Another article on Egypt’s “marriage crisis”.
Latest Updates: Egypt RSS
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Iran invites Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, to open a branch in Tehran.
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Saadeddin Ibrahim, an exiled Egyptian sociologist, has been sentenced in absentia to two years in jail on charges of “damaging Egypt’s reputation”.
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Lawrence of Arabia
New York Times reports again on issues between Copts and Muslims.
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aziz
‘Aqoul critiques an article in the NYT about the Egyptian agricultural industry. This is the perfect example of synergy between media and blogs - where the latter build upon the former and really expand upon it.
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thabet
Talking of Egypt: Authorities in Cairo have shut down the office of an Iranian TV network, in response to a film that justifies the killing of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Islamic militants.
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Al Azhar, regarded as Sunnism’s leading scholarly and religious institution, has condemned a documentary by Iranian filmmakers on Anwar Sadat. Al Azhar has said the film should be burnt.
As the FaithWorld blogger, Aziz El-Kaissouni, notes, this is a good example how Muslim states enlist “Islamic scholars into echoing the government’s grievances with an added Islamic flavour”. No Orientalism here, I am afraid. The more uncomfortable truth may be that a major Muslim institution is acting in the service of an autocratic regime (with the added phenomenon that it is ‘nationalising’ itself further).
Iran has responded by saying the film does no represent the official view of the state and has been made by a “private organisation”. On this point, El-Kaissouni notes:
[Iran's official stance regarding the documentary] is one of the cultural issues that pops up every time something like this happens. During the Danish cartoons controversy, various figures in the religious or political establishments of Muslim countries demanded the offending paper and artists be prosecuted. They seemed to operate on the assumption that all states can control media output in their countries, as many Muslim and Arab governments do.
I don’t know if this response by Arab religious and political establishment figures can be necessarily called a ‘cultural issue’. I suggest it is more likely these establishment figures are interested in shoring up their political power. I do agree, however, that culture may play a part in what can or cannot be subjected to media scrutiny and intensity in different countries.
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Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women in the most populous Arab country, and a majority say women themselves are to blame for their maltreatment, a survey showed on Thursday.
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The zebiba used to be the mark of an elderly Muslim man, the fruit of a lifetime’s devotion, but it is increasingly seen on the faces of young Egyptians.
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Murad Qureshi, a London Assembly member, says Egypt may withdraw its imams from the London Central Mosque. This follows a not guilty verdict in the trial of Brian Donegan, who left Sh. Mohammed El-Salamouni blind in one eye following a vicious attack. Donegan was declared insane by the court.
(Via IW.)
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shahed
Egyptian government workers spend an average of 27 minutes a day working. Lengthy prayer breaks are cited as a major contributor to the problem. The solution? According to a fatwa from Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, limit prayer breaks to 10 minutes.
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Lawrence of Arabia
Coptic monks building a wall on disputed land near the Abu Fana monastery led to an exchange of gunfire.
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aziz
Where is Alaa al Aswany writing from?
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Food shortages in the middle east - bread lines in Egypt: http://tinyurl.com/5sh7y6
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