Weekly Review

The Personal Status law storyline continues to develop. Despite many adverse forces, including from members of the Coptic Church themselves, the movement to pass a personal status law that would protect the rights of religious minorities continues to gain force. While members of the drafting committee have been ordered to avoid speaking to the press, statements from members of the Churches in Egypt are optimistic. In fact there was a meeting in Alexandria between representatives of various Churches wherein Christian leaders were able to come to an agreement in support of the personal status law proposal, and its guidelines. Additionally, groups that hadn’t originally been included, pushed to be protected under the eventual law.

In other news, nearly 20% of President Mubarak’s appointees to the Shura Council were Coptic Christians, showing support for the group despite the recent tensions between the Egyptian government and Coptic Church. 

A number of noteworthy international conferences also occurred in the past week. Egyptian Mufti Ali Jummah hosted scholars and leaders from Afghanistan’s Islamic courts (Bayt Al-Kada) at a conference against the use of Islam for extremism. 

The Future of The Islamic Nation Conference, in London, called for social change and human rights reforms within dictatorial Arab and Muslim regimes. Ayatolla Muazi, President of the Islamic Center of England and Ireland, stressed the need for cooperation amongst Muslim groups to promote positive change within the Muslim and Arab countries, many of whom he described as a giant prison due to their negative human rights standing. 

The Organization of Islamic Council (OIC) held a conference in Geneva Switzerland in which they spoke out against the branding of Islam as a religion of extremism, criticizing the portrayal of Islam as a religion of violence and extremism in the media. The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a draft resolution on freedom of religion and belief after pressure from Egyptian representatives to protect the rights of Muslims in Europe more.