Hijazi…and Hijazi…and Strife
Mohamed Salah Al Hayat - 11/08/07//
This is how the "Hijazi" name stepped into the limelight to become the most prominent names in Egypt. In one week, the Egyptian court issued a judicial decision against the poet Ahmed Abdel Moaati Hijazi for defaming the Islamic preacher Sheikh Youssef Al Badri. It imposed on the poet an indemnity of 24 thousand pounds to Sheikh Badri. However, since Hijazi is a simple poet and not a businessman and is not affiliated with a ruling or opposing party, he could not pay the fine. Therefore, he had no choice but to resort to the judiciary to request a suspension of the ruling for a while.
But the Egyptians are talking about another Hijazi, a young Mohamed Hijazi who was arrested last year after he led a massive protest against the cartoons that offended the Holy Prophet in Denmark. However, at the time, he was not known and not a single newspaper reported or showed a photo thereon. All Muslims were in a state of sweeping protest at the time. But the young Hijazi has now emerged to become the talk of the town and the media. His photos are being published in newspapers and satellite channels are racing to hold interviews with him. Clergymen are debating his fate and court places are circulating stories about him. The young Hijazi filed a lawsuit requesting a substantiation of his desertion of Islam and forcing the Egyptian court to officially consider him a Christian citizen.
Regarding the case of the poet Hijazi in the courts now, should the ruling come into effect, he won't have a choice but either pay or get locked up. On the other hand, the case of young Hijazi aroused fear of a sectarian strife that can flare up based on the young man's announcement that he became a Christian months ago. This is although he only proceeded with the official registration of his conversion to Christianity days ago. This story brings to mind the statement of Egypt's Mufti Doctor Ali Gomaa in the Washington Post newspaper on not punishing deserters. However, he retracted his statement after clergymen and preachers objected to the fact that sympathizing with the West by showing the leniency of Islam as such can only stir up strife. In fact, we did not hear any comment by Egypt's Moufti Gomaa on the case of Hijazi the poet or the young Hijazi.
The first case may be a mere conflict between a poet and a preacher on the limits of freedom of the press. This is especially after Hijazi assumed responsibility for publishing a poem by the poet Holmi Salem in "Creativity" magazine, which included what the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni himself considered an offense to religion. But the Mufti is part of the second case, even if he avoided criticizing or commenting thereon, considering that hardly a month goes by before his statements become the subject of debate by clergymen, satellite shows, and newspapers.
The Egyptian society, which is going through social and economic problems, as well as a drop in the level of culture and education, is unable to bear official opinions or stances that could carry various denotations, which some Muslims or Christians may consider offensive to Islam or Christianity. What Mufti Gomaa did is not much different from what Minister Farouk Hosni said regarding the veil, when he stirred up an uproar that did not subside until he went to the parliament to acquit himself from offending Islam.
Some Egyptians blame their Mufti for Hijazi's public desertion of Islam. In fact, the prosecution is investigating the matter following information that the young man received financial assistance and prospects of employment and better social conditions from Christian individuals. Therefore, the issue turned into a race between radicals from both sides to win over the young Hijazi. The opinions of preachers, including the Mufti, became on the line. This can lead at times to the rise of the radical movement and its advocates. At other times, it enrages groups of peaceful Muslims who only want to preserve their religion, perform their rituals, and behave with ethics. Therefore, they find themselves in the same ditch as the radicals as a result of an opinion or an unruly fatwa that a seeker of fame or a job or a dwelling may exploit to change his religion in the spotlight, thereby stirring uproar and strife at the same time.
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