Religion in Egypt controls many aspects of social life and isn't endorsed by law. The 2006 census counting method included religion, so the number of adherents of the different religions are usually rough estimates made by religious and non-governmental agencies.
Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims accounting for between 80% and 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians The vast majority of Muslims in Egypt are part of the Sunni Islam. A significant number of Muslim Egyptians also follow native Sufi orders,[10] and there is a minority of Mu'tazila & Shi'ite Twelvers & Ismailism numbering a few thousands.
According to the Constitution of Egypt, any new legislation must at least implicitly agree with Islamic law. Article 45 of the Constitution extends freedom of religion to the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism), but only those three.
The remainder of Egyptians, numbering between 10% and 20% of the population,[1] mostly belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Christian Church. The most recent declarations, made by Pope Shenouda III and bishop Morkos of Shubra in 2008, put forward the number of Orthodox Copts in Egypt as being over 12 million. Other estimates made by church officials estimate this number to be 16 million. Protestant churches claim a membership of about 300,000 Egyptians, and the Coptic Catholic Church is estimated to have a similar membership among Egyptians.[8][9] Based on these estimates, the total number of Christians in Egypt is between 15% and 20% of a total population of 80 million Egyptians. While some government sources have claimed a percentage of around 6 to 10%, a number of published sources such as the Washington Institute, in addition to some of the Coptic sources, uphold that Christians represent more than 10% of the total population and claim that they actually still compose up to 15 or even 20% of the Egyptian population.
There is a small but historically significant non-immigrant Bahá'í population, estimated around 2000 persons,[19] and an even smaller community of Jews about 200,[19][28] then a tiny number of Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic. The non-Sunni, non-Coptic communities range in size from several hundreds to a few thousand. The original Ancient Egyptian religion has all but disappeared.
Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 A.D by the Fatimids as the first Islamic University in Egypt and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria established in the middle of the 1st century by Saint Mark.
In Egypt, Muslims and Christians live as neighbors, they share a common history and national identity, they also share the same ethnicity, race, culture, and language.[19]
Religion plays a central role in most Egyptians' lives, The Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) that is heard five times a day has the informal effect of regulating the pace of everything from business to media and entertainment. Cairo is famous for its numerous mosque minarets and is justifiably dubbed "the city of 1,000 minarets",[29] with a significant number of church towers. This religious landscape has been marred by a history of religious extremism, recently witnessing a 2006 judgement of Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court, which made a clear legal distinction between "recognized religions" (i.e., Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) and all other religious beliefs. This ruling effectively delegitimizes and forbids practice of all but the three Abrahamic religions. This judgement had made it necessary for non-Abrahamic religious communities to either commit perjury or be denied Egyptian identification cards (see Egyptian identification card controversy), until a 2008 Cairo court case ruled that unrecognized religious minorities may obtain birth certificates and identification documents, so long as they omit their religion on court documents.[32]
In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January the 7th) was recognized as an official holiday,though Copts complain of being minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion.[34] Naguib Sawiris, one of Egyptians successful businessmen and one of the world's wealthiest 100 people is a Copt. At the same time there is a numerous number of private companies shared by both Muslims and Copts.[citation needed]
Freedom of religion and human rights
While freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents.[38] The Coptic community, however, takes pains to prevent conversions from Christianity to Islam due to the ease with which Christians can often become Muslim.[39] Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies will sometimes claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity (or occasionally vice versa) may stir social unrest, and thereby justify themselves in wrongfully detaining the subjects, insisting that they are simply taking steps to prevent likely social troubles from happening. In 2007, a Cairo administrative court denied 45 citizens the right to obtain identity papers documenting their reversion to Christianity after converting to Islam. However, in February 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision, allowing 12 citizens who had reverted back to Christianity to re-list their religion on identity cards,but they will specify that they had adopted Islam for a brief period of time.
Relations with the Coptic minority
Coptic Christians, being the largest religious minority in Egypt, are the most negatively affected by possibly discriminatory legistlation. Copts have faced increasing marginalization after the 1952 coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.Until recently, Christians were required to obtain presidential approval for even minor repairs in churches. Although the law was eased in 2005 by handing down the authority of approval to the governors, Copts continue to face many obstacles in building new churches. These obstacles are not as much in building mosques.
Non-religious minorities
There are Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic, but their numbers are largely unknown, as openly expressing such positions risks legal sanction on the basis of apostasy (if a citizen takes the step of suing the 'apostating' person, though not automatically by the general prosecutor). In 2000, an openly atheist Egyptian writer, who called for the establishment of a local association for atheists, was tried on charges of insulting Islam in four of his books.[52]
Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims accounting for between 80% and 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians The vast majority of Muslims in Egypt are part of the Sunni Islam. A significant number of Muslim Egyptians also follow native Sufi orders,[10] and there is a minority of Mu'tazila & Shi'ite Twelvers & Ismailism numbering a few thousands.
According to the Constitution of Egypt, any new legislation must at least implicitly agree with Islamic law. Article 45 of the Constitution extends freedom of religion to the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism), but only those three.
The remainder of Egyptians, numbering between 10% and 20% of the population,[1] mostly belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Christian Church. The most recent declarations, made by Pope Shenouda III and bishop Morkos of Shubra in 2008, put forward the number of Orthodox Copts in Egypt as being over 12 million. Other estimates made by church officials estimate this number to be 16 million. Protestant churches claim a membership of about 300,000 Egyptians, and the Coptic Catholic Church is estimated to have a similar membership among Egyptians.[8][9] Based on these estimates, the total number of Christians in Egypt is between 15% and 20% of a total population of 80 million Egyptians. While some government sources have claimed a percentage of around 6 to 10%, a number of published sources such as the Washington Institute, in addition to some of the Coptic sources, uphold that Christians represent more than 10% of the total population and claim that they actually still compose up to 15 or even 20% of the Egyptian population.
