Talk Islam

willow

  • 09:23:30 am on June 20, 2008 | # | |
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    Speaking of Kuwait, women aren’t the only population around whom the net is being tightened: after much argument, Kuwait’s Bohra community has officially been denied the right to open a mosque.

    I have a sneaking suspicion that much of the state religious intolerance we see in the ME these days is a smokescreen for the paranoia of authoritarian regimes. Dictators and kings seem to view any organized minority group as a potential source of unrest and a threat to their power. In Egypt, the state pretends it’s shutting out the Baha’i under pressure from fundamentalists (which do exist in Egypt in abundance, a fact the state cleverly manipulates to keep its western allies a) afraid and b) out of Egypt’s business) when really it’s because the Baha’i are a mobile, organized, monied minority. What you don’t here is that the Mubarak regime is also trying to make it illegal to be in a rock band, and routinely arrests rockers–because as we all know, rockers are also an organized, vocal, anti-authoritarian group. Both Baha’i and rock musicians are generally well-tolerated by the public. The same goes for Egypt’s large Bohra community. When I was in Alexandria a few years ago, the (Sunni) officials at the mosque of Nabi Daniel actually closed the building to passerby while the Bohra were conducting a prayer inside. But mark my words, if there’s ever a hint of a rumor that the Bohra are agents for a foreign government or fomenting opposition, there will suddenly be “religious pressure” to drive them underground.

     

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Comments

  • Omar 9:19 am on June 21, 2008 | #

    I found that interesting. Thanks for sharing. I have a Baha’i friend who was always nudging me why Egypt outlawed them. Politics explains a lot of things these days.

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