot by an international organization.
"Someone who knows this issue is very sensitive is trying to drive a wedge between Muslims and Copts," he said.
Coptic parliamentarian Nabil Loqaa Bibawi expressed similar sentiments. "These forces or organizations do not want stability in Egypt," he said.
"I have seen tens of converted Muslims w! ho know nothing about the Koran. I have also seen newly-converted Christians who know nothing about the Bible. Most of them were paid to take this decision," he said.
Last week a Muslim father reported to police that his teenage daughter had run away from home leaving a letter saying that she had converted to Christianity and could no longer live with nonbelievers. He said that the girl wrote that she had chosen the "right path" after being introduced to Christianity through a website that connected her with other converts in Egypt.
Police confirmed the incident saying that they were unable to find the female college student who the father said used to be a committed Muslim.
Local media and human rights organizations have urged the Egyptian government to be more transparent and less ambiguous about the issue of co! nversions saying that rumors have supplanted facts and enlarged the problems.
Meanwhile, the US Copts Association has reportedly sent a letter to US President George W. Bush appealing for his "immediate intervention with President Hosni Mubarak on behalf of Egypt's persecuted Copts".
CAIRO -- Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt soured last week after Coptic Christians around the country held demonstrations against what they said was the government's failure to stop forced conversions to Islam.
Yet the wife of a Coptic priest, who is at the center of the storm, told the Middle East Times that she willingly embraced Islam.
Some 3,000 protestors in Cairo, Minya, Assuit and Beheria claimed that Muslims had kidnapped Christians and forced or paid them to convert to Islam.
The demonstrations were sparked after Youssef Constantine, minister of Abul Mat! amir church in Beheria governorate, north-west of Cairo, said that his wife, Wafaa, had been kidnapped by her Muslim employer and forced to convert to Islam.
Police later handed Wafaa over to priests at the Coptic cathedral in the Cairo district of Abbasiya where hundreds of Copts held an open round-the-clock sit-in demanding the authorities return Wafaa to her husband.
Dozens of people were injured in clashes with police, who detained 34 Christians on charges of attacking police and using religion to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims.
The priests whisked Wafaa to a safe house affiliated with the cathedral where she spent five days talking with the church council. On Monday the church announced that Wafaa had never abandoned Christianity.
"She ! returned to practice the Christian rituals and has asked the church for forgiveness," said Bishop Bokhimous of Beheria governorate who headed the church council meeting.
Other reports say, however, that she still insists on her conversion to Islam. In a phone interview with the Middle East Times before Bokhimous' announcement on Monday, Wafaa said that she became interested in Islam two years ago when watching a TV program about the Koran.
"I've studied science and felt that the Koran was using the language of science, so I asked a colleague of mine to bring me books about Islam. Later I secretly converted to Islam," Wafaa recounted.
"But I felt that I could not live like that forever, so I left to stay with a Muslim family in Cairo, until I was taken to police," she said.
She told the Middle East Times that she was shocked that her conversion has resulted in public demonstrations.
"I want to say to Christians that I willingly took this decision and I am not an immature girl who can fall under pressure from anyone," she added.
Bokhimous on Monday, however, said that Wafaa had been coerced to abandon her Christian faith, but did not elaborate.
He said that she never officially announced her conversion.
An analyst at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies who wished to remain anonymous said that Bokhimous said this to protect her life.
"The church had to say that she never officially announced her conversion to Islam,! because otherwise she would be considered an apostate for leaving Islam and would have to be killed," the analyst said.
Wafaa's high-profile case may be the tip of the iceberg.
Church officials in the Upper Egyptian province of Assuit have asserted that the local head of the ruling National Democratic Party forced or bribed Copts to convert to Islam.
Bishop Abanob of Assuit said that families had complained to him that family members were being targeted for religious conversion.
"Dozens have come to me and complained that [Mohammed Abdel] Mohsen has offered them houses, money and jobs if they would convert to Islam," Abanob said.
"Even prisoners were told they would be set free if they converted to Isl! am," he said, claiming he had tape recordings and other evidence to support his accusations, adding that Mohsen had paid poor, young Muslim men to coerce young Christian girls into converting and marrying them.
Mohsen denied the accusations, challenging Abanob and others to talks in order to prove his innocence, an invitation he said Abanob has refused. Mohsen told the Middle East Times that he thinks Abanob "spread these rumors" because he was not given a permit to build a church in Assuit.
"There were two requests to build a church in the neighborhood - one of them was submitted by Abanob - and they were turned down," said Mohsen, adding, "The governorate decided that a church was not necessary because few Christians live in the area."
Muslim relations with Christians, who make up from 5 to 10 percent of ! the 70 million Egyptians, have sometimes turned violent in Upper Egypt. In 2000 sectarian violence erupted in the village of Kusheh resulting in the deaths of 20 people.
Some observers think that the clashes were instigated by outside forces. Coptic veteran thinker and writer Milad Hanna, told the Middle East Times that at least three separate sectarian clashes had erupted in the space of a week, which was evidence of a plot by an international organization.
"Someone who knows this issue is very sensitive is trying to drive a wedge between Muslims and Copts," he said.
Coptic parliamentarian Nabil Loqaa Bibawi expressed similar sentiments. "These forces or organizations do not want stability in Egypt," he said.
"I have seen tens of converted Muslims w! ho know nothing about the Koran. I have also seen newly-converted Christians who know nothing about the Bible. Most of them were paid to take this decision," he said.
Last week a Muslim father reported to police that his teenage daughter had run away from home leaving a letter saying that she had converted to Christianity and could no longer live with nonbelievers. He said that the girl wrote that she had chosen the "right path" after being introduced to Christianity through a website that connected her with other converts in Egypt.
Police confirmed the incident saying that they were unable to find the female college student who the father said used to be a committed Muslim.
Local media and human rights organizations have urged the Egyptian government to be more transparent and less ambiguous about the issue of co! nversions saying that rumors have supplanted facts and enlarged the problems.
Meanwhile, the US Copts Association has reportedly sent a letter to US President George W. Bush appealing for his "immediate intervention with President Hosni Mubarak on behalf of Egypt's persecuted Copts".
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