Islamist’s Win Is More Bad News for Coptic Christians

In what has come to be a regular pattern of events across North Africa, the recent parliamentary elections in Egypt ushered in Islamists as the leading political parties. The results of the first round of elections on November 28^th for Egypt’s lower parliament show the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party winning 36.4 percent of the vote; while the even more radical Salafist backed Al-Nour Party has won 24.5 percent of the vote. These two parties combine to show that even in cosmopolitan regions of Egypt support for Islamist politics is strong.

Islamist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood have been major players in Egyptian politics for nearly 80 years. Formed out of a desire to end the abuse and poor working conditions of Egyptian laborers who worked to the Suez Canal Company, the Muslim Brotherhood has come to represent many Egyptian Muslims. The grassroots organizing that grew the Brotherhood to what it is today owes much of its strategy to models presented by other religious traditions. This model centers community relationships around a central place of gathering, whether it is the mosque, church, synagogue, or temple. These gathering places become centers for outreach, proselytizing and care for the poor and most vulnerable members of the society. In the case of the Muslim Brotherhood, feeding programs, health care, education, and a host of other programs are all centered on the mosque. These mosques also are often the outposts for promoting the Islamist ideology.

Outlawed and persecuted under the Mubarak regime, the Muslim Brotherhood still managed to prosper. By contrasting its own outreach with government-run services like health clinics, which were often corrupt and inefficient, the Brotherhood was able to win the allegiance of many average Egyptians. So when the former regime crumbled under pressure from young and disenfranchised Egyptians demonstrating in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, they were the most influential and organized group to fill the power vacuum.

The Freedom and Justice Party, which was founded and led by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, has a robust political philosophy that is rooted in Islamic constitutionalism. According to Bruce Rutherford, author of the book Egypt After Mubarak, theorists of Islamic constitutionalism view the nature of the state is being fundamentally different. From their standpoint, the state is a good institution. Through its enforcement of Sharia [Islamic law], it brings the Islamic community into being and ensures that this community remains pious. Through its implementation of the doctrine if hisba [verification that Sharia is observed], it strengthens the morality and spirituality of individual Muslims. Its institutions perform functions fundamental to Islam such as the collection of zakat [alms to the poor], the reconciling of tensions within the community, the protection of the umma [Islamic community] from external threats and the spreading of the faith.”

The affinity with Sharia is not simply limited to those areas of life that are benignly connected to marriage and inheritance. According to a survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 84% of Muslims in Egypt support the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim Religion, 82% support stoning people who commit adultery, and 77% support whippings and the cutting off of hands as penalty for theft and robbery. It is unlikely that these draconian practices were what liberal and Coptic Christian activists where hoping for when they helped bring down Mubarak’s regime.

Although the Muslim Brotherhood has largely toned down its rhetoric to appeal to a broad spectrum of Egyptian voters, the surprise success of Al-Nour has distressed diplomatic circles across the globe. The Al-Nour Party is a conglomeration of a handful of Salafist organizations. One Salafist group known as Gamaa Islamiya led an insurgency against the Mubarak regime in the 1990’s and had hundreds of its member imprisoned. After the fall of the regime earlier this year many of those prisoners were released to bring their radical interpretation of Islam back to their towns and villages. The Salafis are one of the most extreme and zealous groups in Islam and many of them advocate the rigid application of Sharia on Egypt.  In a recent report in some of the Salafist communities of Egypt, posters have begun to appear saying, “The hijab [women’s headscarf] is obligatory.” The Salafists do not limit themselves to the suppression of women, but are against money lending, reject most art and music, and share a vehement dislike for Jews and Christians.

The real losers of the elections in Egypt so far have been the young, freedom-loving Egyptians looking to end the economic and political atrophy that kept Mubarak in power. These young idealists had little time to form political parties and ultimately joined together to form the Egyptian Bloc. The Egyptian Bloc was largely made up of liberal and secular Egyptians, but also appealed to the Coptic Christians. However, even the hopes of voting for non-Islamists were thwarted by overzealous authorities. Dina Guiguis stated in her testimony before Congress this week that there have been numerous reports of voter intimidation. She highlighted how one polling place was closed early because “too many unveiled women were turning up to vote.”

While many human rights organizations have noted that there has been a spike in the number of Egyptian Copts seeking to emigrate, others are committed to staying and fighting for the freedoms that so many Egyptians died for. Father Filopater Gameel, a Coptic priest, said in response to the election results, “We tasted bitter medicine during the Mubarak regime and we will probably face more of that under the rule of the Islamists. The Copts will be the voice in Egypt that will continue to call for freedom, equality and a civil state. We will remain here and continue the fight for the beautiful and ancient Egyptian civilization.”

The potential for much needed political and economic reforms can easily be squandered as the Islamist parties use their new-found power to stifle the very freedoms that young Egyptians gave their lives for enjoy. Likewise, the religious minorities of Egypt in many ways act as the canaries in the coal mine for the future of freedom in Egypt and North Africa. What starts with the burning of a few churches and attacks on individual Coptic Christians becomes the silencing of dissenting opinions and attacks on people viewed as not being Muslim enough. In light of recent events it is appropriate to fear that from Sharm el Sheik on the Red Sea to Rabat on the Atlantic a potential iron veil is descending across North Africa, and the hope of democracy may soon shatter under the oppressive weight of radical politicized Islam.

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