There is a small but historically significant non-immigrant Bahá'í population, estimated around 2000 persons,[19] and an even smaller community of Jews about 200,[19][28] then a tiny number of Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic. The non-Sunni, non-Coptic communities range in size from several hundreds to a few thousand. The original Ancient Egyptian religion has all but disappeared.
Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970 A.D by the Fatimids as the first Islamic University in Egypt and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria established in the middle of the 1st century by Saint Mark.
In Egypt, Muslims and Christians live as neighbors, they share a common history and national identity, they also share the same ethnicity, race, culture, and language.[19]
Religion plays a central role in most Egyptians' lives, The Adhan (Islamic call to prayer) that is heard five times a day has the informal effect of regulating the pace of everything from business to media and entertainment. Cairo is famous for its numerous mosque minarets and is justifiably dubbed "the city of 1,000 minarets",[29] with a significant number of church towers. This religious landscape has been marred by a history of religious extremism, recently witnessing a 2006 judgement of Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court, which made a clear legal distinction between "recognized religions" (i.e., Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) and all other religious beliefs. This ruling effectively delegitimizes and forbids practice of all but the three Abrahamic religions. This judgement had made it necessary for non-Abrahamic religious communities to either commit perjury or be denied Egyptian identification cards (see Egyptian identification card controversy), until a 2008 Cairo court case ruled that unrecognized religious minorities may obtain birth certificates and identification documents, so long as they omit their religion on court documents.[32]
In 2002, under the Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January the 7th) was recognized as an official holiday,though Copts complain of being minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion.[34] Naguib Sawiris, one of Egyptians successful businessmen and one of the world's wealthiest 100 people is a Copt. At the same time there is a numerous number of private companies shared by both Muslims and Copts.[citation needed]
Freedom of religion and human rights
Freedom of belief and worship are formally recognized by the Egyptian Constitution, but are effectively limited by government intervention and sectarian conflict.[35] Some aspects of the country’s laws are heavily biased in favor of Islam and against religious minorities, most notably the country’s approximately 10 million Coptic Christians. Religions other than Islam have typically had to be deemed compatible with Sharia and petition for legal recognition.[35] Although the state provides funds for the construction of mosques and the training of imams, no such aid is extended to non-Muslim communities, whose requests for building permits are often denied or delayed. Individual adherents of minority religions also face frequent discrimination by government officials, who often deny them identity cards, birth certificates and marriage licenses. Authorities often fail to sanction individuals involved in carrying out attacks against members of minority faiths, relying instead on non-judicial procedures in order to avoid offending the Muslim majority.[35] The government also discriminates against Islamic religious minority groups, most notably Shi’a Muslims. Shi’as face open official discrimination, including being barred from admission to Al-Azhar University.[35]
Restrictions on conversionWhile freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution, according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptians are able to convert to Islam generally without difficulty, but Muslims who convert to Christianity face difficulties in getting new identity papers and some have been arrested for allegedly forging such documents.[38] The Coptic community, however, takes pains to prevent conversions from Christianity to Islam due to the ease with which Christians can often become Muslim.[39] Public officials, being conservative themselves, intensify the complexity of the legal procedures required to recognize the religion change as required by law. Security agencies will sometimes claim that such conversions from Islam to Christianity (or occasionally vice versa) may stir social unrest, and thereby justify themselves in wrongfully detaining the subjects, insisting that they are simply taking steps to prevent likely social troubles from happening. In 2007, a Cairo administrative court denied 45 citizens the right to obtain identity papers documenting their reversion to Christianity after converting to Islam. However, in February 2008 the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision, allowing 12 citizens who had reverted back to Christianity to re-list their religion on identity cards,but they will specify that they had adopted Islam for a brief period of time.
Relations with the Coptic minority
Coptic Christians, being the largest religious minority in Egypt, are the most negatively affected by possibly discriminatory legistlation. Copts have faced increasing marginalization after the 1952 coup d'état led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.Until recently, Christians were required to obtain presidential approval for even minor repairs in churches. Although the law was eased in 2005 by handing down the authority of approval to the governors, Copts continue to face many obstacles in building new churches. These obstacles are not as much in building mosques.
Muslim and Christian share a common history and national identity; however, at times religious tensions have arisen and individual acts of prejudice and violence occur.[48] The most significant was the 2000-2001 El Kosheh attacks, In which Muslims and Christians were being involved in bloody inter-religious clashes following a dispute between a Muslim and a Christian. "Twenty Christians and one Muslim were killed after violence broke out in the town of el-Kosheh, 440 kilometres (275 miles) south of Cairo".[49] In 2005, In Kafr Salama village, Sharqiya governorate, altercation between a Muslim and a Christian resulted in the death of the Muslim. Muslim villagers later attacked the Abu Sifin Church and several Christian homes, and looted several shops before the authorities restored order.[48] In 2006, one person who was both drunk and mad, attacked three churches in Alexandria left one dead and from 5 to 16 injured, although the attacker was not linked to any organisation.[15][48][50] On January 7, 2010, Muslim Gunmen open fire on Christian worshipers leaving a church in Nag Hammadi resulting in the murder of nine Coptic Christians. On January 1, 2011, at least 21 people were killed and 83 injured when a car bomb exploded outside a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria.
Non-religious minorities
There are Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic, but their numbers are largely unknown, as openly expressing such positions risks legal sanction on the basis of apostasy (if a citizen takes the step of suing the 'apostating' person, though not automatically by the general prosecutor). In 2000, an openly atheist Egyptian writer, who called for the establishment of a local association for atheists, was tried on charges of insulting Islam in four of his books.[52]
No comments:
Post a Comment